The Road To Athens

The road to Athens is a three-lane, shoulderless highway. Cars drive seemingly unaware of painted lanes, careen to close gaps in traffic and avoid collisions by mere milliseconds. Scooters weave through what little extra space exists between vehicles. There isn’t enough room to ride alongside on our bicycles, but we do it anyway because it’s our only option into the city. To the right of the cars, a sidewalk appears sporadically. We follow the scooters’ lead and hop on and off as it’s available. Modern-day rush-hour madness begets a city of breathtaking ancient sites. In between working, we visit places we learned about in the fourth grade, stashing our bikes in one of the only-available hotels (because we got an unfriendly vibe from the Warm Showers host we planned on staying with). We join the crowds and head toward the Parthenon, the Olympieion, and the Parliament Building. We stumble upon Greece’s nightlife scene, and end each day people-watching from bar stools outside a French-themed café where we order the most amazing “Banana Nutella Crunch” crepe. Seriously. Yes, we’ll take a beer with that. Thick with smoke and perfume, the evening air buzzes with electricity. Creatures of the night walk by us wearing cigarettes as accessories, stumbling in sky-high stilettos and speaking languages from all corners of the world. Hordes of people overflow from sidewalks and into the bright headlights of cars that inch down side streets. For the first time outside of a movie, I watch someone get shot up with what I presume is heroin. I feel alive, in the complete opposite way that riding a bike makes one feel alive. In daylight hours, markets awaken… street art materializes... and we hike to the top of the city and take in the ancient citadel known as the Acropolis. From Athens, we board an overnight ferry to Lesvos Island, our final Greek destination before we cross into Turkey. We stay a couple nights in the living room of a friendly Warm Showers' family, and explore the castles and coastline of the 630-square mile island. As the sun sets on our final day in Greece, I'm consumed by a feeling I've come to know quite well on this bike tour. I can't seem to shake off the anxiety thinking about the unknown that lies ahead in our next very foreign country.