Today was the first time I managed to make myself (legitimately) exercise since arriving in Athens 11 days ago. Granted, I've been doing a decent amount of walking during the trip so far - especially the first several days that were filled with exploring the new area we're calling "home" for the next 3 months. But it was nice to get my lungs working and my blood pumping for real again.
After finishing our class about Crete this morning (yay for only having one 2-hour class today!), a classmate and I made our way from The Athens Centre to the nearby running track. Oh, and something neat about this particular running track: it's the Panathenaic Stadium, aka the stadium used for some prior Olympic Games since antiquity. It's located only a short 3-minute walk from our school and is fully functional as a modern-day training area (crazy, right?!). The Panathenaic Stadium was constructed in 330 BCE by Lykourgos for the specific purpose of hosting the Games. It was excavated and rebuilt two separate times several hundred years later: once by Herodes Atticus (a Roman senator) in 144 AD and then in 1869 for the Zappas Olympics of 1870 and 1875. Once we arrived at the stadium, we headed up to the worn, gravel running track that looks down onto the stadium's actual track (sadly, we don't get to run on the "real" track, but it's still amazing nonetheless). After a few minutes of stretching, we started running towards opposite ends of the horseshoe. Since my phone had died several hours earlier, I didn't have any music or podcasts to listen to while I jogged monotonously around for 45 minutes. I was initially a little worried because I'd never free-run without any distractions before. But once I saw the absolutely stunning, picturesque view of the Acropolis right in front of me with its blue and white flag flying high and ceremoniously in the wind, all concern flew out the window. Seriously, the image was amazing and I was bummed I didn't have a camera to document the moment. My workout consisted of jogging to the end of each side of the track, running up and down the stairs, and doing 10-15 reps of alternating squats and lunges. I also did a few sprints here and there for some more variety, as well as some leg lifts and stretches. For almost an hour, the Panathenaic Stadium was my playground. How cool is that? I'll be going back many more times whilst on this trip. The athletic theme continued later in the day. After a fun shopping excursion in downtown Athens this afternoon, 9 other students and I headed in the direction of Piraeus around 6:30 pm to attend a soccer (football) match. The game - played in the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, also the home stadium of the Olympiacos - was between the Olympiacos (1st in Superleague Greece who wear red uniforms) and the Atromitos (9th in Superleague Greece who wear blue uniforms). Fun fact: "Superleague Greece" is the highest professional football league in Greece. The League formed in 2006 and consists of 16 teams. Although the taxi driver we called to take us to the game initially (and jokingly) refused us because he was a fan of the Atromitos, not the Olympiacos (the Olympic team we were all going to see), we all got to Piraeus successfully. We ended up having to buy 5 season passes that were good for 2 people (10 euros / 2 people = 5 euros) - plus buy the 10 tickets on top of that (10 euros), which was a little complicated, but it worked out. Once in our seats (Gate 10, Row 21, Seat 18 for me), the older gentleman next to me tried to spark a conversation about the Olympiacos. Unfortunately, he couldn't speak any English and my small collection of Greek words/phrases didn't do much. However, we ended up being able to bond and to share/understand some information after the game started - especially when people in the stands were screaming at fouls and bad calls, and when one player on the Atromitos got injured. Football helped to bridge the language disconnect between us, which I thought was pretty neat. This was my first-ever soccer/football match I've attended. I really quite enjoyed the game, even though this particular game wasn't great (0-0 score, and so many missed goal opportunities). The environment of the stadium was an experience in itself, though. People were so hyped up and rowdy the entire time (especially if, God forbid, a bad play occurred. So many Greek-specific obscene gestures and aggressive yelling, my goodness. But I kinda loved it, too). One entire section of the stadium never stopped chanting for the whole game. The same section also had a small, makeshift band that played most of the time (I wondered if the people brought their own instruments, or if they were actually a hired group. Probably the former). People also brought flares into the stadium! And later THREW them down into the seats in front of them! There were at least 10 flares lit up at one time in a small area, and I was convinced that a fire was going to break out at any moment. I figured if the place burned down, I'd at least try to storm the field and see how close I could get to the players (who were all very fit and looked quite attractive, at least from halfway up the stands) before being taken down. (Just kidding. Sorta.) Overall, I'm really glad I chose to attend this sporting event. I'm usually not someone who enjoys mass sports, like football or basketball, but I actually quite liked the soccer/football vibe. It's fairly easy to understand, it's something that's a definitive aspect of modern European identity, and it was a fairly cheap form of entertainment. Add it to the list of awesome things I've done so far while being in this amazing country. We also had another first after leaving the game: we took the metro in Athens (and didn't get lost!). We've mostly been relying on our legs and taxis/Ubers on the trip so far, but I liked the metro a lot because of 1) the convenience of not having to call a cab to a specific place and 2) it was sooo much cheaper. We each paid 1.40 euros to get all the way from Piraeus, which is fairly out of downtown Athens, to Syntagma Square, the main shopping area about 15 minutes from our apartments. I'm utterly wiped from this long, exciting day filled with running, sprinting, squatting, lunging, stretching, walking, and spectating. I'm off to bed. - Hannah
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Hannah BisbingStudent @ Penn State. Figure skater. Writer. Traveler. Coffee fanatic. Foodie. Semi-professional people watcher who recently returned home from backpacking around Europe. All photos taken by me, unless otherwise noted.
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