I am terrified of big cities. Big meaning anything that doesn’t immediately scream “suburb” or “farm town” when you walk into it. Even though I’m a Wisconsinite, I don’t live on a farm and have just recently gotten used to and started appreciating the size of Madison. So landing and spending nearly a week in Athens, Greece forced me to adjust in two distinct contexts: to a foreign country and city life. Luckily, both were fairly easy to adapt to. Athens is now officially one of the two big cities that I like (so far. And if you’re curious, the other is Boston).
One aspect of Athens I absolutely loved was the abundance of dogs in the city. In fact, before the Olympics in 2004, over 15,000 dogs were rounded up from the streets. Not pet dogs, as one might expect, but stray, scraggly, openly-wounded or starving dogs. On adventures around the city, we never failed to be accompanied by a dedicated furry friend that we managed to pick up along the way. Normally they’d follow us wherever we went – even to the top of a treacherous mountain – and would stay with us the entire day.
Our group was creative in naming the dogs, claiming them as our own for the day: Balto one through ten, Lassie and even Shiloh (maybe not so much creative as reminiscing over all our favorite children’s movies). And, just as we claimed them as our own, they did the same for us. After one of “our” dogs attacked a middle-aged woman walking in the direction we were headed, our instructor, Professor Howe, told us that the dog likely viewed us as its “pack” and therefore attacking the woman was its form of defending its pack. An actual attack happened only once, yet time and time again dogs would bark or growl at those approaching us. Endearing, really, but unfortunate for the bystanders. Athens was dog-infested, yet other parts of Greece were just as infiltrated with cats. A truly distinguishing part of each city.
Although previous travelers had warned me that Athens was dirty and ugly (and it was fairly dirty), I found it charming. For a city of close to one million people, it captures a “small town” feel with its narrow streets, marketplaces, and street vegetation (including orange and mulberry trees). And the small town feel was only reinforced with rules that banned buildings that would obstruct your neighbor’s view of the Parthenon. Only from the top of mountains could you realize the vastness and enormity of the city. Despite Athens’ allure, its character barely compared to those of other cities. Thus, the country only got better once we were out of the large city.
I’ve commonly heard that if you aren’t impressed with the architecture and art of America, our “newly formed” country, Europe is the place to go. Personally, I’ve always been content with marveling at our “inferior” treasures, yet I understand and appreciate the prior claim post-trip. After spending a month in a country full of ancient monuments and temples, our country seems awfully young and far less visually appealing. Having a country with such ancient qualities instills a pride in the Greeks not only about their ancestors’ artistic talent, but also about their past in general. And that, is truly something to be marveled at, more so than even the most immaculate building.
Truly, I could ramble on for centuries about how amazing, intriguing and captivating Greece is, but instead, I simply recommend that you go visit it yourself. Don’t forget to say hi to Balto for me!