And now for the specifics of my trip to Athens.
First off, let me tell you about the hotel. The Stratos Vassilikos Hotel on Mikalakapoulou St. is a very nice hotel. It is considered a 5 star hotel but, in truth, it's nowhere near the quality of some of the more expensive hotels closer into the city. But, then again, downtown Greece is a very busy, very loud, very crowded, very smelly place: I don't know if I'd want to stay at those hotels. Once again, the hotel we're staying in may not be for everyone but it works for me: it's close to the Metro, the free breakfast is fresh and tasty (fresh squeezed orange juice everywhere in this city is unreal!), and I got an old fashioned haircut from the in-house barber. My only complaints are that the room is one floor above the street level and the noise outside never stops. It's not brutal, especially if you're like me and you've spent any amount of time living in city, but it's there. I can drone it out so not that big a deal. The other thing I have to complain about has little to do with the room and more to do with Greece in general.
Like Thailand, smoking is a large part of the culture here in Greece. But, whereas Thailand seemed to be about the sheer amount of people smoking in the city, Greece is about the amount AND the location. You can smoke anywhere in Greece. I'm not exaggerating here; I mean literally anywhere. Restaurants. Cafes. Inside shops. The employees smoke as they ring you up at the mall. The bus stops. The taxis. The platforms. Everywhere. It's really hard, even as a former smoker, to witness it.
When I was smoked, I considered myself a "conscientious smoker". This meant there were rules. You never smoked when there were kids around or held your breath if you had just inhaled and someone walked nearby. You always stepped away from the group or away from the entrance of a building where people may have to walk through. If in the company of strangers at an outside cafe, you always got permission from the other patrons and, if they said they did in fact mind if you smoked, you were courteous and accepted their request or moved to another table. You didn't smoke where you weren't supposed to. Which is why I defended the smoker's right to smoke in places that were deemed appropriate: bars, outside on patios away from non-smokers, and in designated areas. I used to hate the non-smokers who would stand in the smoking area and complain that people were smoking. That's why there was a "smoking area", you idiot! So you non-smokers know what you're getting into when you get there. I don't complain about your designated non-smoking area so don't complain about MY designated area. That's why it's designated, dumbass! I was happy to stand outside in the rain and smoke to make people more comfortable at the covered bus stop or the cafe. Fairness and equality for all people and their vices so long as they're legal. When all that became illegal, the issue became moot and when cigarettes started costing six dollars a pack and my health was in the toilet, it was time to quit. Some things are more important, y'know. Like breathing and not having your heart skip. My wife was happy I did and that's always nice, too.
When I quit smoking, I swore to the gods that I would not become one of those self-righteous ex-smokers who felt the need to point out all my new-found non-smoker-ness. I think that pretentious ex-smokers are the worst kind of people right after sexual predators, tax insurers, and people who think the "Please turn off your cell phone" warnings at movie theaters don't apply to them. (They DO, you asshole! Turn it off or get a 32 oz Coke cup thrown at your head, fucktard! You have been WARNED! That goes for texting too!) But Greece has been very hard.
We went to a reeeaaaaallly nice dinner on Valentine's night. It was at a place called "Horizons" on the tallest point in Athens. I mean swank and a half, y'know? Sure, there's some people smoking in the restaurant but it's not that bad. I'd just gotten used to the fact that people smoke everywhere here; inside and out. Then, this older couple sat next to us (I mean, RIGHT next to us... the table spacing was tiny) and began chain smoking. They sat down smoking. They lit up during drinks, before the appetizer, during the soup, between the appetizer and the main course, during the main course, right afterward, during the palate cleansing treat, while waiting for desert, during coffee, while they waited for the check, during the cognac, the whole. fucking. time. The two of them puffed through a pack a piece and didn't even blink an eye. Even as a heavy smoker, chain smoking (and especially during dinner when you WANT to use your taste buds) takes diligence and a level of self-destruction and nihilistic apathy that takes years to cultivate. My 70 Euro steak tasted like an ashtray by the time they brought it and I hadn't puffed a single drag. When we got back to the hotel, everything smelled like it had been in an ashtray for days. It was, for lack of a better and more suitable pair of words, fucking disgusting.
I will never give anyone a hard time for smoking. Go forward, you fine people; find pleasure in whatever form you can muster. If you're hooked, you have my utmost sympathy because I still miss it like a motherfucker. But I challenge even the most hardcore smoker I know to spend some time in Athens and not feel that the Grecian habit might be a little excessive.
The reason I tell you all this is because our hotel room has that smell like it used to be a smoking room but is now not. The smell lingers in the sheets and the pillows. But, like Thailand, I wonder if that's not just the way Greece smells in general and it's just a part of the air quality. I have been having the worst nicotine fits and even had to have a smoke one or two to get the headache out of my brain. A little hair-of the-dog cigarette style, if you will. I can control my shit though, so I remain a recovering addict; not a failed one.
Other than that, the hotel has been pretty great. Low key, close to the city, some nice amenities, and some really great food for room service. There's a taxi for the hotel that waits outside for fares and banks, food, pharmacy is all very close by.
I've really been enjoying Athens. Today we walked the Agora and sat in the same halls where Plato taught. We searched the grounds and found the prison where Socrates was poisoned in 399 BC and had a nice little moment there. Then we climbed Mars Hill where Paul the Apostle spoke to the people of Athens when he came here. After returning to our favorite cafe on the street down from the Acropolis, we trammed it to the mall where we replaced our very worn travel clothes. Try wearing the same pair of pants for two months. It does, in fact, suck ass. I thought my Spartan-esque habits would see me through but Daddy needs a new pair of shoes... fer realz.
On a sour note, there is a strike in the Customs import here in Greece and my phone, which was supposed to arrive two days ago, is stuck in some FedEx depot somewhere in this city. Wish me luck as I try to retrieve it tomorrow before I leave on Friday. sigh.
Time to eat.
-d@n
No comments:
Post a Comment