While the hostel I stayed at in Athens was very cool and I met three awesome Kiwis (people from New Zealand), Athens itself was less than interesting. There is quite literally one thing to see here; the Acropolis. This area at the top of a big hill is where the Parthenon and other ancient temples are. It is at the top of a large hill, and though climbing it in 104 degree heat left me feeling less than fresh, after having climbed Masada three years ago in Israel, it really wasn't a problem. After visiting the Acropolis, I went to the new Acropolis museum, where hundreds (if not thousands) of ancient statues and pieces of pottery found in the Acropolis are housed. As you may be aware, I am very much not a museum person. While the age of the artifacts was incomprehensible (and believe me, I know how uncultured this is going to sound), my favorite part of the museum was the air conditioning! I believe it hit over 110 degrees that day.
After the new Acropolis museum, I saw Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus as well as the Greek parliament building. Unfortunately, I covered most of the sights in about four hours, which left me struggling to find things to do since. There is this well-preserved temple that looks like the Parthenon, but is at the bottom of the hill. When I told this Aussie guy that it wasn't the Parthenon, he was very disappointed. "Wait," he said. "So there is only one thing to see here?!? I thought there were two… Great, now what I am going to do tomorrow??"
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