I find more excitement in a pita than in the Parthenon.

I took a night bus from Turkey and arrived in Athens, Greece.
When the bus doors opened, the outside air gently brushed against my skin. The people here had darker skin and deeper-set features, clearly different from the Asian people I had seen until then. It was as if ancient, sturdy warriors had been resurrected in the modern age. By the way, I wonder who on earth translated the country of "Greece" as "Girisha" in Japanese.

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My destination in Athens was, of course, the Parthenon.
Standing before its majestic form towering on the hill, I stood frozen. It was certainly beautiful. However, because it was so famous and exactly as I had imagined from seeing photos, for some reason, my heart didn't stir in the slightest. It was just huge. That was all.

When a trip gets long, your emotions get burnt out, and you fall into a state of "anesthesia" where you don't feel anything no matter what you see. This symptom happens to everyone, and it won't be cured unless you return to Japan. It's a bad state to be in because your motivation for traveling drops significantly.

Furthermore, compared to the Asia I had been in, Europe has high prices.
In Asia, I was staying in hostels for 300 to 500 yen a night, but in Europe, it can easily cost ten times that. It's difficult to stay in one place for a long time.

The thing that saved me was the pita I saw in town.
It was flatbread stuffed with plenty of meat and vegetables, costing only 1 to 2 euros. The aroma of the chewy bread tickled my nostrils. When I took a bite, the fluffy texture of the bread, combined with the juicy meat and the sweetness of the vegetables, spread through my mouth. It felt like it was soaking into my body, which was exhausted from the trip.
Moreover, the menu was extensive, offering many choices.

For me, the pita was more than just a meal. In a Europe filled with expensive things, it was an important presence that was cheap, warm, and made my heart feel at ease.

—Ah, once again, I mutter to myself in a strange, foreign land.