Trip to Greece 2
(Continuing from the last text)
I visited the Acropolis Museum. It had the same inspection machine as the airport. The staff member told me that I could keep my purse and cellphone. The metal detector went off as expected, but I was able to enter without any problems. I wondered what the meaning of this security check was. You weren’t allowed to take pictures inside except at a certain place where the most important statues were, but I thought they were replicas and didn’t take pictures carefully.
I went up to the top of Lykavittos Hill to see the view of the Acropolis. However, the sun was directly behind the Acropolis, so I had to take a backlit photo. Besides, the part of the observatory facing the Acropolis is narrow, and a couple was flirting there. I stretched my arm and took some pictures, but they were rubbish. There was nothing else to do there, but I had to wait for a long time for the cable car to go back.
I had a plate of cod for dinner. Then I went to see the illumination of certain ruins, but it was dark and nobody was walking.
The Christmas tree in Syntagma Square was illuminated starting that night.
December 13
I participated in an organized two-day tour. I was waiting in the hotel lobby, and an employee of the travel agency came to pick me up 15 minutes behind schedule, calling my name. A woman who had waited more than I had tried to go with us, but her name wasn’t on the list. The bus was parked far away from the hotel. The employee seemed in a hurry and walked like a power-walking athlete, not paying any attention to me. The bus picked up tourists here and there, before going to the agency, where I took the car for my tour.
We were a group of five tourists excluding the guide and the driver. There were two Koreans (one student at a university in New York and her mother) and two India-based Singaporeans (one lives in Singapore and the other in Australia). The guide was a red-haired Greek woman who spoke English fluently. The tourists also spoke English fluently and I was the worst. The explanation of the guide was very easy to understand, but still I didn’t understand some parts. I pretended to understand, by nodding. The driver was an old and silent Greek. He was a little pushy with his driving. He sometimes tailgated other cars to make them give way. However, he took us to all the destinations without any accidents.
We visited the ruins of Delphi. A long time ago, a crazy woman who lived there saw “visions” and gave the messages of the gods to the people, which influenced the politics of many countries. After listening to the explanation of the guide, we had free time for a while. I wasted time by going to the stadium at the top of the hill, and I missed the museum.
We arrived in a city called Kalambaka at night and stayed there. I had chosen the cheaper hotel. It was old and the door of my room wouldn’t open. I was sure that the door was broken, so I called a staff member. It turned out that my way of unlocking the door was wrong. The bathroom was narrow and its door remained ajar. The hotel meals were delicious. After dinner, I took a walk through the streets of the little town.
December 14
We visited some monasteries of Meteora. They were built on rocks. Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take pictures inside of the monastery room. I did my best to try and memorize what I saw, but I forgot everything.
The guide tried to take us to a studio of Byzantine paintings, presumably to make us buy some paintings. However, some said they wanted to go back early, so her attempt was foiled. We went straight back to Athens and the tour ended.
December 15
I visited an archaeology museum. My guidebook said that the museum opened at eight, but I ended up waiting until nine. I took my time looking through the first part, and didn’t have much time left for the important parts.
I took the bus to go back to the airport. A plump woman was seated next to me. She crushed me whenever the bus turned. I arrived at the airport and flew to Dubai. I had more than an eight hour layover at the airport, but I didn’t go into the city because it was midnight.
First, I went to my gate to make sure my next flight would leave from there. It was located at the furthest point from the center, and it took a long time to get there. It was closed and there was no indication of my flight yet.
Then I looked for a place to get a free meal ticket, because I had checked online the night before and saw that information. There was no sign of such a place. I went back all the way to the Emirates counter and asked only to find out that they didn’t offer such a service anymore. I resigned myself to this disappointing development and decided to buy a meal. I went to the exchange counter. However, right when I was about to get there, two men reached there first and spoke to the employee. They pulled out a mound of unknown bills, and so the employee was occupied. After what seemed like ages, my turn came. I got the money successfully, and ate at McDonald’s. I flew back to Tokyo without mishap.
It seems like many Japanese people think Greece is still in turmoil after the economic crisis and the influx of immigrants. However, I found it to be completely safe. There were many tourists, as well as many stray cats and graffiti. I enjoyed my trip to Greece. I’d like to visit Greece again someday.
※この文章はアメリカ人の先生の添削を受けて修正済みです。
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