Greece: Athens (last day!)

On our final day of touristing around Athens we knew we had to make it count!  We should have worn pedometers and tracked just how far we walked on this vacation.

The tickets we purchased for entrance into the Acropolis the day before also granted us access to several other historic sites (excellent value for just 12 Euros!).  Most things are relatively close so we started at Hadrian’s Library and worked out way out from there.

Thousands of years worth of history just open to the elements for the world to enjoy!  After tracking down the great gyro pitas we enjoyed on our first day in Athens, we then moved on to Roman Agora…built in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC…

The Tower of Winds…

Ancient Agora is a sprawling area including a large museum and the most well preserved temple we saw in our travels.  The Temple of Hephaistos…

Flying Victory (I’m enthralled with the draping and movement!)…

Inside the church we found Jesus…

After a minor trek across a few scary main arteries we found Hadrian’s Arch (standing all by itself with modern Athens all around)…

and finished up with The Temple of Olympian Zeus…

By the time we arrived here we started to feel a little goofy…  :)

We did wander through the National Gardens for quite some time as well but it was certainly off-season at this point so we missed out on what we can only assume is a quite gorgeous park in the Spring and Summer.

For our final night we took the time to dig out our good clothes and I even curled my hair.  We wandered through the windy streets of the Plaka to find our last dinner destination and bid Greece a fond farewell.

It’s hard to believe we’ve already been back for a month. 

This is the longest vacation I’ve ever been on and it was worth every minute, dollar, uncomfortable ferry ride, and bottle of sunscreen.  Next time I’ll take a bigger beach towel and smaller camera.

Other than that I wouldn’t change a thing.

Where to next? ;)

Greece: Athens (Acropolis)

Goodbye Greek islands…

Hello again Athens!

The ferry ride from Sifnos to the mainland took FOREVER!  We felt like we’d lost a whole day and by the time we arrived back at our Athens hotel all we wanted was dinner and sleep.  We attempted to find that same fabulous Gyro stand from our first day but starvation got the better of us before we tracked it down. 

First thing the next morning we stepped outside and pointed ourselves up the hill to the Acropolis.

Thanks to some poor directions we ended up taking a scenic walk through the residential area at the base of the Acropolis.  Along the way we encountered another pair of gals who had also been given the wrong route so we decided to stay together and figure it out.

Twenty minutes and a set of correct directions later we finally found the entrance!

It was worth the walk.  :)  Inside those walls lies some pretty amazing architecture and reconstruction. 

My favourite building by far was the Erechtheum. 

Of course, the Parthenon is pretty epic as well!

The view is spectacular and goes on for what seems forever!

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is 2000 years old and still used for live concerts today…

The Theatre of Dionysus is massive and undergoing about 5 years worth of excavation and reconstruction…

The preserved details are quite amazing.

After a few hours on the mountain in the scorching sun, we settled in for a lovely lunch then parted ways with our new friends.  Tiffaney and I headed off to the new Acropolis Museum…where many of the original pieces from the Acropolis are on display.  The museum itself is gorgeous, modern and spacious and even without an audio guide we learned so much about what we had just seen (not that I remember anything now!). 

See…vacations come with education!

Greece: Athens

Our flights to Greece were on time and uneventful.  Two stops…Vancouver and Montreal…were perfect for stretching our legs, sending last minute texts and Facebook updates, and making sure to enjoy something other than airline food between the long legs in the air.  After something like 22 hours of travel we arrived in Athens to begin our adventure.

The first thing we noticed after leaving the airport and heading out (onto the REALLY nice freeway) in our pre-booked taxi was how brown everything was.  I guess the part about it being arid and hot there sort of escaped our West Coast brains.  Once we got off the highway and into the city things started to get pretty real.

If we’re being honest we both had a little internal panic attack and culture shock.  Outside the touristy Plaka Athens is a big damn urban city with crazy drivers, lots of graffiti and garbage, and from what we could see…no English signs!  Once we neared our hotel we started to relax though.  Much cuter cobblestone streets and a lot of pedestrians made things seem far more manageable.  And once we wandered out of our hotel and got adventurous any fears we had just melted away.

We caught our first views of the Acropolis…

Stumbled through miles of street markets, wandered with teams of other tourists, and encountered the first of many excavated ruins…

Happily enjoyed our first Greek meal…

The tomatoes were so good we damn near cried.  And the feta.  And the olives.  And the tzatziki.  And the pita.  Did I mention the tomatoes?

It’s actually possible that was the best meal of our entire trip…and we ate a lot of good food.

We enjoyed the glorious sun and more beautiful architecture…

And then there was this…

The view from the patio on top of our hotel.  We may or may not have enjoyed our first sips of Greek wine while just sitting there with our mouths gaping open.

Nothing like a sunset-washed Acropolis to start your trip off right.

Even if we did have to get up at 6am for our ferry to Mykonos. *groan*