I came to Athens because as you all know I had a month to kill (lord don’t feel sorry for me who the fuck has “a month to kill”) between now and spending New Years in Istanbul with my girls from Barcelona. To be honest I was looking forward to it a lot… I need this break. I am exhausted and tired of changing cities. I am tired of having to plan every detail of everything. I am tired of having to figure out how to get from Airport/Bus Station A or B to Hostel Y or Z. I know I love big cities… and always will, so I thought hmmm ATHENS… it’s between Rome & Istanbul why not spend a month there? So yes I did just that… I booked a ticket to Athens from Rome, booked a cheap apartment for 28 days and am now here.
I’m sure y’all are wondering… hmmm what has Jaime been up to in Athens??? Not that I don’t share just about everything I do on Twitter and Facebook. Okay maybe y’all aren’t wondering what I have been up too, but here it is anyway. I am going to fill you in with what I have been up to in this ummmm okay city of Athens. I’ve been here about 3 weeks and yeah I have done a whole lot of nothing. I know I have mentioned it on my Photo Round Up and hell even picked The Lazy Song as one of my Music Monday picks.
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From the moment I got here I was already dealing with DRAMA. Yup a STRIKE… I made it to my apartment safe the 1st day and now know that STRIKES happen often here and are not a big deal at all.
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The 1st few days I was very productive because well the apartment didn’t have WiFi it was out… so I walked around and explored the city a bit. I came across a HUGE meat market that was great for some photos.
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Then I wandered around a cute little neighborhood around the Acropolis and found this old lady yelling at kids on the street below.
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The 1st Sunday I was there I made my way to Acropolis to see the Parthenon. It is very every 1st Sunday of each month, so I saved my self about $16 by going. I loved it a lot. Here are some ruins…
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This is also a ruin from the Acropolis that stand across from the Parthenon.
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Also free on that Sunday was Temple of Olympian Zeus. So I made sure I visited it. I was so productive that Sunday!
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The following day I still didn’t have WiFi… so I explored more of the city. I spent an entire day walking around some sketchy parts of the city finding street art. I love love love street art and was able to get a lot of awesome shots. Here are just a few… at some point I will be posing a IN PHOTOS post of street are in Athens.
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You can find street art all over the city of Athens… I love that about it!
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This is one of my favorites because it reminds me of Mexico for some reason.
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Then we got WiFi and I stopped doing anything… I did though get very excited to go to IKEA with the apartment owner. It was fun to do some shopping that wasn’t on my DIME… and plus I enjoyed the HOT DOG! Who doesn’t love the cheap hot dogs at IKEA?
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All over the city you will see RIOT POLICE… for some reason they are ready for anything at any time… I’m used to them now!
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One of the nights we got DRUNK at the APARTMENT. Oh the next day was horrible… horrible I tell you… I hate hangovers!
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I was already drunk when they snapped this photo of me. Thought I’d share it even though I look like a dork…lol!
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This last week on Thursday we did leave the apartment to make it too the beach of Athens and watch the sunset.
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It was so beautiful… I love sunsets!!!
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Me and my friend Adriana!!! If it wasn’t for her I don’t think I would be able to survive my days of doing nothing… I think we keep each other sain.
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Adriana is from Costa Rica… and guess what she made us one night! Yup only the best breakfast meal I have had on the road to date… GALLO PINTO!!! We both know it wasn’t as great as they make it in Costa Rica, but she tried and it was still a very damn good dinner. Oh & of course with a side of FETA CHEESE.
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We got our drink on again… this time with some BULGARIAN BEER.
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Now I must confess… we have spent many of our nights here sitting on our balconies watching the Ladies of the Nights work down below us. We have grown to love them… we even say hi to them now as we walk by them.
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They are sweet hearts and hate when they are not there because then I worry. We have even named them.
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They sure do know how to work it… This is the best people watching I have ever done in my life. It’s just amazing. I have so much respect for these women. I see them working day and night, rain or shine.
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This year because of the crisis Athens was not able to put up a real Christmas tree so instead it covered one of the biggest trees in the main square in lights. As you can see here the Christmas tree is behind an orange tree decorate with empty cans. I actually like it. It’s not that bad and a good way to save $$$ when times are tough.
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A photo of me eating one of the 17 GYROS I have ate so far while I have been here. I am addicted to them for two reasons. 1: they are so damn cheap and 2: they are so damn good.
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For some reason even though everything is going great and I’m loving every minute of doing a whole lot of nothing I have a million things on my mind.
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This here is my bedroom where I have been spending countless hours doing nothing.
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So aside from all you see above I also spent countless hours behind my laptop catching up on movies and tv shows. It felt so damn good. I watched The Backup Plan, Life As We Know It, The Hangover II, Bridesmaids, Battle L.A., Blue Valentine, and Precious. I have also managed to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family. I am now trying to catch up on The BIG C and 90210. I forgot how much I love TV… I think I will be a TV & MOVIE junkie for LIFE. I can’t help it… I love them!
I think it’s becoming a pattern for me… every once in a while spend some time doing a whole lot of nothing. I did nothing while I was in Caye Caulker, Belize. I did nothing while I was in Valencia, Spain and also did a lot of nothing while I was in Essaouira, Morocco. I used to feel guilty for doing nothing, but now I can care less and enjoy it when I can. So I am enjoying it a while I can here in Athens. I know come New Year it will be busy busy as I make my way through Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and India. I have 9 more days in Athens and I decided I am not going to Santorini… and just enjoy them doing nothing. It’s what I wanna do so don’t give me crap for not going to Santorini… I will visit some other time in my life. For now I will recoup my energy for what lies ahead. I do need to stop being too lazy to plan… I haven’t done any planning for the countries I will be visiting next. I’ll get on that this week. Oh I did apply for my INDIAN VISA yesterday… I hope it gets approved. So anywho there you have it… what I have been up to in Athens. What do you think?
Nice! Doing nothing is great, once in awhile of course. LOL Have fun!! Always enjoy reading your posts and photos!!
Thanks Geoff… yeah every once in a while it is good!!! Thanks for reading my blog, glad you enjoy it!!!
HEY!
Que bueno que estás bien y que la estás pasando bien… aunque no estés haciendo ni madres, cabrón!! Jajajaja… Ya descubrirás porque fuiste ahí, en su momento 🙂
Que harás en NAVIDAD? No la pases solo!!
You look great, btw 😉
xo
R…. OMG TIENES MUCHO TIEMPO DE NO COMENTAR!!!
Si todo bien aqui… aunque no ande haciendo NADA. La navidad la voy a pasar aqui en Athena con jente del apartamento que ahora son mis amigos!!!
Y gracias for the complement!!!
xoxo
JAJAJAJAJA Sorry por no comentar antes… tenia tiempo de no entrar aqui, pero de alguna manera ésta época del año me recuerda a ciertas personas, entre ellas tú. Y más ahorita, right now, que estoy en Terán… 🙁
Anyway, que bueno que pasarás la Navidad con tus nuevos amigos!!! DO NOT INVITE THE HOOKERS, PLEASE! JAJAJAJAJAJA 😛
yw! Have fuuuuuuuun!!!
Ahhh no hay problema…. siiii en este tiempo yo tambien siempre piense en Teran y todos ustedes… porque unas de las mejores las eh pasado en Teran!!!
Y noooo no las invitare.
The times when you’re just hanging out killing time are the best! You don’t know it at the time, but when you look back on it and realize you had all that time and no place to go, it’s awesome. You take your time and soak everything in.
When we were cycling Baja, we had to kill an extra three weeks while we waited for Grandma to arrive. We pulled off into the desert and camped beneath massive cardon cacti and it was magical. If we hadn’t had to kill that time we would have missed it.
So – enjoy doing nothing!
Nancy from Family on Bikes recently posted..Three attitudes you need in order to make your dream come true
Nancy I think you are right about the killing time because I look back at the 3 weeks I linked to up there and even though I didn’t do much I loved them so much.
Okay I love the way you kill time… it sounds so much more amazing then the way I am killing time. I need to do some camping…lol!!! For now I will continue to enjoy doing nothing like this jaja!
I’ve spent the past 2 days in Wellington doing nothing except catching up on my blog and emails. You totally need a break every once in awhile.
I love the drunk picture of you, it’s cute! You look like a little kid 🙂
You keep mentioning you have a lot on your mind, if you ever need to talk, I’m just an email or skype away. I miss our random long nonsense conversations on twitter, not as easy to do now with the time zone differences and spotty internet.
My vote is for you to go to Santorini. You say you love sunsets, well that is the mother of all sunsets. Totally worth it. Though I do understand that you want to just be lazy for the rest of the week until you go to Turkey.
Ali recently posted..Angkor Wat in Photos
ALi I haven’t done much blog work… lol. I need to get on it now before I head off on the road again. I know I like it too, but do look like such a kid.
Thanks I’m fine just lots on my mind about stupid stuff… thanks though. If I do ever need anything I know you are there for me. I love ya & hell yes I miss our long nonsense chats on Twitter. It’s hard not for sure cus we are all over the damn world…lol!!!
As for Santorini… I really don’t have the energy to do any research on it so it’s not going to happen…lol!!!
Well, like you said, you’ll get to Santorini some other time 🙂
Ali recently posted..Relaxing in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Time doing nothing is great for relaxing but also gives you WAY too much time to think about crap lol.
Great photos hun, particularly of the street art; the first one looks like it could be a henna tattoo =)
Toni recently posted..I hate Facebook!
Ugh yes TONI that is so true… it gives you WAY too much time to think about crap… and well that is whats happening to me…lol, but Im okay not depressed yet jaja!!!
Oh I love that street art photo… it’s one of my favs… she is all over the city. At some point I will post a post of Street Art from Athens and oh its amazing.
Sounds relaxing to catch up on movies/TV shows and recover from travel. Have you become bored by any of it? It looks unnerving to be around riot police, but as long as there’s no action I guess it must not be so bad. Only a few days until New Years and you’ll be reunited with your girl. Happy Holidays, Jaime!
Patricia GW recently posted..How Facebook Put Me Over the Edge
*your girls from Barcelona, I mean 🙂
Patricia GW recently posted..How Facebook Put Me Over the Edge
I have become bored of what? Traveling or watching TV… to answer both of them… no not yet. I did though just get tired of moving so thats why I am here. Yes only a few days until I am in Turkey with my girls… I can’t wait!!! Gonna be so much fun.
I meant being bored of watching tv and relaxing, as a joke 😉 Do you think Turkey will be as “tragic” as Thanksgiving in Italy, with all those empty bottles on the stoop? haha
Patricia GW recently posted..How Facebook Put Me Over the Edge
Oh I see… jaja NOPE not yet. Oh & if TURKEY is as TRAGIC as TG in ROME then that means I am going to have a blast and love it!!! I can’t wait!
I’m sure you ate one of those gyros for me, so that’s one less you have to worry about 😉
After I had my apartment in Sydney, I worked part time and did a whole lot of nothing for a month or so. Some days it felt good! Some days it got old. I’m so glad you’ve placed breaks at key points in your trip.
Enjoy the relaxing before the next two destinations (of which I am so jealous of you and so happy for you!).
Heather recently posted..Traveling through the Alphabet
Yes one of the Gyros was just for you Heather so it doesn’t count. I know what you mean about it getting old… sometimes it does, but I don’t have the energy to see anything…lol. Im just to damn lazy it’s sad…lol!!! I’ll enjoy the rest now though…
I feel stupid for asking, but what are Ladies of the Nights?
Allison recently posted..Glendale Glitters [ViDEO]
OMG nooo dont feel that… no one should know… but LOTN are PROSTITUTES!!! They are so many… outside my apartment!
That’s what I assumed jajajaja pero gracias for the clarification!
Allison recently posted..Glendale Glitters [ViDEO]
Like the random picture of the police in riot gear. I’ve been wanting to go to Athens for awhile, but my Greek friend from time to time would tell me that the situation there isn’t so great. But I guess you’ve been there and still can enjoy the sites, despite all the strikes and riots. Thanks for sharing great photos!
Harrison recently posted..Unemployment, Your Friend in Disguise
Harrison you def shouldn’t let that keep you from coming. Athens is not that bad… only thing is I think you dont need more than 3 days to see everything. It’s a huge city with not much to do. I’m enjoying the down time though…