Things to do in Athens

Greece is my favourite Europe destination. The Greeks are very welcoming. If we looked like in a fix with a map, we would have passer-bys proactively asking if they could help with directions. It also helped that most of the good looking people are found in Greece.

Other than the obvious Acropolis, and the hammam experience (a must do), here're my best memories of Athens.

There are 8 archaeological sites, it took me 2 days to walk them all.

Where to Eat

You'll regret if you miss Oikeio (pronounced as Ikio) as every item on the menu is heavenly. Recognized by Tripadvisor (Certificate of Excellence 2013) and Michelin Guide (Bib Gourmand Prize), best is to book in advance. For high quality ingredients and authentic Greek recipes, the prices are very affordable. I think our table of 8 cost less than 200 euros. Moussaka is very Greek, an eggplant with mash potato lasagna  Every morsel made me tear with joy. Be sure to order the saganaki , pan fried feta covered with sesame and honey. Once you pop, you can't stop!

Oikeio

• Ploutarchou 15
  Athens 10675
  Phone: +30 210 7259216
  
  
  
  From restaurant to street side, a few steps away is another typical Greek cuisine, the souvalki. These are grilled meat skewers. A typical after-party stick, i particularly like the meat patties as well as home-made chunky fries. The bill for 5 was less than 40 euros. 
  
  
  Kalamaki Kolonaki
  Ploutarchou 32, Kolonaki
  +30 210 7218800
  
  
  Where to Shop
  
  
  Plaka is near the acropolis and it took us awhile to locate where it is. We didn't know we were in it until we were quite sure we were in it because there was no other street like it! I swear i wasn't trying to play mind games by just writing that sentence. Plaka is the historical neighbourhood of Athens, the area is very different from others. If you arrived in an area with slopes and white washed tourist shops left and right, you are in Plaka. 

Epmoy is a girl's heaven. Greek fashion brought me to my knees. While the clothing and shoes on this shopping street are not quite cheap, they are of such style and simplicity that I can't resist. Clothes are what makes a Greek Goddess.

Where to Go
We used http://www.viva.gr/ to book our ferry tickets to Mykonos.

An easy 3 hours away, we were in paradise! A Greece visit is incomplete without paying homage to the islands.

The flowers were blooming, the walls were without a speck. It is a community effort to keep Mykonos looking the way it is.

Oops, i think i dirtied the wall with that foot pose.

Caught the secret painter who keeps the walls so white!

The most beautiful sun set i've seen. 

My Spainard's face can launch a thousand ships. 

Mykonos has enough shops to keep a girl busy shopping as well as sea and sand to spend the day. October is the best month to go as the party summer crowd have gone so it is less crowded. Shops on this island open till late. When it is summer, it can stay open as late as 4am.

Be sure to eat at Pasta Fresca at 15 Kouzi Georgouli str. We chanced upon it getting lost among the narrow alleys that looked identical because of the white. You can't miss it, with such a display of handmade pasta outside. The pasta is AMAZING.

If you're into getting your fortune read the Greek way, you can get it by drinking a Greek coffee at Archileos 47, Paleo Faliro. Be mindful that there is also an Archileos street in the city center, it isn't that. We took a tram from Syntagma and it was an adventure just tracing down this cafe. It is one of the rare few still standing as people no longer frequent such. We went for the fun of it, believing it completes the Greek experience. 

Greek coffee actually tastes very bad. It has so much residue in it, its the worst coffee I've drank. However, it is from the texture that leaves behind your fortune. Don't get me wrong, you certainly can drink a Greek coffee any where, it doesn't necessary come with a reading. Like ancient Chinese monks reading inside the temple bells which evolved to the Chinese reading tea leaves in a tea cup (which resembles the temple bell), the Greeks uses their coffee. 

The coffee residue is read outside in. The outer rim represents the next 2 months and the maximum you can know about your future is 6 months. The lady speaks limited English but wrote the rest in Greek which needed translation. A reading costs 25 euros on top of 6 euros for the coffee that tastes nothing like Starbucks for that price.

The Gazi area has many quaint cafes to wile away an afternoon. Food is nothing to call home about though.

The College

Having not taken biology, i got a crash course on anatomy in the local Athens Central Market found on Athinas Street (Omonia station). Opened only Mon to Sat, from 7am to 3pm.

The butchers are super friendly and welcoming for pictures. It felt like a horror movie, walking into a slaughterhouse with men in white lab coats splattered with blood.

Not for the faint hearted and weak stomachs, i have not seen anywhere else where animals are skinned whole and displayed. One butcher told us that animal on the top left, with a cigarette from its mouth, is a cat. Later on his neighbour whispered to us he was pulling our leg. It's a lamb.

Rabbits with their furry tail still intact.

Dentures, anyone?

Greece, the true experience. 

Day 1, 2400 hours. 

I sit here in Rovaniemi airport in disbelief. My travel partner who was supposed to be with me could not make it in the eleventh hour because of a crime that took place right before we board the airport train. I've been awake and on the road for the last 17 hours. 

There's not a single soul in the airport of Santa, not even staff. Outside, snow began to fall. 

The bus finally arrived, full of military boys. Bless the cold, for they don't smell. In camo print uniform and sporting blonde boyish cuts, they lay sprawled on the seats, fatigued from training.  

I felt like a female war correspondent, not sure where we're heading in the dark. Light snowflakes float towards the windshield rapidly as the bus sped, it was like how i've seen in arcade games. 

I like how its silent outside as we pass the endless line of snow-capped cone-shaped trees. 

In the distance, the sky is a light hue of red, white & green. Catching the Dance of the Spirits look promising. 

Finally arrived in Kakslauttanen. I picked up an envelope marked with my name & used a sleigh to pull my lugguage to my glass igloo. 

Thus starts my solo journey to chase the aurora borealis. 

Meme of the Year

Recently, a picture was snapped of me falling that has a striking resemblance to that falling Scarlett Johansson too.

Me.

Scarlett Johansson.

When Scarlett fell, she became meme of the year. They were pretty darn hilarious!

I was also at San Fermin too!

This is my favourite. Greedy Scarlett. 

So i made some memes of my own. 

I'm actually doing hip hop. 

So, this is why i fell. Trying out an Olympics sport, curling. 

The Influence of Greek

The Acropolis

The Greek influence is greater than i know. I knew they started the Olympics, and athletes used to throw steel balls (shot put)or jump javelin naked. Little did i know that, Nike and Pepsi are also Greek names. It was certainly a moment of eureka for me.

Mykonos

It is catastrophic to be ignorant of the greek influence, especially when we use them so much in the English language.

My first time in Greece turned out to be a language lesson among other things. I discovered the origins of English phrases. Greek mythology actually had such an impact on the world!

Diving in Mykonos

Atlas, as we all know means a collection of maps. It derived from a Greek God with the same name who held up the world with his shoulders.

The word erotic came from the Greek character Eros aka Cupid. Cupid is more commonly known as the angel of love, but he is actually horny little thing out to create havoc. His interventions often cause Gods and men to fall in love, often when already married. No wonder 'erotic' sounds more titillating than any other word to describe love making. 

I learned a new phrase, the midas touch. It means good fortune in everything you do. It came from the Greek myth that King Midas wished that everything he touched be turned into gold. It came true but realised that this new power prevents him from touching loved ones. I would think this myth would fit the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' better, but to say that teacher has the midas touch means he turns any student into one of the best. 

You probably already know an archilles' heel. It means a tragic weakness or flaw and the expression comes from Archilles who is invincible but his heel, the one vulnerable spot. He died of a wound to the heel. 

The word echo has a very scandalous beginning. Even more so than erotic. In the ancient tales, Echo was a mountain nymph who talks excessively with her gorgeous voice. Her voice was so lovely that she would often distract Zeus’ wife Hera with her long and entertaining stories while Zeus would sneak away and make love with the other mountain nymphs. When Hera found out about Echo’s role in her husband’s activities, she punished her by taking away her ability to speak, except in repetition of the words of others.

 There are a ton more other words that are names of Greek Gods. Like Nemesis, the god who took revenge against those who showed arrogance before the gods. Or phobia, or cloth, chronology, fortune, hypnosis, morphine, or even cereal!

I could go on, but my favourite has to be the word narcissism. Narcissus is a gorgeous half-nymph and half-god. So proud was he of his own looks that he hated anyone who dared love him. Nemesis punished Narcissus by luring him to a pool of water where he could see his own reflection. There are 2 versions to his end. One was where he commits suicide, but for someone who loves himself so much, i don't think he can bring himself to scar his body. The other is that Narcissus doesn't realise it is his reflection and falls in love with it (himbo), refusing to leave until he eventually dies of hunger. 

Yes, narcissism don't lead to a good end. 

P.S all pictures taken in Greece