February 2014 -- Greece
Winter break took me to Greece. :)
I spent a total of four days in Athens. It's a busy city, with a bustle and sprawl of metropolis with a population of more than 700 000. Tourism is an important industry in Athens, even in the off-season. The highlight, of course, is the Acropolis (visible from the roof of my hostel, below) but I rather preferred strolling around the grounds of the ancient Agora. I expect the latter would be crowded during the summer, but I was often enough able to find a quiet spot and commune with the ancient founders of democracy.
The legend of the labyrinth has been a fascination of mine for years, so I made a point of visiting Knossos, the partially-reconstructed ruins of a Bronze-age site and often touted as the home of the Minotaur of Greek myth. It was, like the Agora, relatively quiet and peaceful (although wet and a tad chilly) for the morning I was there. I enjoyed distinguishing, contrasting, and enjoying the superposition of the unearthed ruins and the century-old reconstruction by Englishman Arthur Evans.
A highlight of my trip was a day-trip to Chania, a seaside town on the island of Crete. There's a convenient bus from Heraklion. Chania was endlessly charming, even in the worst of a wet, windy winter. If you go, be sure to check out the vegetarian food at To Stachi.
I went to Rhodes for a couple days, too. It was as different from Attica and Crete as those are from each other. I spent a day cycling around the island with a very nice road bicycle I rented from SD Bikes. It turns out that Rhodes is a bit hilly! I spent my evenings wandering around the old city, a walled town that feels like something from a dream.
A week in Greece wasn't enough time. I missed mainland locations like Delphi, Mt Olympus, and the hip "second city" of Thessaloniki. It's worth a return visit. :)
