Mediterranean Memories - Sodade

Being mid-September and with the end of season ferry schedule I found myself having to take a boat back to Athens from Paros on the night before my flight back to the States. My ferry landed at 12am and my flight wasn’t until 12pm that afternoon. I had originally thought that I would just waste the twelve hours hanging around in the airport since I had all my bags and excess travel crap. However, the closer I got to my departure date I realized that twelve hours is actually a pretty long time to hang in an airport, so I figured that maybe I should find a cheap hotel for the night, a place to drop my bags, and try to discover a little gay nightlife in Athens. From the few, and I do mean few, coffee shops that had WiFi on Paros I researched and found that a part of Athens called Gazi seemed to be the gay bulls-eye. I found a cheap hole-in-the-wall hotel for €60 that was very close to Gazi, got into Athens a little after midnight and once I dropped my bags and splashed some water on my face I was ready to conquer the gay Greek gods of the capital. I started at a bar called the Blue Train, a nice place to start the evening, very low key, with tables on the streets where I could acclimate myself to the area and size up the passers by. As I sipped my Jameson and coke (I know, not a very Athenian drink) I noticed that on the roof of this bar, about three stories up, there was some sort of outdoor lounge-like space. I finished my drink and found my way up the stairs. I was right; on the rooftop overlooking Athens I found a super low-key outdoor bar with sofas, cool music and a hot little Greek waiter…a perfect spot. However, I also noticed that it wasn’t very busy. Was this the best Athens could do at 2:30am on a Saturday night? Not knowing the gay scene here at all I figured this must be it. I decided to ask the cute Greek waiter for advice. I explained that I was only in town for that night and asked him if there was something I was missing. “Sodade” is all he said. After a few broken-English directions I was off to find this not-to-be-missed “Sodade”. After a few rights, a sharp left and few dark alleys, I came upon the illuminated sign of Sodade. It didn’t look like much from the outside, just a door, with a few Greeks roaming around in the front. I went in, paid the cashier my €8 and entered through the glass doors. Holy shit!! This place was crammed packed with people, the music was pumping, everyone was screaming over everyone else, there were lasers lights and cigarette smoke bouncing off of the walls…perfect…I had found my Athenian party! I managed to squeeze through the packed crowd to the bar and soon discovered that this was a multi-room venue, with an out door area and beautiful people everywhere. Just when I though I couldn’t handle anymore the DJ played an incredible dance mix of Madonna’s Erotica! I never wanted to leave! I drank and danced and talked to people who had no idea what I was saying until finally I had to tear myself away and head back to my hotel for the few hours of sleep I was able to get before I flew back to the New World. I am so grateful to the cute Greek waiter for steering me in the right direction; I guess he could tell what kind of scene I was looking for. So, if you ever find yourself in Gazi and are in need of some super cool gay energy head to Sodade…word.