Day 6 - April 17, 2017 (Hailey) Clean Monday

Traditional Καθαρή Δευτέρα 
(Clean Monday) recipe, Azyme Bread

I woke up a little bit before my alarm went off this morning, so I decided to take a quiet walk around and see the view from our hotel. While I was staring off a the mesmerizing ocean, I realized that this was our last day in Athens! I am going to miss such a beautiful place! That's when I decided to head in and wake everyone up. I easily woke Jordan up, but the others proved to be a little more difficult, complaining about good dreams and aching body parts. Eventually, everyone woke up to the promise of food. Everyone was celebrating the end of the Orthodox carnival season and the beginning of fasting with huge feasts and kite flying. Today was the day to leave behind sinful attitudes and non-fasting foods for lent. The hotel offered a special meal with Azyme bread, which apparently is only baked and consumed on Clean Monday! Many people were also headed to Confession today, as that was another part of the tradition. We had our meal of Azyme bread and started heading to the Temple of Athena. It was only a 15 (ish) minute walk.
Temple of Athena (History)

Temple of Zeus

On our way there we took in the beautiful city and people around us as well as all the outdoor excursions taking place. A few of them looked very interesting. 

Even though the temple was smaller than I had expected it to be, it was still beautiful. I stood there, comparing our last temple, the temple of Zeus, and this one until Jordan grab my sleeve and urged me to stay with them. The temple had the signature Greek columns on the front, but this temple seemed more complete and slightly smaller. We had strolled up to the temple, pushing our way through the masses, to get a closer look. As we finally broke free of the pedestrian sea, we heard a voice from the front. Looking over I saw a tour guide explaining the history to his group. I quickly stopped Jordan and Gladdie and asked it we could stop for a while to listen. So after shutting everyone else up, we intently turned to the tour guide. We learned that the temples location was ideal to protect the southern flank of the most vulnerable access point and gate to the citadel. The temple to Athena Nike, the goddess of victory, was worshiped at this temple by deities. The original temple and acropolis was destroyed by the Persians during an attack in 480 B.C.E. Eventually the temple was rebuilt and completed in 435 BCE this version still stands tall today. We also found out that the statue inside of Nike is wingless,even though the custom at the time was to portray the victory goddess with wings. The artist deprived Nike of her wings so that she may never leave Athens. I get what the artist was trying to do and creative license and all the jazz, but I don't know, that seems a bit harsh to me. The last thing I could catch was that the temple was considerably smaller than other temples. I nearly jumped when I heard that, I thought so! I was pulled out of my thoughts by Jay pointing out Abby and Olivia who had started playing thumb wars, those two lost interest rather quickly, I learned. Everyone was staring at the two and had a less than amused expression so I decided, better go. Slowly we pushed back through the crowd when Jay, looking at her watch, exclaimed, "I didn't realize how late it was!" I felt my stomach growl, I guess I had lost track of time too.

We probably should have left a little bit earlier, maybe before we were all starving, because all we did on the walk to the Kebab place was groan about how hungry we were. 

For lunch we stopped at Thanasis Kebab where we all ordered what looked like a shredded chicken, lettuce and pita chip dish. After we finished our food and paid, we started our walk up to the Erechtheion. On the short walk up to the temple, I almost killed my battery life taking pictures!

Erechtheion

Erechtheion

When we arrived at the Erechtheion, I couldn't help but stare at the marble. It was beautiful! When we walked in I briefly remembered reading that the Erechtheion was built on land that was sacred and the east hall was dedicated to Athena while the west was for a local hero, Boutes. It was designed to accommodate for the extremely uneven ground while not disturbing shrines such as the ones for Poseidon, Hephaestus, the Olive branch or the spot where Poseidon hit the acropolis with his trident. We wandered around the exhibits for a while, my favorite was the Olive branch that had been given to Athens by Athena. On the south porch, instead of typical columns like the north porch possessed, the columns were six statues of the Caryatids.
Athens Heart Mall

Athens Heart Mall

Once we finished looking around the museum, we headed back to the transit to go to the Athens Heart Mall. After hearing the announcement of our next destination, Abby and Olivia squealed. Gladdie mumbled something about Kristina and needing to get her a gift.
When we got to the mall my eyes sprang open, it was huge! It put any malls back home to shame and it was bustling with people. Our little group nearly ran rampart in the mall. We tried to push our way though crowds of people so we could squeeze in as many stores as possible

The ride there was short considering how most of the way I was dazed out and just daydreaming. I had wondered how everyone would feel as we left Greece? I personally think that I would come back, so I had no need to worry. Not realizing just how fast the ride would be, even though it was about 30 minutes, I felt Olivia shaking me, telling me we were there. I stifled a yawn with my hand, and started to grab my belongings.

Sunset

As we pulled up to the ferry I was amazed at how big it was. I was thankful for the lifeboats on the side considering we would be on this boat for 10 hours almost. I looked over at my friends and noticed how tired they were. I was relieved that we had already made all of hotel and travel arrangements before we went on this trip. We walked towards the big boat, it only getting bigger, As we neared the tickets desk they greeted us politely. We quickly grabbed our tickets and made our way onto the ramp connecting the boat to the dock. I had looked over the edge of the rail at the water below. It quietly splayed along the concert wall. Once entering the boat I became even more amazed, if that's even possible. Jay decided that by our faces we really just needed to find our room and go to bed. After walking up top the greeting desk and grabbing our key cards, we shuffled our way to our room. Walking out onto out balcony, I stared at the ocean before me. I would never forget this view. Making my back into the room I noticed everyone else getting ready for bed, so I copied their action.
With our bodies tired and wary, we were all glad to finally get to plop down on our soft beds. As I pulled the sheets over my body, I felt my eyelids drop and pull me into a heavy sleep.