Athens, Greece
Athens... There’s so much to say about Athens! There's so much to say about Greece! Overall, Greece was just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful and somewhere I hope we visit again someday. It's one of those places I was incredibly sad to leave. Legit pouty face all the way to the airport. I still daydream sometimes about Rhodes (the 2nd island we visited) and try to come up with ways it could possibly make sense to move there. I can be an English tour guide and Adam can become a pro windsurfer?? Perfect! *sigh*So okay, where do I start? Well, we stayed in an Airbnb in the center of Athens that had a pretty cool view of the Acropolis. (The place was even better than I had anticipated since the photos on the listing weren’t that great.) Here's a photo I took in the morning from our balcony:
Our host was really friendly and told us to call him from the cab on our way over so he could speak to the driver and tell him exactly where to drop us off - so helpful!
The cab driver who picked us up was hilarious and pulled over at one point to tell us a story about a stadium we passed. It went something like this: “Here - 40,000 people.” (Pointing to the stadium) “You, stand here, you, stand here,” (Motioning to Adam and me, then using his two pointer fingers to place us at either end of the stadium) “You, ‘hello darling’. You, ‘hello darling’.” (Pointing to both of us and mimicking a man’s voice and then a woman’s voice.) He made an ‘a-ha’ type expression after he said this, and then just looked at us with a huge grin on his face, waiting for our reactions.I think what he was trying to say was even with all of those people in the stadium, you could stand at either end and speak, and everyone in the stadium could hear you, even the person waaaay on the other side. It was great; our first history lesson in Athens!
He loved his city and we could tell he was proud of it. He did tell us to stay away from the metro though because our money will “fly away,” meaning we might get pick-pocketed. (He laughed as he said this, so we weren’t sure if he was serious or not...) Luckily we were within walking distance of everything anyway so no real need to take the metro.
After we checked in and put our things in our room, we went out to explore and find dinner. We wound up at this tiny place with outdoor seating and I'm still thinking about the food we ate there. It was our favorite food in Athens, for sure... Actually, it was probably our favorite food in Greece. Tabouleh, potato salad, Greek salad, and these mushrooms that were marinated in some sort of magical sauce. Adam also had a Greek beer and I tried Rakomelo which is an alcoholic drink combining Raki (a grape flavored brandy) with honey and warm spices like cardamom or cinnamon. It was soooo good but very dangerous. The lighting was terrible, so I didn't take any photos of the food, but I was tipsy enough to make Adam take a picture of me drinking my Rakomelo. Can you find Rakomelo in Seattle?? #obsessed
In the morning, we found food and coffee near our place. Walking around in Athens was nutso. There are so many alleyways and tiny streets all full of restaurants and coffee shops. We found it hard to choose where to go! Everything looked great. We ended up eating at this place run by an older married couple who just kept handing samples to us over the counter.
Eating real Greek salad in Greece was a dream come true. Mediterranean food is one of my favorite cuisines. It's just always so fresh and delicious. That cheese! The olives, the tomatoes... Good, raw red onions... Just can't beat it. The spinach crepes were great, too.
We then stumbled upon this corner coffee shop and Adam got a $1 cappuccino. He claims it was his favorite coffee shop of all time. After that, we saw the Temple of Zeus before walking over to the Acropolis. Seeing all the ruins up close like that was a bit surreal. We walked so much that day! I struggled with the heat a bit (like I do), but I managed. Water, water, water!
I didn't even notice it at first, but olive trees are literally everywhere in Athens. (I mean... duh.) I think I actually gasped when I did finally realize all the trees surrounding us had olives in them. So cool! I had never seen an olive tree before.
Okay so I have a ton of photos of cats we saw this day (and every other day we were in Greece), but I think I'll save them for another post where I will highlight all of the cats I photographed in Greece and give a detailed description of my encounters with each one as well as the names I assigned all of them. LOL I'M KIDDING JEEEEEZ. Well, partially. I do plan on posting a "Cats of Greece" recap because this is my blog and I can do what I want, but it won't be very wordy because I do want my readers to come back. ;-)
Something I appreciated about Athens was how very vague everything was for tourists. They didn't ruin the feel of Athens by installing giant "ACROPOLIS THIS WAY" signs in English all over the city (though yes, there were still a few). You had to just sort of wander and then eventually give up and ask the locals which way to go. We ran into a number of tourists who were totally lost and looking for help. Since we were there in September, there weren't a ton of tourists around, so it was much easier to get a bit turned around. Adam and I stuck to a path and kept walking uphill, trusting we would eventually find it. After petting many cats and climbing many stairs, we did! The word acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον (akron, "highest point, extremity") and πόλις (polis, "city"). Makes sense, huh?
The sky started to get dark which made for super fun, spooky scary backdrops for my photos. I welcomed the dark clouds - anything for a break from the hot sun!
On our way back to our Airbnb, we made one more stop at the Acropolis Museum. My feet were killing me, but since it was our only day in Athens, we knew we had to do it. No photos allowed there, but it was fascinating to see such ancient pieces. I always get goosebumps! We walked around a while longer after the museum but eventually went back to our place for a nap.
That night, we ate at a restaurant called Arcadia. It was fancy-ish and super good. The tzatziki was to die for! Again, it was dark so the photos aren't great. But trust me, it was good. Overall I'd say we had an awesome 24 hrs in Athens. Next up: Milos! As always, thanks for reading. xo