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November
29, 1999
Thessalonica, Greece to Athens, Greece
Good
morning from Teamaroundtheworld 1999. This is Doug with the journal
report for Nov. 29, chronicling our journey from Thessalonika to Athens,
Greece.
We woke up
before sunrise because we wanted to get an early start on the road to
Athens. We were also camped in a farmer’s field and wanted to get moving
before anybody saw us. As luck would have it, three farm workers drove
onto the field driving the Greek version of our Chinese nemesis, the bok
choy truck. They looked very surprised to see us but responded warmly
following our chorus of hellos. They didn't speak much English but we
tried to convey to them that we were leaving. Just in case they didn't
understand us, we actually left.
We decided
to bypass the onramp to the highway and stay on the little side road and
find someplace to stop for breakfast. Just up the road we found a small
cafe and got some coffee. The owner said that the only thing he could
make for us was cheese sandwiches, but nobody was complaining and we
ordered five. It was absolutely freezing outside, and it wasn't much
warmer inside so we all huddled around the small wood stove in the middle
of the place eating our toasted cheese sandwiches and sipping our coffee.
After loading up with road junk food, we hit the road for Athens in
earnest.
We headed
south following the beautiful Greek coast toward Thermopylae Pass, the
scene of a great battle during the second Persian wars. King Leonidas and
his 300 Spartans fought to the death, buying critical time for the
adequate defense of Athens. We took some pictures at the monument, but
there was really no way of getting a good shot because of the high power
lines that were visible from all angles. All the same, it was really cool
to see it for myself.
We entered
Athens at the height of rush-hour traffic, but fast or slow it didn't
really matter because we didn't have a map of Athens and no clue as to
where we were going. At some point we left the freeway. It had taken us
45 minutes to go only a few miles so we figured what the hey. We drove
around for at least another 45 minutes before we lucked into a small
hotel down by the beach. The rooms were only $30 apiece, a great deal
except Jeff had to sleep on the floor that first night and the hotel was
in the direct flight path of the nearby Athens airport. We unpacked and
tried to get a cab to the Acropolis.
The guy
behind the front desk told us that we were in the Plaka district, which
was also the major tourist area. He said the Acropolis was closed for the
day, but we went there anyway. There was the usual assortment of
T-shirt/postcard shops as well as a few art galleries, but the area was
loaded with restaurants. We picked one and we all had an awesome dinner
of Gyros washed down with copious amounts of the local beer. We met two
American women at the restaurant and after dinner they came over to our
table for a chat. Their names were both Lynn and they were from Texas. We
got to talking and it turned out that one of them knew Nick's older
sister. They had worked together years ago. Small world.
After
hearing the story about our trip, they put forth the idea of representing
us when we got back to the States. They would try to land Team
Aroundtheworld1999 some type of moneymaking deal in return for 20 percent
of the take. They told us not to sign any other deals and that they would
be sending us contracts to sign. Then we sealed the deal with a prayer
(led by one of the Lynns). We had no idea what would come of it but we
figured what the heck. Then we had some bitchin' dessert and took cabs
back to the hotel. See you tomorrow.
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