The Journey to Tragana

I was really excited to get going to Tragana. After spending the morning wondering around the national gardens and Syntagma square (the main square in Athens), the group decided it was time to get a move on. We had carefully planned our trip down to a tee, because precious little detail was given to us by the dig coordinators about how exactly we were to find the bus terminal that would take us to Tragana.

We lugged our luggage out of the hostel and said goodbye to the amazing staff there. I was the most economically packed of everyone there, and I was not having any trouble at all carrying my bags. The girls on the other hand (especially Maddie and Ashley) were completely over packed, and this made navigating the narrow streets and many stairs of Athens extremely difficult. Originally we had planned to take a bus from Syntagma square to the KTEL bus station in the North of the city, but we all felt that we should try for the trains instead as our luggage was hardly suited to inner city travel on the bus. I managed to figure out what station we should get off at, but was a little unsure as to exactly how to get to the terminal as all of our maps did not go that far north. We thought we would be able to figure it out.

Upon exiting the station, we wandered outside and quickly found that we were NOT in what you would call 'touristy' Greece. The streets were quite crowded and dirty, and almsot no one spoke english. Luckily I have managed to pick up enough Greek to be able to exchange pleasantries and also ask for directions. I was quite nervous but I managed to successfully ask one man how to get to the KTEL bus station. Unfortunately the Greek I know is extremely limited so his reply was very difficult to understand. Thanks to a mixture of hand signals and limited Greek I was able to get the general jist of what direction to go, so we set off. We actually managed EXTREMELY well. It was quite a far walk, but I stopped twice more for directions and they were all consistant so I was not misunderstanding. We managed to get to the bus terminal unscathed and quite early. Our tickets were booked and we settled in to wait for our bus to depart.

While we were waiting, another group of quite obvious Americans arrived and made their way to the bus. We followed them and boarded. Soon after we departed and were on our way toTragana. Upon our arrival we were shuttled into our seperate accomodations. Different families have vacated their houses for the dig. Most of the guys were sleeping in a house called Mixouris, right near where we eat our meals. We also have the luxury of having a wachine machine and hot water, but the detriment of having the most residents with all 10 guys staying there. It isnt exactly what you would call luxury accomodation but it is comfortable enough. Believe me, after a week of digging you would sleep on a cold concrete slab like a baby.

We were given a little tour of the town by one of the staff members, a returning student by the name of Dave or 'Jersey' as everyone calls him. We had a couple of beers at the local hangout called Zoe's, and were shown where the local general store was, an alternative place to eat and were introduced to some of the locals. Tragana is one of those small country towns where everyone knows everyone and despite not being able to speak Greek, we were being recognised by some of the more frequent locals and shop owners in no time.

After heading to dinner and being introduced to even more people, we headed to Zoe's for a social drink. I decided to accompany some of the retunring students down to the beach. Its a good 1.5 kilometer walk, but we were quite chatty and made short work of it. I was then taken to a local Taverna on the beachfront called Maria's where obviously she knew most of everyone. I was quickly singled out as the new face and subsequent celebrations of Tequila on the house were forced upon me. I am starting to realise just how generous the Greeks can be, especially if you are friendly. It was a fantastic time, and it was good hanging out wiht some of the more experienced people on the dig team. Some of the other students arrived a little later, which put another glow on Maria's face.

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I now have very little spare time available to me to write blogposts. I have been trying my best, but as you have noticed I have fallen off a little bit and am quite far behind. As of now, I will post a little less frequently and roll a couple of days together in a little less detail. Stay tuned!