Listers/Densons 1: Athens 0. Athens thought it would win. Not even close.
So, we arrived safely in Athens on Tuesday. We had been warned previously that May 1st is a day of protest in some countries, particularly Athens which has been protesting alot here recently. So, being the prepared tourists that we are, we asked our hostel front desk if this was true and was there anything we needed to know in particular. We even told him we had a day and a half, so we were on a pretty tight schedule. We were informed that protest day had been moved to later in May, so we were good to go. "Go have fun guys." Therefore, we went on a self-guided Athens walking tour (thank you Rick Steves), which took us on a quick loop around the city. We could see the Acropolis from afar from several different vantage points. It was pretty great!
However, upon returning to our hostel and researching the posters we saw of angry young adults shouting with a date of May 1st, we found out that May 1st is Labor day in Athens. Labor Day is a day of no activity. Athenians head to the country. All museums closed. You catch my drift. Needless to say, we were frantically trying to find a blog that told us otherwise. But to no avail. Wednesday morning, we headed out to see what we could see. On our way out, the guy at the front desk said, "So, I researched more about that Labor Day thing, and you were right. Everything is closed. Sorry about that." Take a couple of breaths and keep walking. We walked as far as we could up to the Acropolis and read the Acropolis tour and acted like we were walking around looking at the monuments. We did get to climb Mars Hill though, the location where Paul spoke to the Athenians in Acts 17! Then we went to the first modern Olympic Stadium, and finally, the beach. So, maybe we went all the way to Athens and did not get to see Parthenon. We were pretty stinkin' close to it though. We ate some great food. And got a Grecian sunburn. All in all, the trip was a success. So take that Athens. Bazinga.
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| Mary Margaret and Jonathan in front of the Arch of Hadrian |
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| Chicken gyro. Don't worry. I removed that tomato. |
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| Feeling artsy in Athens |
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| Jonathan's path he found through a hillside community |
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| Eating dinner in Greece |
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| Jonathan and Mary Margaret in front of the entrance to the Acropolis |
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| Marching at the Acropolis |
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| Nikes in front of the Temple of Athena Nike. Nike, email me for the rights to this picture. |
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| Acropolis |
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| Mars Hill |
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| Nathaniel and I in front of Paul's address to the Athenians (in Acts 17) on the side of Mars Hill |
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| The Densons and Listers in front of the Acropolis |
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| The first modern Olympic Stadium - originally hosted in 1896 and then again in 2004 for the end of the Olympic marathon. |
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| Jonathan and Mary Margaret in front of the Mediterranean Sea |
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| Nathaniel and I in front of the Mediterranean Sea |
I am currently sitting in the Charlotte airport. We left our hostel in Athens at 5:15am (which was really 9pm in Memphis, Tennessee). I watched three movies on my flight from Frankfurt. And drank too much coffee. But we are back! So glad to be home safely. Thank you again for all of the prayers and support and encouragement. Mary Margaret, Jonathan, Nathaniel, and I are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends.
Shout out to all of you active bloggers. This is hard work. So, I will probably take a hiatus. No one wants to read about how great I think my beagle is every day anyways. Thank you for reading and for keeping up with our adventures.
Love,
Brooke
