3 easy steps to getting a black eye in Athens

by Iva Skoch on
  1. Drink a little too much (mixing Mythos beer with ouzo is highly recommended)
  2. Get a little cheeky with strangers
  3. Tell a random local man he should drive that “piece of junk car” a little slower

As I mentioned before, I am in Greece with a bunch of friends this week. It was supposed to be a chilled-out, long weekend with great food and a little sightseeing, yet it somehow all went “pear-shaped”, as one of my friends likes to say it.

Three of the (drunk) men we are with got beat up by a big (sober) dude who overreacted to a silly drunken comment and–horror of horrors–an assault on his car. Long story short, one of my friends now has a broken nose, 10 stitches in the face and looks like Frankenstein. Another one got his eardrum punctured. A third made it through the marathon with a bruised knee.

Needless to say, they haven’t done much sightseeing. Instead, they have spent the last couple of days doing a tour of the local hospitals…which, by the way, are not bad, should you ever need them. That’s all paying cash, too! X-rays cost some 14 Euro and antibiotics only about 11.

I am trying to think what the lesson here is. I guess it would be “do not underestimate the temper of strangers” with a disclaimer: “alcohol severely decreases the ability to fight back.”

Photo of the Day (11/05/07)

by Iva Skoch on

Because I am in Athens this week, looking at the Acropolis from my hotel, I figured I would use a local picture.

Noamgalai took this great reflection shot in May. The Acropolis is another one of those world sites photographed millions of times, yet this is a new, creative way of seeing it.

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr site and post it.***

Running a Marathon from Marathon

by Iva Skoch on

New York wasn’t the only place with a big marathon going on yesterday. The “original” Marathonas to Athens marathon took place on Sunday. The 42.195km (that’s 26.2 miles) course traces an approximate, possible route of the legendary run of Greek soldier Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Greeks over Darius’s Persian army in 490 B.C.

Of course, since it’s ancient history, there’s disagreement over whether the run happened at all, let alone which of two (or more) routes the runner took (south along the coast, then around the mountains, or simply over the mountains). (Worse yet, Herodotus has him running 145+ miles to Sparta to ask for help in the battle, rather than to Athens afterwards.)

Depending on who retells the legend, the runner either said, “we won,” “masters, victory is ours,” or “victory!” Either way, he died immediately at the end of the run. (Athens’ triumph over the Persians was somewhat short-lived, as Darius’s son, Xerxes, came back ten years later and burned Athens to the ground, following the famous Spartan stand at Thermopylae, popularized in last year’s movie, “300.”) It also makes you wonder why people actually run marathons.

Anyway, probably the best part of the current official race is the fantastic finish into the ancient Panathinaiko stadium (pictured right), which got it’s beautiful, and famous, white marble around 329 B.C.

This year was a record turn-out of over 4,000 runners for the 25th anniversary of this exact course. And, I’m happy to report from the ground that all made it, joyous and victorious.

It’s Moving Day — er, Month — at the Acropolis

by Martha Edwards on

I was irrationally excited for my first and thusfar only visit to the Acropolis eight years ago. A photograhy enthusiast, I was excited to get a great shot. And when I got there and scrambled up the hill to the top, what beautiful vista awaited me? Contrstruction. Yes, scaffolding, workers in yellow hats, orange fences … it was hard to find a nice shot, but I took a few snaps nonethless and vowed to get better ones on my next trip, whenever that may be.

So I can only imagine what kind of mayhem that’s been ensuing at the Acropolis lately — they’re moving, according to this article. Obviously, they’re not moving the actual Acropolis structure, but they’re moving all the artifacts from the museum next door, down the hill to a new museum that’s scheduled to open in 2008. In the meantime, expect cranes and lots of engineers on edge as they pray desparately that they don’t have to make any claims on their $568.6 million insurance policy. The move is expected to last six weeks.

The Most Debaucherous Places I’ve Been to

by Martha Edwards on

I’m only in my 20s, but there have been a few places where the party-hard attitudes of locals and visitors alike have left me feeling more like 87 than 27. I like have fun as much as the next gal, but I’m not one to stay up drinking all night and into most of the next morning too. I need my rest, and plus, I am not good with hangovers. But nonetheless, I’ve been to a few excellent parties and made a valiant effort to stay up past midnight. Here are the top party spots I’ve visited at some point or another:

  • Ios, Greece: When people think of European party Islands, Ibiza is what automatically jumps to mind. But Ibiza’s lesser known Greek cousin, Ios, is still a pretty wild time. All the bars seem to be within stumbling distance of one another, and there are lots of post-club gyros vendors for some late-night snacking. For the record, the last time I was in Greece was 8 years ago, and apparently the party scene has shifted a bit …
  • Mardi Gras, Sydney, Australia: Sydney’s gay Mardi Gras is one of the world’s best-known parties. Is it for you? If you don’t mind crowds, gratuitous nudity and occasionally being groped by friendly Aussies, then yes. But don’t expect to actually see the world-famous parade unless you get a seat ahead of time (read: 8 o’clock in the morning.) — there are just too many people!
  • Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan, Thailand: I saw some pretty crazy things when I went to a full-moon with my friend Jenny and a group of Irish blokes we were travelling with. But when the drink of choice is buckets filled with coke, a mickey of Thai whiskey and Red Bull, you pretty much expect to see some pretty strange things — including a person you’ve never met snoozing on the hammock of your beach hut when you wake up the next day.
  • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: I don’t remember much from my night out in Puerto Vallarta, except that a man dressed in a gorilla suit accompanied me to the ATM and I ended up on the stage of a club, showing off my mad drumming skills (for the record, I had never played the drums before, and haven’t since either.) I know many people say Cancun is ‘the‘ party capital, but I can’t vouch for that as I’ve never been out in Cancun.

That said, I’m sure there are much more wild places out there … I’m just not sure if I can handle them.