Malakas!

Its all greek to me.... Indeed I am in Greece, and even though they have funny letters that I can not read I have truly had an amazing time here so far! But wait... I have to catch you up on the past two weeks of madness!

Think back to Friday morning, 2 weeks ago in Rome. I went to go check out one of the national museums housed in an ancient Roman bathhouse, just near the train station. The museum contains an interesting display of statues, bronzework (including an impressive bronze statue of a boxer that was almost 2000 years old and in pristine condition). The building itself is interesting - an ancient brick bathhouse used as a communal bathing place all those years ago! During lunchtime I met up with Gaia and her mate Bruna and we went to chill in the Villa Borghese park. Gaia took us to a beautiful area with luscious green grass and pastel blossoms sprouting from the trees. It was so good to relax in nature away from the bustling city.

That evening I went to the Great Synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat. The shule is grand, however not as impressive as the Florence shule. The service was beautiful as the main songs were sung by a choir with perfect harmony and acoustics! I had shabbos dinner with Gaia's family which was lovely. The next morning I popped over to a local (and much closer) shule for Shacharit.

Saturday night ... time to experience true Roman nightlife. I met up with Gaia and her friends and we went out to Campo de Fiori for a few drinks and good times.

Sunday morning started with a Museum - this time the Palazzo Mussiomalle Terre which houses an impressive array of Roman statues, busts, mosaics and plasterwork as well as a cool collection of Roman coins (some dating over 2500 years olds). For lunch I popped over to explore the Jewish ghetto. On the street behind the Grand Synagogue are scores of kosher restaurants, cafes, judaica stores etc and is quite a funky place to hang out.

Monday was my last day in Rome and I had only 1 more place to visit.... The Vatican. I left early, as I wanted to avoid the queues, and I arrived just after 9am. It is weird to think that you are technically leaving Italy and entering a new state! It does not feel or look any different, and there is no passport control or anything life that - you just walk and bang... you are in Vatican city! I entered through St Peter's square which is a large eliptical arena surrounded by columns. This is where the pope addresses his audience every week - you can even see the balcony that the pontif stands on! At the top of the square stands the mighty St Peter's basilica - the world centre of Catholicism. After passing through security I entered into the basilica. It is huge inside, and surely is impressive. It was funny to see lots of nuns running around - I was so tempted to go and hug one! (someone left this advice on my facebook page lol)

On the eastern side of Vatican city is the entrance to the Vatican museums. These museums are so popular so I was lucky that I only had to wait 30 minutes in the queue. There were lots of Pakistani men trying to sell umbrellas (as it was lightly raining) and a few locals trying to promote the "skip the queue tour" in which by paying 10 times the price you can go straight in - I think I can wait!

The museums are massive - the biggest I have been in yet! There are many different sections, and a few were closed off for some reason. I spent approximately 5 hours inside wandering through the displays that included egyptology, ancient roman, and pre roman estrucan works. I am glad I invested in the audio guide as it not only helped me to understand what I was looking at, but also acts as a map around the vast complex. In the centre of the museum buildings is PineCone courtyard, and the connecting hallways all contain amazing and interesting artworks including tapestries, maps and stuccos. For the Renaissance lovers - there is the Raphael rooms with some very complex and symbolic fresco works by the art master and his students. And of course there is the highlight of the museum - the Sistine Chapel. The ceilings and walls of this small chapel contain the finest examples of Renaissance work by MichelAngelo. On the roof is the story of creation from Genisis and contains the famous Adam and G-d work where the two are almost touching fingers (http://arachnid.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/michelangelo-sistine-chapel-adam.jpg). On the front wall is the powerful display of Jesus, the redeemer.

I wanted to visit the Vatican library, but unfortunately it was closed, so instead I continued through the remaining galleries which included a modern and contemporary Christian art gallery. This gallery contained many cool works by my favourite, Dali. There was also plenty of older christian work including a unique tapestry with the famous "Last Supper" by Leonardo DaVinci based on the original painting on display in Milan.

My last evening in Italy..... By some random coincidence, a friend of both Gaia and I was in town - Jon from the US. So weird that I bumped into him in Rome!!! So anyways, we all went out to get Pizza and chillax. After saying thanks and bye to Gaia and her family I headed out to the airport. I had a 6.40am plane to catch so I figured I would just sleep in the airport to save the hassle. Besides being kicked out of the terminal at 12am (we could go to the next terminal which was 24 hours) and being harassed by some sicko lady it was actually a cool evening as I bumped into 2 Canadian chiks who were heading the same way as me!

I had managed to find a couchsurfing host in Athens so on arrival I headed straight out to their place via metro and tram! I was kind of half asleep because my original plan to sleep in the airport had been scrapped due to the fact that the Canadian chiks and I were chatting all night! My hosts were sisters, Nefeli and Idili who live together with their mum near the city centre. I quickly was introduced to George - their best friend, who practically lives at the girls place (well at least when I was there lol). I am just going to throw it out there - these 3 duuudes are amazing! I really had such an amazing time with them and I never felt so at home!!!!

Something cool that I learnt about my hosts is that they are involved in the film and media business. They have a recording studio in the basement in which they use to dubb films and series into Greek. Its kinda cool to know that their voices are on television throughout the Greek world! They also are involved with film production and are about to host a film course on a Greek island over the summer.

The first evening in Athens was fun as we all headed downtown to the Monastiraki district to smoke Shisha - there is like a whole street full of Shisha bars.... and smoking is still legal inside bars in Greece. Joining us was also the Canadian girls from the airport. Monastiraki is a funky nightspot filled with bars and classy coffeeshops. You can also see the Acropolis - which at night is all lit up.

The next day we were joined by another couch surfer, Sarah, who was surfing at the girls place (also from canada). George offered be our tour guide and the plan was to go visit the Acropolis. However, Greece being Greece - the site staff were on strike! So instead we wondered around the hills surrounding the Acropolis site which has stunning views looking out over the whole of Athens. From the top you can see the Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hephaestus and many other archeological sites. You can also see out to the sea with some islands popping up over the horizon. That afternoon we visited the Acropolis museum which contains artefacts discovered on and around the Acropolis hill. The most interesting item is the collection of 5 maidens taken from one of the temples near the Parthenon. (The 6th maiden is in London and the Greeks want it back!) That evening we went to go eat some Greek food.... however the typical cuisine is anything but Kosher so I had to settle for a Greek salad (still good though).

The next day we tried round 2 at the Acropolis. Success - the strike was off and we could visit the site. George (for a bit), Sarah and I explored the site which included the Parthenon, the theatre of Dionysis and down the hill - the temple of Zeus and Hadrians Arch. Afterwards we wandered through the central city until we came to Syntagma square, the heart of downtown which houses the Parliament. The sisters met up with us and we all went out to grab a Greek coffee (not dissimilar to Turkish coffee) in the Neasmyrni district.

I wanted to cook something for my hosts to enjoy - so we made Falafel! It was very yum, even though I grossly overestimated how many chickpeas we needed! The evening ended with a crazy game of Circle of Death.... the first of many to come!

For Shabbos I headed down to the local Synagogue and then enjoyed dinner by Chabad. It was really interesting to chat to the Rabbi's wife about Athenian Jewish life. It turns out it is not so different than that of Wellington - and they do not even have a kosher store!!! I had told my hosts that I would be back around tenish - turned out to be more like 2am! They were freaking out so much that they even tried to call the Rabbi - of course to no avail! We spent the whole night chatting away about all sorts of random and funny stuff. So as you can imagine - I skipped shule the next day and had a great shabbos shluf!

Saturday night was party night - Greek style! Some of my hosts mates came down and it was time to crank the circle of death - round 2! We played 2 rounds that night and consumed lol! Then we headed off to the clubs... Greek clubs are popular so there was no chance we were going to get into one of the best! We went to a club called Candy Bar and danced the night away!

Sunday morning hangovers are never fun! Drinking water helps! Anyways... off to the Archeological museum of Athens. It was free on Sunday - yay! It has an interesting collection of impressive statues and artefacts but the most interesting items are the golden death masks. The most famous is the mask of Agamemnon which, like the other masks, shows the impression of his face still to this day - creepy!

In the afternoon we all went down to the Marina, a hip funky seaside hangout packed full of funky restaurants, bars and of course - super yachts.

I really had an amazing experience in Athens! It wasn't so much the place or the history or the museums (although these of course were very interesting) - it was more the people. In particular: George, Nefeli and Idili - with whom I hung out with every night 'til the wee hours. I had such a good time in Athens that I have now booked a flight back.... In August I will fly from Tel Aviv to Athens, party it up in the Greek Islands and then fly direct to Cairo.

I took a train this morning to Thessaloniki and hopefully tomorrow I jump on a bus to Istanbul.... so excited!!!!!

Until next time you Malakas!