Dinner in Istanbul: First Night

We did some research in the hotel lobby (using our tablets) and found a restaurant that seemed like a good idea: Grill Hause. As we approached the restaurant, we were enthusiastically greeted by an employee. He ushered us upstairs to a table and I almost felt like I was being kidnapped only to be fed copious amounts of food, then released. I wasn't so far off. We ate lamb, chicken, stuffed eggplant and hummus. It was all so good.

What I didn't anticipate is that this man who greeted us in the street is not unique. As we asked after dinner, we were approached by a man outside each restaurant and cafe encouraging us to come inside for dinner. This happened even as we were exiting the Grill Hause. It's very difficult to politely decline with a language barrier and the solicitor staring you down in the street. Now we know what to expect though and I'm sure we will come up with new techniques to brush off the advances as the week continues.

Planning out a fun day for tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Finale: Beach, Gardens and the Movies

Today was our final day In Greece. We slept in a little bit, then hatched a plan. First, we went to the market for provisions.  I got partially scolded for not stopping at the end of the produce aisle without weighing our bananas. Whoops! They do that here. We walked to the Temple of Zeus ruins and did a lap. Then, we found the tram. The city public transportation system consists of buses, subways and trams. We took the coastal tram south (and managed to pay properly!) outside of the city limits where it proceeded to rain.  We stopped for lunch at Goody's, a American style burger place that isn't particularly fast.  Then, we walked to the beach. I insisted on putting my feet in, even though I didn't take off my hoodie.  

It was nice to relax on the beach and the sun even peeked out. We knew the weather was iffy but figured the train ride would be nice. It isn't exactly beach season here yet, there were still some die hards around, fishing and swimming.  

We found our way home and wove our way through the gardens near the Parliament. They were lush and green, but there was an absence of other colors.  After a gelato break in Plaka, we arrived home to change for the movies.

I did some research on an ex-pat site online to find a movie theater that would be showing The Great Gatsby in English.  Using google maps, we found subway directions. Unfortunately, google gives Subway stop names in all capital letters and in Greek. Greeks give subway stop names in Greek with a mix of capital and lowercase letters.  Between the linguist and the mechanical engineer, we had been able to identify enough Greek letters to find our way to the Athens Metro Mall.  

The mall was typical and we found our way to the movie theater which was dead.  We reserved our seats and wandered through the mall a little before the show started. There was a wellness fair going on so before the movie, a woman was performing a stripper pole workout routine on a stage, and after the movie, there was a giant Zumba class.  The movie was good. Very Baz Luhrman. 

We are mostly packed and drinking beer in our room while watching tv. Tomorrow morning we are heading to the airport and I am heading home, while Jenny is off to Amsterdam.  

This trip was so awesome, but I'm excited to go home. I am ready for laundry and my TiVo. I think this will be my last post, so thank you for reading!! 

Photos:

Temple of Zeus

The Beach

Cheers!

Athens Exploration

Today was our first day without our group. A few people were still in Athens today between planned extensions and the nonsense with the air traffic controllers.  After breakfast and a lobby meeting (we can only really communicate via wi-fi and prearranged meetings here), we headed to the Acropolis Museum. We had heard that it was essentially everything they uncovered at the Parthenon would be there.  Even though we have been living down the street from the museum all week, I hadn't really noticed how beautiful and thoughtful the building was until we approached it on foot. The museum was recently ranked 3rd in the world. It is built over ongoing excavations and has glass floors built over it.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but it was really cool. I liked how the floor plan mimicked that of the original Parthenon. 

After the museum visit, the 5 of us went to lunch in the neighborhood to plan our next move.  Emma and Zach headed off to check into their hostel, while Richard, Jenny and I set out to climb Lycrabettus hill to see St. George's Church.  Thus began the adventure of navigating Athens and not speaking Greek. Google advised us to take the number 230 bus, then pick up a tram to the top of the mountain.  We figured out the bus without much incident, but couldn't figure out how to pay for our fares.  We people watched intently and didn't see many people paying, so we didn't. We still haven't stopped talking about how we got a free bus ride. Being in a city that is in financial crisis, makes free public transportation rides seem so unethical.  Upon our arrival in Ika (neighborhood), we began to search for this tram. The benefit of planning to go to a place on the top of a mountain is that you can see where you are headed, but when you can't find the tram and figure you'll just start walking in the right direction.....

We ended up "urban hiking" on the carved paths and paved roads all the way to the top. Near the church and cafe, we met a lovely retired couple from New City, NY.  They were hilarious, and also had trouble finding the tram.  When we finally climbed the last stair to the cafe, Richard grabbed a Coke Light (he is in talks for an endorsement deal) and we took pictures and visited the chapel. I can't imagine who would have ever worshipped there.  What was unclear to us before we reached the top is that we were significantly higher in elevation than the acropolis. The views were amazing and I'm glad we went even if it meant walking uphill. When we went to the WC (bathroom) we found the elusive tram and bought tickets for a ride down (€3.50 per person). 

We walked the rest of the way through the neighborhood to the subway station where we got to experience yet another form of public transportation.  Only in Athens are there relics in the subway stations. We paid for our fares on this trip, but it appeared that the turnstiles were invisible and nothing was stopping you from just walking through. Dear Greece, we have some ideas for Revenue sources.  The subway system was built for then Olympics so it is very new and very clean. 

When we got back to the neighborhood, we had a snack and I managed to FaceTime with Mom & Tess who may or may not have been in an art museum in Phillie. Jenny and I are now sitting in a Chinese restaurant (she is the only Asian in sight) and playing on our tablets. We are exhausted. Tomorrow is our last day and we are hoping for some sun! Can't believe this trip is almost over, but I am beginning to miss home.  

Photos: 

Acropolis view from the museum terrace

Coke Light! 

St. George's Church 

 

Athens: tourist day

Last night, we went to the ALBA business school at American College to listen to a talk from the CEO of the National Bank of Greece. It was interesting to sit in a room filled with business school students from Athens.  Overall, the CEO seemed more optimistic about Greece's current situation, but the Greek students didn't seem to agree when we spoke with them in the lobby after the presentation. 

Later that evening, Jenny and I explored the neighborhood near our hotel. It sort of reminds me of Rockport with all the boutiques and restaurant.  We split an appetizer (balsamic mushrooms), a salad and penne with chicken and bacon.  The view of the acropolis from our table was so pretty.  We then visited a pharmacy to pick up some cough syrup for Jenny.  Pharmacies in Europe are like little mini Sephoras. We had fun playing around with the different Greek cosmetics and bought facial treatments to do before bed.  We're so wild and crazy. Haha 

This morning, we drove to the acropolis, where we slowly walked to the top to see the Parthenon.  Standing so closely to such old old buildings was so cool. If only it weren't for the renovations, it would have been perfect.  Our tour guide, Lula, was awfully long winded, but very enthusiastic. Jenny and I also spent some time with our professor who pointed out a bomb shelter on the top of this hill from World War II. Being in Athens really reminds you as an American that your country is so young.  I've heard Londoners say "There are buildings on my street that are older than your entire country."  Since I have been volunteering this school year and studying American History with a high school junior, I get a renewed perspective on the World Wars.  It's been a nice refresher but also helps me see these places I'm visiting and studying in school differently.  The weather was perfect today. Apollo has clearly rewarded us with sunshine. 

Before lunch, we visited the National Archeological Museum. It is smaller than I anticipated and at this point a lot of the antiquities are starting to look the same.  There was a beautiful contemporary mosaic exhibit in the courtyard. Also, the temporary exhibit was about a ship wreck that had been uncovered a while ago.  It was a cargo ship from 220ish BCE carrying lots of antiquities.  Some of the sculptures had been partially stuck in there bed and had eroded unevenly.  There was also an exhibit about a mechanism they uncovered and how they have spent decades just trying to figure out all it does. It seems to be a astrological predictor of some sort and there were plenty of fun posters about gears.  

We had lunch in the Plaka neighborhood where we ate last night and then were released for the afternoon.  Jenny and I sauntered around, visiting various shops. We stopped for coffee and Greek frozen yogurt for a bit.  After bumping into some people from our trip, we discovered that the Greek air traffic controllers are planning to strike tomorrow and a lot of people from our trip are getting stuck in Athens for an extra day. We should be fine by Saturday though.  There are worse places to be stuck for a day. 

Right now we are relaxing by the pool before heading out to our farewell dinner. Tomorrow we are on our own and plan to see more of Athens.  

Photo: Jenny and me at the Parthenon 

Titan

This morning we took a drive to the suburbs to visit Titan Cement's Kamari plant.  We were greeted by Anna, the senior manager for group organization development.  She was very sweet and very enthusiastic, classic HR exec. She gave a presentation on Titan's values.  They really focus on safety and investing in their employees. Later on, another speaker clarified that their corporate values were always the same, but when they began acquiring companies outside of Greece, they really needed to be more obvious with their corporate culture.  Titan is unique in that it is 112 years old and has been on the Athens stock exchange since 1912. Since the company has survived two world wars, as well as a civil war, they are optimistic that they can weather this "crisis".  

The cement business is divided into 3 major categories: giant global companies, multi-regional (multinational) companies and small domestic only manufacturers.  Titan falls into the second category and feel that entering into the first category is next to impossible.  They are vertically integrated and ship directly from some of their plants.  They happen to have plants in the US: one in Roanoke, VA and one in South Florida. They take a lot of pride in impacting the environment around their manufacturing facilities positively. Apparently the Virginia facility is surrounded by a park and a trout farm.

We were driven around the grounds in our bus, which was mildly disappointing, but I understand getting 25 visitors suited up in proper safety gear would be overly complicated.  They had asked us if any of us were engineers, and I was the only person to raise my hand. So the guides kept trying to explain things in basic terms, that normal people could understand?? I told some of my classmates they deprived me of a full nerd experience.  

After lunch, the Strategic Planning Director presented to us Titan's strategy and explained to us more financial details of the cement industry as a whole.  She was brilliant and insightful. Overall, the visit was very interesting, but it would have been nice to get a little dirtier. :-)

Fun Facts:

-They run the Kamari plant 24-7-365

- They produce cement, aggregates, ready mix concrete, concrete blocks, dry mortars as well as fly ash. 

- Titan first started exporting in 1948.

- Greece didn't allow it's companies to acquire foreign companies until 1990. 

- Their internal mentor program is called the C-mentors. 

- 2012 was the first year Titan reported a loss since 1948.

- 200 miles is the farthest suggested distance for shipping cement. 

Athens Day 1

JThis morning we had a 9am gathering time. Our first visit was to Alpha Bank in downtown Athens. What is really fun about being in Athens is that our professor is an Athens native and has no problem interjecting into our tour guide's ongoing narrative. We met with Alpha Bank's chief economist who was significantly more optimistic than you might have expected. Overall, the Greeks seem to be on the upswing, at least in spirit.

Fun facts:

-Alpha Bank is one of the oldest private banks in Greece

-Greece's GDP is down 16% since 2009

-A lot of money was spent getting ready for the 2004 Olympics. There were a lot of short term improvements, but they need to find new uses for some of the sites.  

After Alpha Bank, we got lunch at Titania's Olive Garden, which is the hotel's rooftop restaurant. We had some amazing amazing food. We started with a salad that was mostly tomatoes. I am afraid I am going to burn out on tomatoes, didn't know it was possible. The restaurant had amazing views of the acropolis and we took some pictures.

After lunch, we headed to S&B, a mining company. S&B is in the fortunate position of having most of its customers outside of Greece, so they are mostly isolated from "the crisis". We had a brief tour of the labs, which were significantly less tidy than the labs I am used to. 

Fun facts:

-S&B did €470 million in sales in 2012.

-They are highly diversified. No customer is responsible for more than 5% of their annual revenues. Only 7% of their sales are domestic.

-S&B is family owned (61% of shares)

-Acquired NYCO (of upstate NY) in 2012

This evening, we had a Northeastern Alumni event at Athens College (actually a primary and secondary school). It was really fun and a very different experience from Istanbul.
It's 11 here and we have another early start tomorrow. Will try to elaborate on this post tomorrow!

Cruisin'

This morning we were afforded a late start (11 am) which was great. 

After leaving the hotel, we headed towards a fishing neighborhood of Istanbul I don't remember the name of. We had lunch at Aquarius restaurant which was obviously a seafood restaurant.  One of the first items they served us was mussels. When inspecting the plate, I noticed all of the mussel shells were closed, but was informed by a classmate that they were stuffed.  

After lunch, we got on a private boat for a cruise of the Bosphorus.  The boat was way oversized for our group of 23 (about the size of the Island Queen). We got to see Istanbul from the river which was gorgeous and relaxing. 

Then began our journey to Athens. Travel in Turkey is complicated, everything is congested. When we first arrived at the airport, we had to send all our luggage through a scanner. The we had to get into a line for checking in. After we received our boarding passes, we got in a line to get into a line for immigration, followed by security again. The entire process easily took an hour and a half. Then, at the gate we were very casually summoned to a bus that took us to our plane that didn't take off for at least a half hour. The flight and arrival in Athens was uneventful.  

Our hotel is a little old and apparently they allow smoking almost everywhere. They do not have wireless in the rooms as we had hoped, but the lobby is spacious. We can see the Acropolis from our terrace, which is gorgeous at night. 

Ok good night for now!

Photos: at the Bosphorus, on the boat selfie, view from our terrace