Greece, days 0 and 1
Day 0- day1
Off to a poor start. The day in the office is pretty busy, and as I'm already a bit sleep-deprived (last minute packing? After midnight? Me? Never!) I'm feeling pretty ropey. Add to this the fact that the tube is rammed, it's stinking hot, and it decides to stop half way there. Then I pick the slowest line at the bag drop, and get told off for having a butane canister in my bag (yes, I'm that guy that made the slow line even slower), I'm feeling pretty frazzled by the time that I meet up with poor old Dave, who's been hanging around waiting for me for about an hour by this point. On our way through security, I say something to the bomb detection guy that I realise, the moment it's out of my mouth, could be interpretted to mean that I have a bomb. Way to try for the shortest holiday ever! Turns out to be the nicest security guy in existence, and he doesn't make a fuss, but... not the brightest. Get on the flight after a pint, and read my way to Greece. Getting off at the other end, we... don't find the car I hired waiting for us. After ascertaining this as throroughly as we can, we sit down to wait the 6 hours that it's going to take us to find out where the hell it is (all the offices open at 8am, which is reasonable to anyone who is not stuck at the airport at 2am, but is THOROUGHLY unreasonable to us). Long story short, the rental company decided to cancel our hire, and "sent me an email" telling me so (which "never made it to my inbox" - still haven't checked if they billed me - either way, never hire through CarDelMar, just saying). So we hire a car and head out of Athens; the plan for day one is Marathon, Thermopylae, and sleep.
Work out the Greek roadmap (not detailed) and Greek signage (well-nigh non-existent) and get to Marathon. Are shocked by the paucity of tourists - if you go to Greece, go in September. Weather is good (well, oven-like, clear blue skies, much water a necessity) and there's no one else there! We go to the archeological museum (you'll be reading that phrase a lot) and have a look at the tumulus of the Plataeans, both of them out in the middle of nowhere, and then head, via a number of unplanned detours to the site of the battle, complete with the tumulus of the Athenians. It's a mound in the middle of a field, so not exactly the most visually inspiring thing in the world, but given that it's the site of a battle which has echoed down the ages for nearly 2500 years, it still feels pretty cool to be there. Gives a sense of perspective to the history (and also a huge amount of respect for Philippedes - if he existed - the ground between Marathon and Athens is the polar opposite of flat, so to run that in full armour... yikes!)
So we piled into the car, feeling remarkably fresh considering that we'd not slept for about 30 hours at this point, and headed off towards Lamia, which is near the pass of Thermopylae. Almost passed the pass by, as it turns out, because it turns out that the pass wasn't a mountain pass as such, but a narrow neck of land skirted by sea on one side, and mountain on the other, and in the intervening 2500 years, the sea shore moved. About 9km. So Thermopylae isn't even slightly impressive anymore - it's a pretty hospitable plain with a great big motorway running through it. By this point, Dave and I are pretty tired, and just not feeling the gravity of the place, so we head off to Lamia for the night, find some food, and bask in the warmth of the evening, before heading to bed to sleep like the dead.
Off to a poor start. The day in the office is pretty busy, and as I'm already a bit sleep-deprived (last minute packing? After midnight? Me? Never!) I'm feeling pretty ropey. Add to this the fact that the tube is rammed, it's stinking hot, and it decides to stop half way there. Then I pick the slowest line at the bag drop, and get told off for having a butane canister in my bag (yes, I'm that guy that made the slow line even slower), I'm feeling pretty frazzled by the time that I meet up with poor old Dave, who's been hanging around waiting for me for about an hour by this point. On our way through security, I say something to the bomb detection guy that I realise, the moment it's out of my mouth, could be interpretted to mean that I have a bomb. Way to try for the shortest holiday ever! Turns out to be the nicest security guy in existence, and he doesn't make a fuss, but... not the brightest. Get on the flight after a pint, and read my way to Greece. Getting off at the other end, we... don't find the car I hired waiting for us. After ascertaining this as throroughly as we can, we sit down to wait the 6 hours that it's going to take us to find out where the hell it is (all the offices open at 8am, which is reasonable to anyone who is not stuck at the airport at 2am, but is THOROUGHLY unreasonable to us). Long story short, the rental company decided to cancel our hire, and "sent me an email" telling me so (which "never made it to my inbox" - still haven't checked if they billed me - either way, never hire through CarDelMar, just saying). So we hire a car and head out of Athens; the plan for day one is Marathon, Thermopylae, and sleep.
Work out the Greek roadmap (not detailed) and Greek signage (well-nigh non-existent) and get to Marathon. Are shocked by the paucity of tourists - if you go to Greece, go in September. Weather is good (well, oven-like, clear blue skies, much water a necessity) and there's no one else there! We go to the archeological museum (you'll be reading that phrase a lot) and have a look at the tumulus of the Plataeans, both of them out in the middle of nowhere, and then head, via a number of unplanned detours to the site of the battle, complete with the tumulus of the Athenians. It's a mound in the middle of a field, so not exactly the most visually inspiring thing in the world, but given that it's the site of a battle which has echoed down the ages for nearly 2500 years, it still feels pretty cool to be there. Gives a sense of perspective to the history (and also a huge amount of respect for Philippedes - if he existed - the ground between Marathon and Athens is the polar opposite of flat, so to run that in full armour... yikes!)
So we piled into the car, feeling remarkably fresh considering that we'd not slept for about 30 hours at this point, and headed off towards Lamia, which is near the pass of Thermopylae. Almost passed the pass by, as it turns out, because it turns out that the pass wasn't a mountain pass as such, but a narrow neck of land skirted by sea on one side, and mountain on the other, and in the intervening 2500 years, the sea shore moved. About 9km. So Thermopylae isn't even slightly impressive anymore - it's a pretty hospitable plain with a great big motorway running through it. By this point, Dave and I are pretty tired, and just not feeling the gravity of the place, so we head off to Lamia for the night, find some food, and bask in the warmth of the evening, before heading to bed to sleep like the dead.
posted by Not My Former at 2:53 AM
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