We boarded a jet at the airport from Santorini and took the one-hour flight to the Athens, Greece international airport. Once we landed we grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel Athens Status Suites. We dropped off everything in our room and went to grab some lunch. Now, I’m not a very adventurous eater. My friend’s joke that I eat like a five-year-old and never try new things. So I was determined to try new food on this international trip and I did. At lunch, I had Mousaka at Tabepna. I LOVED IT!
After lunch, we walked around and headed towards the Acropolis. When you’re buying your ticket for the Acropolis you can get a 30-euro pass that lets you visit any historical site in Athens for five days. I definitely recommend splurging for that pass and taking in all the ancient history! At the Acropolis, we saw the Parthenon, Old Temple of Athena, Erechtheum, Statue of Athena Promachos, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike, Eleusinian, Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia or Brauroneion, Chalkotheke, Pandroseion, Arrephorion, Altar of Athena, Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, Sanctuary of Pandion, and a lot more.
All this walking worked up an appetite so we found an ice-cream shop called Coco’s and got some banana split ice cream and water. It was pretty late but we decided to walk around some more. We ended up at the flea market and got some snacks and a cold beverage at A for Athens. The view is AMAZING up there!
The next day we slept in since we were out late the night before and grabbed breakfast at Meliartos. We walked around and found some fun street art as well as saw the Roman Agora, Tower of Winds, Entrance of Athena, Hadrian’s Library, and Church of the Holy Apostles.
We kept hearing that we needed to go to the Technopolis, but we got there too early and it wasn’t open. The Technopolis is a cool music/art events venue and I was sad we didn’t get to hang out there for a while.
The city of Athens is a magical place there are so many museums and places to visit to learn about Ancient Greek customs and traditions. There are some great contemporary art museums in downtown Athens so depending on what you like, do some research on the type of art and history you’d like to see from this part of the world.
Our final stop of the day was seeing the play Oedipus the King at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus Theatre. The theatre was built in 200 A.D. The play was in Greek with subtitles on a screen and it was hands down the coolest experience. The play is dark and disturbing but moving and I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but I did!
Our last day started with breakfast at Jimmy’s Coffee Shop. Then we started checking off the final spots on our list. We started with St. George’s Chapel at Mount Lycabettus which gave us an incredible view of Athens. Then we walked around Panathenaic Stadium (it cost money to get in so we just decided to see it from the gate).
A big highlight was seeing the Temple of Zeus. It was such a pretty day that we sat there a while and marveled at everything around us and everything we had seen.
Since it was our last day, we walked around the flea market and saw some of the little shops. We went to the more ‘hipster’ area that had a lot of cool restaurants. We also saw some of the Athens nightlife. Athens is a great night-time city. The city lights up and it’s so fun to just walk around and explore!
July and August are actually the hottest months of the year in Athens. The peak season is late spring in May and early fall in September or October.
According to Google, the Athens Metro system consists of 3 lines and connects to the tram, bus routes, and suburban railway. The Metro runs daily from 5 am to midnight. Lines 2 and 3 operate until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays. At peak hours, trains run every 5-6 minutes.
Three big things are the Acropolis, National Archaeology Museum, and Museum of Cycladic Art.
Have you been to Athens? What was your favorite part?
Leave a Reply