I've heard before of the 'Paris Syndrome'. This is a recognized illness in Japan, where Japanese tourists actually become mentally distressed from the shock and disappointment of their visit to Paris. I'm not feeling all that great about my trip to Athens. We had such a great time in Rhodes and we only left because it seemed like we needed to give at least a couple days to Athens.
This city is unattractive at best. As we entered the city by train, we had to exit because the city workers were on strike. We were then put on a bus and sent off somewhere in the city. We found our way eventually, but that's not even the point; the city is just ugly. Sure there are a few ruins lying around and we had a few nice Amstels in the city square followed by some juicy gyros, but it's just not enough to save this city. It feels more dangerous than central Java in Indonesia. Police on most corners, sketchy people roaming abandoned streets littered with low-grade graffiti.
I woke up today in our hostel from a nap and I didn't even know where I was. In my head, Athens was always some magical place, now it just seems like a dirty, sweaty city with gyros. I'm sure that the other cities in Europe have more to offer than this, if not I will be even more disillusioned than now, I guess.
In fact, I'm not really feeling too bad. I predicted that this would happen. We had a few warnings from other tourists about Athens, so I'm not so shocked. It's also comforting to know that we'll be flying to Rome in 2 days.
We will keep on truckin'!
chad
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