Athens, Greece

I don’t even know how to begin telling you about our visit to Greece.  It was too special for words.  Even now 8 months later I get emotional looking at the images (I seriously cry every time I look at them.  I’m a big dork like that) or thinking of all the amazing things we experienced and memories we made.  Greece forever changed me & it took a little piece of my heart.

Greece is magical.  Everything.  The people, the buildings, the history.  The food.  Oh the food.  Everything is amazing.  The whole experience felt like a dream.  Sometimes I still can’t believe we spent two precious weeks there.  Two weeks that have left an aching in my heart.  I ache for lazy walks through Plaka.  To see the splendor of the Acropolis again and to take in the breath taking views of the Caldera in Santorini. And to party with Tropicana beach club owner, a crazy Howard Stern look a like who’s uncle goes fishing in the Aegean each morning to catch that days menu.  If you think I am being overly dramatic then I challenge you to visit Greece and not feel the same way :)

Not returning to this beautiful country is simply not an option for me.  There is so much more that I want to see and discover about this ancient land.  Until then I am so thankful to have my memories and thousands of photographs.

Our trip was 12 days.  2 days travel to and from, 2 days in Athens, 4 in Mykonos, & 4 in Santorini.  We arrived in Athens after a 16+  hour flight.  It was worth every agonizing, smelly, claustrophobic, back breaking hour.  As we were in the taxi getting a little mini-tour from our driver Tassos on the way to our hotel I couldn’t help but get teared up.  I’d been dreaming of traveling to Greece for so long and we were finally there!  Origionally in our plan making we thought we would skip out on Athens.  We’d heard it was over-crowded and dirty.  I am sooo glad we decided to stay a couple of nights.   I absoltuely fell in love with this city.   If only we could have stayed longer!

Some things I learned about Athens (& Greece in general)
* It is not as dirty & crowded as you would think having a population of around 4 million. No more than I would expect from any major city.
* Because of the world wide economy crash in 2008 there are fewer cars on the road resulting in much less smog than there used to be. People are saving money by riding bikes or mopeds.
* I had no idea what “Real” Greek yogur tasted like until I tried it here. OH EM GEE, I’m hooked and forever on a hunt to find something comprable in the United States. Edited: ** Don’t be fooled by all of the yogurts claiming to be “Greek”.  Most of them taste nothing like greek yogurt and actually are not even made like greek yogurt.  The only one I have found that tastes the most like what you can find in Greece is Fage!  Drizzle some honey on it and you have the best breakfast or snack!
* Greeks love dogs & there are community dogs all over Athens (and Santorini). The citizens feed them and the pups just hang out basking in the sun all day (quite the life I’d say)
* There are dozens more ruins than those at the Acropolis! Every street corner we would turn down it seemed had some ancient sturcture. It was so cool to see the mix of modern and ancient.
* Sky scrapers are not allowed in Athens. The Athenians do not want any building obscuring the beauty and view of the Acropolis/Parthenon. All the city and suburbs pretty much surround this mountain. It is pretty cool.

a few views from our hotel “The New Hotel”

Some scenes from Plaka on our walking tour up to the Acropolis.  As part of our package from Travelive we had a private walking tour.  Our guides name was Marilena and she was awesome!  She was like our own private history channel.  Such a kind and fun person.  We are so happy to have met her and spent the day walking around Athens with her.  I do not have the website of the company she works for but if you are interested in a great tour email her at: marilexe@otenet.gr.  I highly recommend booking a trip through Travelive.  Everything is taken care of for you.  No stressing out about hotel transfers, flights, ferries or excursions.  They give you the VIP treatment and you literally don’t have to think about a thing.

 I have no idea what church this is!  I wish I would have taken some notes on the tour but I was in awe of everything around me and neglected to write down important names.  It is a very old Greek Orthodox Christian Church.  They were in the middle of doing major repairs on the church but we still got to go inside and take a look around.  It was so ornate and beautiful!

Some more scenes from Plaka…

There are little restaurants and cafes like this around every hidden corner.  I could have spent days alone exploring these streets. 

 This is the Tower of the Winds, located in the Roman Agora and surrounded by an old residential area.  This is literaly the view out of some very lucky Athenians bedroom window.  It’s a marble octgon with eight figures on it, each one depicting a different wind direction.  This is the most well preserved of the Roman monuments in Athens and was origionally in 1st centry BC a sundial, water clock and weather vane.  You can see the top looks like it is missing something, it used to be a bronze Triton with  a metal rod in his hand which followed the direction of the wind.

 View of the Acropolis from the streets of Plaka…

A view of Athens suburbs and the Hephaistion Temple.  This is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world.  Sandly we didn’t get to explore it up close.  Next time!

This is where the Apostle Paul gave the Areopagus sermon to the Athenians.  This site is called “Areopagus” or Rock of Ares, and this particular speech was the most dramatic and fullest speech of his missionary career.  You can read more about this speech here.  And of course in the bible (Acts 17:22-31)!  This was one of my favorite stops on our walk up to the Acropolis.  It was so cool to stand in a place where Paul had spoken and try and imagine all the people gathered around him hearing about Christ.

 This is the Herod Atticus Theatre.  It was build by Herod Atticus who was a wealthy Greek landowner.  They still use it today as a place for Athens Festival performances.  We were not able to actually go and walk around it because they were getting it ready for an upcoming concert.

Another view of Areopagus rock…

Finally at the top of ieros vrachos (sacred rock or the Acropolis).   The following couple photos are of the Erechtheion.  This was Athena’s holiest shrine completed in 406 BC.  The maiden figures on this temple are called “Caryatids”.  These are just casts of the origionals.  They have the origionals in the New Acropolis Museum, which we got to see after we left the Acropolis.

The Parthenon.  I can’t believe we thought about skipping out on visiting Athens and missing seeing all this!  The Parthenon was made between 447 and 438 BC, conceived by Pericles and created by the sculptor Pheidias and architects Iktinos and Kallikrates.  It’s dedicated to the goddess Athena. 

 And here is our lovely tour guide Marilena.  Sorry for the low quality instagram photos.

 On our last night we splurged on a super nice dinner at a restaurant (Don’t remember the name!) with this as our view.  Very cool to see the Acropolis at night while we shared a bottle (or two) of wine :)

Athens- It was a pleasure meeting you.  You gave Travis and I an unforgetable time and we can’t wait to see you again! xoxo