Athens

Up with the sun today for our flight to Athens. A short trip, we arrived at 930 and made it to our Airbnb by 1030. Our metro link was closed as we came on a national holiday (Ohi Day commemorating Greece not joining forces with Italy in WW2) but we were able to backtrack from the next station and our host let us check in very early. We are in the center of Athens and, after dropping our bags, we immediately made the 20 minute walk to the Acropolis. The good news - all museums are free on a national holiday. The bad news - we weren’t the only ones that knew this. After getting our free tickets for 3 hours later, we then walked down to the small Roman Agora (market and meeting place). From there, we had lunch - delicious pita ‘tacos’ and Greek salad and meatballs. By far our best meal yet. Afterwards, we went to the Ancient Athens agora with the 2500 year old Temple of Hephaestus - with roof still intact. It was much larger than the Roman agora and the area where all main trade and talk was in Athens. Socrates taught here and the idea of democracy was apparently born here. It reminded us of the Roman Forum. It also had a beautiful view of the Parthenon on the Acropolis. After a relaxing post-lunch stroll in the Ancient agora, we made the trek back up the hill to the Acropolis (‘city on the hill’) for our 1500 time slot. At the top, we finally got to see the Parthenon - temple to Athena. At nearly 2500 years old, it has been through a lot and only the pillars and part of the front still stand but it is a beautiful and impressive structure that did not disappoint. We had another beautiful day and it was a relaxing stroll around the Acropolis with views of all of Athens. After coming down, we made an ice cream pit stop before we walked to the nearby Acropolis Museum for a tour of artefacts. After a full day of touring, we picked up dinner and groceries before heading back to our flat to unwind. A full day - we have one more left!Read more