One night at Athens

Three years ago Pablo had to go to Athens to visit a friend who was in hospital because he had a surgery. Pablo was from Pienza, a small town in Italy, so he had to take a flight from Italy to Athens. He visited his friend, they discussed. Pablo wished him a good and fast recovery. After two hours Pablo left, and went to find a hotel.

He was looking for it for two hours during the night. He couldn’t find anything. The time was eleven, he was still on the road. He found a square and he sit on bench. Suddenly he heard a sound of steps behind of him. He looked behind and he saw a beautiful girl coming to him. At first he was afraid of her, because he was at Athens a very big city, he didn’t know anyone, and he was in a square during the night.

The girl went close to him and asked him if he need help. Pablo didn’t answer because he couldn’t understand her. She was speaking Greeks while Pablo could understand only English and Italian. He said:

-I can’t understand you. Do you speak Italian or English?

-Yeah. The girl answer. What’s your name? where are you from?

-I’m from Italy and my name is Pablo. What’s yours?

-Xenita. She said..

-Are you from Greece?

-No.I’m from Albany but I born and I growed up here in Greece. Greece is my second country.

Pablo and Xenita staied there for one more hour. They had an intresting discussion. They were trying to learn as more as they can for themselves. Then Xenita asked him if he found a hotel. He answered:

-No. I was looking for 3 hours and all hotels were full.

She suggested him to go to her house.Pablo asked her if she staied alone and she answer :

- I’m with my parents.

Then he refused to go with her, but Xenita insisted and finally Pablo slept at Xenita’s house.

Xenita’s parents didn’t have any problem. They were outgoing and hospitable people Next day Pablo and Xenita went a walk. They visited some interesting places of Athens. Then Xenita’s parents took them and they went to eat in an traditional Albanian restaurant. Pablo liked very much Albanian food.

He had arranged to live that day but Xenita said to him to stay more. Xenita like him and his company. They had become really good friends. Pablo didn’t want to sleep again at Xenita’s home and found a hotel. Xenita’s mother called him for a dinner next night since he liked their food. She cooked three traditional Albanian dishes. Pablo loved them too.

Pablo staid only for three days more and then he left. Before leaving, he invited Xenita to visited him next month. Xenita said:

- Of course, I want come.

When Xenita went to Italy they had a tour to historical places of Italy and then went to Pablo’s town. These days, there was a folk festival in the town. A lot of dancing and musician groups had performance. Xenita like Italian dances and she tried to learn to dance Italian. During the festival, Xenita had the chance to try Italian traditional cuisine. Xenita and Pablo understood that there a lot of same thing in their different cuisines. One day after the festival Xenita went back to Greece.

They didn’t stopped had friendship. They were talking on the phone or through Internet. They visited again each other. They are still friends and next month they are going to visit Crete.