Comparing Richmond: London, Barcelona, and Athens

I recently made my first trip outside of the country to Europe. The main reason I made the voyage was to witness the marriage of my best friend, Danny O'Hanley, to his now wife, Lena, on the beautiful Greek island of Santorini. Secondary to that, I wanted to learn more about European culture. Before arriving in Santorini, I visited London, Barcelona, and Athens. It was in all four destinations that I learned so much and gained knowledge of so many great European ideas.

As I entered the Richmond International Airport on Monday, May 12th, I was very excited for the voyage to come. After a fun layover in Philadelphia, I was off to London. After seven hours with US Airways (now 11:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday, May 13th), I was in London. Another hour, and I was through Customs, where I then found the London Underground, aka "The Tube". I took The Tube from Heathrow to Chelsea where I was staying with family that evening. After dropping my backs off, I headed to the Borough of Richmond. It was here that I found the view of the Thames River that is similar to the view of the James River from Libby Hill.

View of the Thames River from Richmond Hill.

On my way to find this view, I passed by many historic buildings with apartments, retail, and restaurants. There were quite a few options in the Borough of Richmond. After taking the picture above, I checked the Roebuck Pub which was located immediately behind me. I enjoyed some fine British beers, not chilled of course, and the Roebuck's hamburger. I was informed that I could enjoy the view of the Thames more by taking my pint with me, so I did. I quickly learned that Europeans love to enjoy themselves and don't make laws that keep people from doing so. Needless to say, I took advantage of this liberal European mindset quite often. 

It was short trip in London (just about 18 hours), so unfortunately I only had time to check out the view that named our city. The next morning, I took the Gatwick Express to the Gatwick Airport, where I boarded my Vueling flight to Barcelona. 

Upon arrival to the Barcelona Airport on Wednesday, May 14th, I hailed a taxi and made my way to meet up with Danny and Lena, who were there studying at the IESE Business School (they graduated that Friday). After taking me up to his apartment to drop my bags off, Danny took me on a hike up to the most amazing view of the city from Parc Guell. 

View of Barcelona from Parc Guell.

It was here that he oriented me with the city of Barcelona. Barcelona has a metro system, has a universal taxi system, bike and pedestrian lanes of travel (more than just sidewalks) adjacent to major avenues (sometimes in the middle of them, like a median), there were many pedestrian malls with restaurants that featured al fresca dining and excellent shopping options (Las Rambas was one of the most popular), the Mediterranean Sea front had an amazing beach with beachfront bars that served you on the beach, the nightlife was an all-night affair with most clubs opening at 11pm and staying open until sunrise (the most popular drink was Gin & Tonic), and so many more things were learned in Barcelona. 

The first night (Wednesday), after adventures to Parc Guell, we went had Sirloin Steak burgers from Nello's Bar, then drinks at a place called Dow Jones. Yes, like the stock market. What made this place unique was their way of setting the prices for all the drinks. Every hour they changed based on the supply and demand from the previous hour. So, if everyone is buying a lot of one drink, the price of that drink goes up, if no one is buying something, that price goes down or is unchanged. Pretty cool concept. Budweiser was pretty cheap. 

On Thursday, we went to the beach to enjoy some great burgers at Makamaka Beach Burger Cafe accompanied by Bloody Mary's in a can. Good stuff. Then we hit the beach which I quickly discovered was a topless beach. I'm not going to elaborate on that. There are some pretty funny stories I have from this day at the beach, they involve mojitos and awkward massages. After our day at the beach, we all went to the Placa d'Espayna to check out the Magic Fountain, then to the Alaire Terrace Bar where we enjoyed some great tapas. After that, we went to the clubs where I was somewhat shocked to find them playing only American music. I also found it interesting that more people actually go to the clubs, unlike here, where most people go to bars. Again, people like to have a good time in Europe. 

The final day (Friday), before flying to Athens (on Saturday morning), the best men and the groom went on a little shopping excursion, then had some excellent Spanish pizza from Pizza Que?. After that, I went on a downhill run to Las Rambas, took the metro back where I then had to quickly get ready for Danny and Lena's graduation. The best part of this graduation was the speech by the class Vice President. After his introduction, he mentioned he was going to highlight a few things from his experiences in school, but interrupted by saying, "but first, let me take a selfie", where he then turned his back to the audience and proceeded in taking a selfie. Perhaps one of the most hilarious things I witnessed. After graduation festivities, which included a cocktail reception and four course meal, we went back out to the clubs to meet up with some of Danny and Lena's classmates. It was a very surreal experience and I very much so enjoyed meeting such great people. 

The next morning, after about 2 hours of sleep, we boarded our plane for Athens. Once we landed in Athens, we took a Taxi to our hotel, which wasn't that great (I booked everything in March, and Athens was on a budget). Our first impression of Athens wasn't all that great, but that quickly changed.

Athens has a world-class Metro system that was basically free (they don't enforce the tickets), wonderful little restaurant, art, and shopping districts that surrounded the Acropolis, the entertainment district of Gazi which was a mere 10 minute walk from the Acropolis or a quick ride on the Metro, and then there was the suburban district of Glyfada which took a trip via the Tram. Oh and then the food. So amazing. I'll never eat a Gyro in the US again. 

Here are a few pictures from Athens:

Tram to Glyfada. 

One of the many Pedestrian Malls near the Acropolis.

Club called Why Sleep? in Gazi.

A few things to know about Athens: Everything is fairly cheap in price, but excellent in quality (except for the one hotel I stayed in the first night), you can walk every where with alcohol (this is pretty much all of Europe), make sure you have cash before you land (the ATMs don't work for American credit cards and most restaurants only accept cash), they don't keep regular business hours, and there is a lot of history (obviously). I could probably go on and on about Athens, but I should probably move on.

The culmination of our trip was on the Greek island of Santorini, also known as Thira. After landing that Sunday evening at the Airport, I was greeted by a man holding a sign with our name on it. He then took us, compliments of our hotel, to the Aigialos Resort. This is the view we were greeted with upon arrival:

The Aigialos Resort in the town of Fira.

From here on out, I quickly realized that the people of Santorini make Southern Hospitality look like a joke. That night, we had dinner at the Argos Restaurant. After finishing a bit of my food, I had ventured off to step out for a smoke. Before I could make my way for the stairs, the manager, Constantinos, stopped and asked that I remain inside, where he then scurried off to bring me a drink. He quickly came back with a shot of Mastica from the island of Hios. He informed me that I should sip the Mastica (and it was one of the most amazing drinks I have ever had). I quickly thanked him for his generosity and offered him an American cigarette from the city of Richmond, Virginia. Constantinos and I quickly became friends. I asked for a place to take the groom the next day and he had mentioned a place near the small town of Kamari. We had to go up a mountain on a switchback road, and just before the top, we needed to take a path which would lead us to a cave. The next day (Danny and Lena's wedding day), this is what we found: 

After adventures on the island, we had to go put our suits on. With the private nature of the wedding, I will not share too much, but I will say as someone that has attended and entertained countless weddings, it was the most intimate and beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. Congrats to my friends Danny and Lena O'Hanley!

The next day, I went on a solo adventure where I explored the towns of Perissa, Fira (the capitol of Santorini), and Oio, where I found more shops, restaurants, and beaches. Below are pictures from the town of Kamari where I found quite a wonderful boardwalk and Black Sand beaches: 

The next day, I flew back to Athens, had a layover in Istanbul, then back to the States via Dulles International Airport. The journey I had just completed was one that I will remember forever. I must thank Danny and Lena for the honor of having me be apart of two great and important milestones in their lives. It truly was an honor and I learned so much in the process. 

For more information or pictures, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @MatthewBDavey or shoot me an email at mdavey@historicshockoe.org. Thank you for reading!