We recently returned from our “trip of the year” to
Greece! It was about a 10-day
vacation, with visits to Athens, Mykonos, Paros, and Santorini (where G and I
celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!). It was truly a spectacular trip; full of great food, lots of
laughter, SUNSHINE, and wonderful memories. We spent the first part of our trip (Athens & Mykonos)
with one other couple, Kelly & Mike, and then a third couple, Kaila &
Joe, joined us for the second half (Paros & Santorini). We all had an absolute blast, but are
now experiencing major Greece withdrawals, especially as we sort through the
(literally) thousands of pictures we all took! I thought I would break up the posts, so without further
ado, I’ll jump right into Athens!
After a slight delay, we finally touched down in Athens, for
the first leg of our much-anticipated Greek Getaway. Now, Grant disagrees with me, but after talking to a few
people (and considering the crisis happening in Greece right now) about our
trip, my perception of Athens was pretty negative, I’ll admit. I heard everything from, “it’s so
dirty” to “it’s so dangerous”, etc., that I wasn’t too excited, and glad we
were only spending one full day there.
Well, let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised…I think we
all were! All four of us truly
enjoyed Athens, and were so thankful we dedicated at least one day of our
itinerary to exploring the city. I should
have known better than to think negatively of the city, especially considering the fact that the ancient world's most magnificent site, the Acropolis, is here.
Anyways, upon arriving to our hotel around midnight (with
empty, growling stomachs), we immediately set-off for Souvlaki row to munch on our first (of many) gyros! Oh my gosh, they were so
delicious! After wandering around
a bit (and pinching ourselves as we stared up at the unbelievable view of the
Acropolis at night), we called it a night by sipping on some of Athens’ finest
“dry” white wine on our balcony, while taking in the Acropolis views!
As you all know, we’re big fans of Rick Steves, so we
thought, what better way to see the city than with his Athens City Walk. We started off in modern Athens, which
is centered on Syntagma Square and the Ermou shopping street. Overlooking Syntagma Square is
Parliament, where we caught the changing of the guards in front of the tomb of
the unknown soldier, and grand hotels that used to be mansions for the wealthy
back in the early 19th century. Considering the crisis, we expected to see a lot of
action in this area…maybe a few protesters, etc., but to our surprise, there
was absolutely no commotion around Parliament, or anywhere else in the
city/country, for that matter. If
we hadn’t been following the news, we would have never known there was a crisis
unraveling. Once through Syntagma
Square, we walked down the pedestrian mall called Ermou, lined with hundreds of modern-day stores.
Parliament
Ermou
The middle part of our walk focused on Athens’ Greek
Orthodox faith, with visits to three different churches. At one time, Athens was a part of the
Byzantine Empire, and in the 11th & 12th centuries,
Athens boomed, and several Eastern Orthodox churches were constructed around
the city. You can easily spot the
Byzantine churches due to their square shape, topped with a central dome. Two were very quaint…reminding me
of what we would consider a chapel in the states. During our walk, we witnessed many older Grecians hopping
off their motor bike (leaving it running) and heading inside one of the
churches for a few minutes to say a quick prayer, and then be on their
way. We also stopped by the
Cathedral, which has been decorated by scaffolding since the earthquake of
1989! We ended this portion of the
walk on Agia Filotheis Street, where all the religious stores are
found…meaning, we saw tons of priests walking around in their black robes, with
their long beards, and those fez-like hats!
Before continuing onto the third leg of our walk, we
stopped for our first Mythos of the trip.
We took our beer to go, as we continued meandering through the streets
of Athens :)
The last part of the walk consisted of us wandering through
the old core of Athens…the Plaka & mellow Greek-village-on-a-hillside of
Anafiotika. During this portion,
we saw the Arch of Hadrian and Temple of Olympian Zeus, and enjoyed getting
lost on the tiny streets of Anafiotika, which was by far, our favorite part of
the walk. Slowly becoming a place
for wealthy locals to keep an “island cottage” in the city, the houses were all
spectacular with many of them having amazing rooftop gardens! We ended our walk in Souvlaki row to
enjoy yet another delicious gyro.
Arch of Hadrian
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Next up was the Acropolis tour!!! You start the tour off overlooking the Odeon amphitheater,
which is actually still used today, can you believe it? We would have loved to attend a performance here, but their season didn’t start until mid-June, unfortunately. So, from there, we continued onto the
Propylaea, which is the entrance gate to the Acropolis. We spent several minutes just staring up in awe at this site, trying to imagine what it was like to make the long walk
up to the Acropolis over 2,500 years ago! It’s so
hard to wrap your head around it. From here though, you get a great view of the Temple of Athena Nike and
the Monument of Agrippa. This is
also where I slipped on the marble pathway and fell on my a**…damn those cute gladiator sandals from Target! After walking through the gate, you reach the Parthenon – definitely the most magnificent site of the Acropolis. Even though most of it is in ruins, it’s still absolutely breathtaking…so I can only imagine what it looked like thousands of years ago! We wandered around for a while, soaking in the panoramic views of the city of Athens below us, before heading back down to reality…the history in this city is just so overwhelming!
Odeon Amphitheater
The Propylaea
Parthenon!
For dinner, we found ourselves at the family-owned &
family-run Sholarhio Ouzeri Kouklis restaurant. They serve only small plates called mezedes (Greek tapas),
and we all loved it! You basically
order a package, based on the number of people in your party…so, for four people,
they recommend ten plates. They
literally bring over all of their mezedes on a huge platter, and you pick the ten that you would
like, straight from the platter – it was so much fun! We were able to try such a variety, which was
great…including Moussaka (what we like to call Greek lasagna), fried sardines
(G loved these!), delicious meatballs, and so much more! We ended the night up on the hotel’s
rooftop terrace, taking in as much of the view as we could (as you can tell, that view never got old!).
The next morning, we caught our first of three ferries of
the trip. It was about a 5.5 hour
ferry ride to our next island, Mykonos, and our “economy” seats were pretty
interesting…basically, it’s a free for all, so if you’re lucky, you can find a
table up on the covered deck. We
were expecting the comfy chairs inside, where we could doze off, but instead
found ourselves with the riff raff…which was much more entertaining! We felt like we were in an episode of
Jersey Shore…Mykonos is known as the party/nightlife island, so I think we
found ourselves amongst many locals just taking a weekend trip over there. We survived the ride though, which was well
worth it, and found ourselves in paradise for the next few days!
Pretty good views of islands from the ferry!
*Many photos courtesy of Mike & Kelly Faillo
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