Underslept in Athens

Greetings from Athens from a very tired man. It's 7.25am. I arrived in the middle of the night 4 hours ago, then sat drinking a McDonalds coffee in Syntagma square, surrounded by dogs, since there was nothing else to do, before discovering a cockroach in the shower of my hostel, whose internet facilities I am now using. I would far rather go to sleep for a few hours but there are no beds (so the attendant says) until 10am. More to the point, there are no armchairs or couches which strikes me as uncivilised and simply bizarre, as I've never encountered such an absence in an hostel before.

Highlight of the trip so far: Reading, hovering over my McDonalds coffee, about the Twelve Olympian Gods from a book I wisely bought from a kiosk upon arriving. I think at last I can memorise their names. I trust brushing up on my mythology (e.g Hephaistos' chaining of his mother to a chair) will enhance my experience of Athens.

It is nice that my holiday has started at last, after what seemed like an endless process of tying up my recent uninspiring existence in Bratislava. As usual I underestimated the time it would take for me to pack, and the sheer quanitity of stuff a hoarder such as I had accumulated. And that despite the fact that I must have sold, or indefinitely lent or given away, about 150 books in the past 6 months.

So, Shall I go to the Peloponnese, or to the mainland before ploughing north to Albania, where I expect to be by the 6th.

Any readers of this blog happen to live, or be, in Athens right now? Fat chance.