To excited to be tired, lacking in sleep but my senses were heightened. The smells were more distinct, I was seeing things in technicolor and hearing in surround sound. The sounds were not blended together like they frequently are. They were distinct. Athens is a crazy place. We made our way through the airport and located the subway that would take us across the city. There was a hostel that had a bunk bed waiting with our names on it. We left the safety of the tourist areas and the signs with English translations for a neighborhood with an affordable bed.
I was equipped with some photo copied disjointed maps from a travel book and and address for the Aphrodite Hostel. Climbed the stairs of the subway station for the city above. It had just finished storming. This working class neighborhood I was in felt gritty. It had the feel of a black and white movie from decades ago. A kind of artsy movie that only plays at small theatres and comes with subtitles. This was where Jesus and Peter and Paul and the others had walked 1000s of years before and you could still feel the dust of their foot prints mixed up and swirling with the dust and rain of today. I stepped carefully, not wanting to step on the wrong pebble for fear it could be considered an artifact.
The street signs were written in Greek characters. Our maps were in English letters. Instantly I noticed the weight of my backpack. Stopped a few people and pointed at my map and my address and received smiles and shoulder shrugs. Got yelled at by a hotel owner for bothering him when I had no intention of staying there. Ran into a girl with a back pack, she was American. Yeah, a new friend. "Where are you going?", "The Aristotle Hostel", "No way, so are we", we walked together and made small talk. Three blocks later I realized... I am going to the Aphrodite's not Aristotle. Oops, oh well. "Goodbye".
The neighborhood was made of tall skinny buildings that held apartments and funky little shops on the bottom levels. The store fronts consisted of big open garage type doors. Sounds of people arguing, talking and laughing came from these places. Motorcycles were everywhere and cars parked on sidewalks. People were cooking dinner. I had been in hallways wider then these streets. Things were still dripping with the rain that had recently stopped. It was warm. We found the Aphrodite. Gave them some cash and were issued a set of sheets and a key which also let us turn on the lights in our little room on the 5th floor. The elevator was old school. Big heavy metal doors that you opened and closed yourself. The room was bare. It consisted of a wooden table and chair and two sets of bunk beds. The beds were naked except for a folded blanket at the end of each. Dropped my stuff and left.
In the basement of this building was a bar of sorts. Small, tiny, dark. It was in an industrial looking kind of cage. There was a bar across one end that fit maybe three bar stools and a spot or two to stand. A bench along one side that had a couple of tiny tables. In the back was a large table that was made for maybe eight people. This was all there was room for. At the large table a group of ten or twelve playing quarters. They were from all over the world speaking different languages. Somehow the universal language of drinking games brings us all together. Smiling, laughing, slamming, clinking glasses. It was wonderful. Everyone in this closet size room was smoking. It was hard to see with the poor lighting and cloud of heavy smoke. The quarter playing group resembled that barroom scene in the original Starwars. The bar that Han Solo and Chewbacca show up at on the strange planet that is full of all the crazy aliens. That is what it felt like. Ordered a beer and along with it was handed a shot of ouzo. I forgot about the ouzo. Greece's national drink. It was served in a plastic shot glass lined with blinking LED lights. Not sure what to do with it I slammed it. Later I found out this was wrong. It is an aperitif meant to be sipped slowly. Now I felt warm and a little crazed from being awake for over 24 hours. The room was spinning. Left the basement bar and and headed out on the streets. Now for some food and some fresh air.....I'll plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.
