Return to Athens, Greece

The 18 days I spent in Athens, Greece for the 2004 Summer Olympics were unlike any group of 18 days I’ve ever lived. Beach volleyball, soccer matches, swimming pre-lims, the spark of the Olympics in the air, camera crews in the streets, people from over 100 different countries crowding the trains, fans wearing their flags like capes, the flaming Greek weather… I feel like those 18 days in August were a full, complete experience – maybe I lived more in those 18 days that I had in most.

And to come back to Athens gives me a foggy feeling of nostalgia. I still don’t understand a single word of Greek, Athens is not home to me, I still found things I’d never seen – but it still felt like a homecoming. It was like looking at an old black and white photo of my Olympic experience. It reminded me of that time – but it lacked all the color and fluidity of that time.

It was rainy today. Rainy! In Athens! When I was here last I would have killed to have rain come pouring down. It is difficult to explain how uncomfortably hot Athens is in August. Almost all of the favorites in the Marathon race dropped out and unloaded their lunches on the side of the road before the race was done because of the heat. When you went to the beach and laid down, your towel would be soaking wet with sweat before you ever stepped foot in the sea. Let’s not even get into the #2 Tram of Death… And here it is, in the low 70′s and raining all day today. I could hardly believe it.

I went out with my fearless friends today, two girls who had NOT been to the Olympics with us, and who had been forced to hear ALL about how GREAT the Olympics were when WE were there and they WEREN’T. I understood their revulsion at having to hear all about the Olympics all day from me, so I tried to keep it to a minimum (and I did a poor job of it).

We went straight to the Acropolis to get our fix of history before doing some shopping. The minute we got off the ship it was clear that more than the weather had changed in Athens.

Before the Olympics began in August, the Greek government, by way of the media, told the Athenian citizens in no unclear terms, to get the hell out of Athens while the games were going on. They didn’t want the Olympics to be known as the most crowded Olympics in history; they said they wanted to get rid of some of the awful Athens traffic. If they had relatives out of town, it was suggested that they go there.

(Then, when the tickets didn’t sell as quickly as expected, the Grecian government, by way of the media, begged the Athenian citizens to show national pride and buy bunches and bunches of event tickets to make up the difference. Real nice.)

But they are all back now. Homeless men are only outnumbered by homeless dogs. The mass transporation has been changed from it’s Olympic setting of “super-duper” down to “medium” now that the games are past. Trains seem to come when they feel like it now. Busses…well, what busses? I’m sure they are there, but not like they were in the Olympics.

The amount of tourists has seemingly not diminished yet, although without the Olympic Games to amuse them, they all funnel into the Acropolis daily. Thankfully, the official Olympic gear had been heavily reduced, although not in the main Olympic merchandise store (which is the only store with reasonable sizes left). I stocked up a bit and all but finished my Christmas shopping.

I visited Sydney, Australia about 6 months after the 2000 summer games, and they vibe was similar there. The city was still gloating about having had the Olympics there. The signs were still up, people were still talking about it, the facilities were still on display. There was a shiny residue all over the city of what had undoubtably been a defining moment in it’s modern history. It was lovely to be back in cold, rainy Athens today.