Where the Apostle Paul stood

Imagine being a goat herder in the first century A.D. and, with tremulous curiosity, entering Athens for the first time. It must have been a terrifying sight. The 6-story columns at the Temple of Olympian Zeus alone would send me back to the safety of my backcountry hut. Athenians at the time were falling over themselves to pay respects to Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and the other gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. Zeus could issue thunderclaps and set the sky ablaze with streaks of lightning. Athena was a font of wisdom and good counsel. Hades kept a three-headed dog. They could all kick your ass.

So imagine the audacity it took for St. Paul to set foot in Athens in 51 A.D., stand on Aeropagus Rock, below, and issue his "Men of Athens" speech, recounted in the Bible's Book of Acts. "I see that you are very religious," he began, going on to suggest their worship was misplaced. My god is neither brutal nor jealous; give him a try. I'm kind of surprised he made it out alive. Pilgrims from around the world continue to climb atop the slippery rock to sing hymns and pray.

From here I hunted down the legendary lamb chops at Το Στέκι Του Ηλία (Επταχάλκου 5). Hot off the coals, they made for the best meal of my trip thus far. Do not miss this place.

And no, you may not.

There is a lot of idle chatter on the intertubes about how Athens is a shithole, Europe's ugliest capital, and on and on. Please don't fall for this nonsense. It is no tarted-up toy town, but it has a wonky dynamism that is fast making it one of my very favorite places on the continent. It is, as the writer Naguib Mahfouz famously said of Cairo, "like meeting your beloved in her old age." Or to put it another way, like finding an onion ring in a bag of fries.

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Parting observations

The city has a lovely, decaying quality — both doomed and beautiful. I suspect that inheritors of many properties are waiting for just the right offer. Athens is the size of Chicago but in many ways remains a village. As for the rest of Greece? After emerging from bankruptcy, it is back in the EU's good graces. Yet prices are uncomfortably high, tax evasion is real problem, and people continue to arrive on little boats. The capital is an intoxicating place. Waiting for an elevator that is just wide enough for my elbows, I hear Arabic and Indian music leaking from my neighbors' doors. I want so much for them to invite me inside, offer me tea and an uncommon biscuit. Yes, I have an active fantasy life. So many dogs to pet! I home in on the handsomest breed, telling this guy his beagle was well-marked. "Thank you. But he is a little crazy." You don't say! Half the traffic in the city center involves small-displacement motorcycles carrying puffy tourquoise food...

I arrive

The tattooed city

One axiom of urban living is that the more graffiti there is, the less you notice it. If I lived behind these shutters, I could not bear to be without it. I used to think Brussels was the most-heavily graffitied capital in Europe, but I think we have new frontrunner. Non-demeaning political messages expressed in spray paint are an indication of social health, imo. Are there bright-line provisos? Sure, and if you can't tell the difference between "Kill the Jews" and "Fuck Cops" we have nothing to talk about. Most people have a slightly rebellious streak when it comes to prevailing notions about high culture. If we did not, everything Banksy touches would not be worth its weight in gold bricks. This is Athens' hard-left neighborhood of Exarcheia, where calls for "mobilization" and "resistance" are everywhere. You know what else is everywhere? Cops. With riot shields. With those weird shoulder-pad thingies that make them look like a robot P...

336 hours in Athens

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