When i was younger, at school, i was fascinated by the old civilasations, the once that basicly formed the basis for our modern western european society. They typically started with the egyptian civilization, through the Greek era and ended with the Roman period.
I have visited Egypt before. Spent some 10 days there visiting most of the famous spots: the piramids around Cairo (very beautiful, but i was surprised to see how close they were to the city), the temple of Carnac at Luxor (and the great Aswan dam), did a 3-day super relaxing trip on the Nile in a feluca (a traditional egyptian sailing boat), climbed up Mount Sinai and ended with a few days relaxing at Sharks Bay (next to Sharm El Sheik), were is swore that one day i would learn to dive (seeing the beauty of the tropical sea for the first time, still only snorkeling at that time).
I returned years later twice to go diving : once from the city of Safaga, some 60km south of Hurghada and once on live-aboard to the Brother Islands, which was magnificient.
Anyway, Greece it was. Had a combination of different courses to do on two sites of Vodafone Greece, one of the operators in Greece. My first impression was that Athens is somewhat of a chaotic dusty city. And that impression is confirmed by every greek person i spoke. Athens is placed and original dimensioned for not more than 1 milion people, but has at least 4 times as many people in it now. The traffic is terrible: too many cars, who drive in a typical southern style (loud and fast) and in between them an incredible amount of motorcycles. After a while you realize that the city is full of shops where they sell motorcycles, and attributes. No wonder, it is the handiest way to get through the traffic, if you do not value your life too much.
The taxi ride from the airport to the city centre, via the new highway, specially constructed for the 2004 Olympics, i got a taste of the fact that the Greec do not take rules as absolute (which places them close to my own countrymen in fact). The taxi driver proposed me to take a falsified note, which showed a higher amount of money than the real amount, and in return he would give me another note, for the return drive to the airport, so that i could cash in the money if i simply took the metro instead. I was baffled at how perfect his scam was. I declined though. The rest of my stay, i never payed the same amount for the taxi rides, even though most of them went between the same two places.
But even during the taxi ride and in between the plans laid out by the taxi driver, i saw what i had hoped to see: the old Athens, tucked away in between a modern city. I passed the old Olympic stadium where the first modern Olympics of 1896 were held and suddenly i saw it: the Parthenon at the Acropolis, still the hart of the city. That was what i really wanted to see.
The training itself was fairly okay, the people are open and friendly. Be it a bit noisy and from time to time you really need to calm them down a bit. Another thing that struck me was that there are a fair amount of women working in Vodafone, which is not so common for telecommunication companies. And most of them very attractive. So you can imagine i spent some nice days teaching there. I even kept some contact with one girl afterwards, who was in the middle of her PADI Open Water training at that time. Divers always find each other in a group of people.
I had a few hours to kill on friday before catching my plane so i finally went to visit the Acropolis. I was lucky and unlucky at the same time. It was some kind of public holiday and the entrance was free! That also meant it was incredibly crowded. But it was worth it. The first picture below is of course the Parthenon, temple dedicated to the godess Athena.
The second picture is the Erechteion, with the Caryatides, the female statues. Which i always adored.
I had already visited the area the day before, around the setting of the sun, i was sitting on the side of the Acropolis (the hill where the Parthenon is located), and overlooking Athens, with several historical sites below. Was just sitting there contemplating how lucky i was to be looking at such a sight.
Next to the Acropolis there is the historical centre of Athens, called the Plaka. Very nice place to walk around. Can be busy and there are a lot of tourists, but still very nice to walk around. The streets are incredibly small, with shops ans loads of restaurants. I found a very nice place to have a drink before having dinner: a bar full of wines and local liquors.
I have visited Egypt before. Spent some 10 days there visiting most of the famous spots: the piramids around Cairo (very beautiful, but i was surprised to see how close they were to the city), the temple of Carnac at Luxor (and the great Aswan dam), did a 3-day super relaxing trip on the Nile in a feluca (a traditional egyptian sailing boat), climbed up Mount Sinai and ended with a few days relaxing at Sharks Bay (next to Sharm El Sheik), were is swore that one day i would learn to dive (seeing the beauty of the tropical sea for the first time, still only snorkeling at that time).
I returned years later twice to go diving : once from the city of Safaga, some 60km south of Hurghada and once on live-aboard to the Brother Islands, which was magnificient.
Anyway, Greece it was. Had a combination of different courses to do on two sites of Vodafone Greece, one of the operators in Greece. My first impression was that Athens is somewhat of a chaotic dusty city. And that impression is confirmed by every greek person i spoke. Athens is placed and original dimensioned for not more than 1 milion people, but has at least 4 times as many people in it now. The traffic is terrible: too many cars, who drive in a typical southern style (loud and fast) and in between them an incredible amount of motorcycles. After a while you realize that the city is full of shops where they sell motorcycles, and attributes. No wonder, it is the handiest way to get through the traffic, if you do not value your life too much.
The taxi ride from the airport to the city centre, via the new highway, specially constructed for the 2004 Olympics, i got a taste of the fact that the Greec do not take rules as absolute (which places them close to my own countrymen in fact). The taxi driver proposed me to take a falsified note, which showed a higher amount of money than the real amount, and in return he would give me another note, for the return drive to the airport, so that i could cash in the money if i simply took the metro instead. I was baffled at how perfect his scam was. I declined though. The rest of my stay, i never payed the same amount for the taxi rides, even though most of them went between the same two places.
But even during the taxi ride and in between the plans laid out by the taxi driver, i saw what i had hoped to see: the old Athens, tucked away in between a modern city. I passed the old Olympic stadium where the first modern Olympics of 1896 were held and suddenly i saw it: the Parthenon at the Acropolis, still the hart of the city. That was what i really wanted to see.
The training itself was fairly okay, the people are open and friendly. Be it a bit noisy and from time to time you really need to calm them down a bit. Another thing that struck me was that there are a fair amount of women working in Vodafone, which is not so common for telecommunication companies. And most of them very attractive. So you can imagine i spent some nice days teaching there. I even kept some contact with one girl afterwards, who was in the middle of her PADI Open Water training at that time. Divers always find each other in a group of people.
I had a few hours to kill on friday before catching my plane so i finally went to visit the Acropolis. I was lucky and unlucky at the same time. It was some kind of public holiday and the entrance was free! That also meant it was incredibly crowded. But it was worth it. The first picture below is of course the Parthenon, temple dedicated to the godess Athena.
The second picture is the Erechteion, with the Caryatides, the female statues. Which i always adored.
I had already visited the area the day before, around the setting of the sun, i was sitting on the side of the Acropolis (the hill where the Parthenon is located), and overlooking Athens, with several historical sites below. Was just sitting there contemplating how lucky i was to be looking at such a sight.
Next to the Acropolis there is the historical centre of Athens, called the Plaka. Very nice place to walk around. Can be busy and there are a lot of tourists, but still very nice to walk around. The streets are incredibly small, with shops ans loads of restaurants. I found a very nice place to have a drink before having dinner: a bar full of wines and local liquors.
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