Athens and the Acropolis

As our bucket list trip was coming to an end, we had one more city to visit – Athens, Greece, the birthplace of philosophy and democracy. (In 1834, Athens became the capital of Greece. There are 4.5 million in Athens and 11 million in the country and has been inhabited for 7,000 years.) Bryan and I both love Greek history – especially mythology – so couldn’t wait for this stop. We had read ahead of time that the city of Athens, minus any day trips FROM the city, could be done in a day. We wanted to make sure we had enough time so planned for two nights. Let me just reiterate what we read ahead of time, Athens can be done in a day. While we loved this city and all the fascinating history, you don’t need more than 24 hours to get it all done.

So, on our last morning in Santorini, we caught a shuttle at the Oia bus terminal which took us to the ferry port. At the port, you can find several shops and restaurants, so while we waited, we had breakfast and watched some of the other boats come in. While we were a bit nervous about boarding the right ship (more to come on this in another blog), we made it fine. As we boarded, we set our bags down on the lowest level, climbed the stairs to the main floor and found our seat. Our ferry would take us about five hours from Santorini to Athens, with a few stops along the way. There was plenty to eat and drink on the ferry also, and they even offered homemade pita gyros. They were delicious!

After arriving in Athens, we had a driver waiting to pick us up who would drive us directly to our AirBnb. We were staying in a neighborhood called, Koukaki. It’s an up and coming neighborhood that AirBnb had voted topfive best neighborhoods in the world! As we drove into town, we discovered our driver lived nearby, so we asked him for some restaurant recommendations. Just outside of our apartment, is a little pedestrian street with a ton of choices; we stopped at one he suggested and had the most delicious (and incredibly cheap!) meal. Following dinner, we walked through the neighborhood and streets, found a cute bar to stop and have a handcrafted cocktail, and then made our way back to the apartment for bed.

The next morning, we slept in a bit before getting up for breakfast and then hitting the road. We had most of the day free so walked through the streets of Athens, winding in and out.

Along our walk, we came across the National Gardens and made our way through it. We discovered that natural areas like this are hard to come by in Athens, so many come to enjoy it. The park was commissioned by Queen Amalia, the first modern Queen of Greece. Just outside of the park is so much history packed in one little block – as is the rest of the city! To the north of the park, is where you can find the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which today only has 15 of the original pillars left. And next to the temple, is Hadrian’s Arch. Hadrian’s Arch was a gift to the city for the completion of Zeus’ Temple. Just south of the Arch, on the corner of the national park is a beautiful statue of Alexander the Great. And if you continue to walk down this road toward the park entrance, you’ll come across a subway terminal. Huh? Why on earth do you think a subway terminal is cool and historic? Turns out, when the city was excavating to build this terminal, they found some ancient ruins of Roman baths. We later learned that when building in Athens, this becomes a regular problem. (Not really a problem since you’re uncovering history, but a bit of a hinderance for architecture.) Many building projects choose not to go underground for fear they will find something and need to pause their project for an archaeological dig. Couple this with the following facts: buildings need to be low for earthquake protection; and no building can be higher than the Acropolis, so it can be seen from every angle of the city. These pieces can create big issues for development. While the Acropolis sits high, it’s not that high, so you won’t find many skyscrapers in Athens. The city must build out. For 4.5 million people. Sheesh!!

From the park, we went on to some of the most famous neighborhoods in Athens. Athens is known for many of its flea markets and shopping districts. Monastiraki being the most famous flea market with shops and shops for blocks lined up. We wandered the streets, admiring the goodies. In Greece, chess and backgammon are very popular. Regularly you will see people playing on the streets, so naturally, we saw backgammon and chess sets being sold all over. Bryan and I have played backgammon from time to time and thought this might be a fun souvenir to bring home. These sets, however, are so ornate and beautiful, they were a bit out of our price range for something we don’t play THAT much. But incredible to see that detail.

Next up, we found our way to a store in Monastiraki called Melissinos, the poet sandal maker. I had read about this store ahead of time – this family has been making custom made sandals for over 100 years. Jackie O made them famous, but celebrities have been

coming here and wearing them for years! We walked into the store and it is so tiny and inconspicuous – which makes it even better. (Just a heads up, if you do want to go here, come fall of 2019 they are changing locations.) You can get a specific pair custom made, or they have several standard types you can choose from. I picked the style I wanted, they asked my size, and from there they fit it to my foot. They measured the leather straps, cut them to size, nailed them into place, gave me care instructions and off we went! I was instructed not to wear them for four hours while the glue dried, but I have gotten good use from them since…..and am wearing them as I type this blog! I highly recommend this stop in Athens…. besides, who doesn’t want a new pair of shoes?!

From our shoe shopping experience, we headed to the next shopping district of Plaka. Again, many more stores to visit and wander in and out of here. But it was here that we stopped and had lunch on a patio, and of course, some more Greek wine.

After lunch, it was time for our tour of the Acropolis. (The term Acropolis means, City on the Edge, and it was built for defense and protection, and to worship the Greek Goddess, Athena.) We met our tour guide at a hotel back near the national park and the bus drove us around the city, giving us a brief history of some of the things I mentioned earlier. Our first

stop was the Panthaeonic stadium. To be honest, we had kind of forgotten about this place, so we were so happy our tour took us by it for a stop. The stadium is the site of the first modern Olympics and was the first major stadium in the entire world to be made from marble. These Olympics were started by a French aristocrat and they took place in April 1896 and lasted for 10 days. The Ancient games were born in Olympia, Greece, in honor of Zeus, which is where the Olympic torch stays lit today. The ancient games were so exclusive that women and slaves weren’t even allowed to watch the games.

From here, we parked at the Acropolis and walked up the steep stairs to the beauty of this hill. The Acropolis has several structures within the area that you are allowed to walk and view, the most famous being the Parthenon (made of 70,000 individual pieces). We learned that the Parthenon is the most copied structure in the world and what was fun for us is that we have seen one of the copies; a few years prior, we were able to see the replica that is in Nashville, Tennessee. The original Parthenon used to have a golden statue of Athena inside, but years and years ago, it was stolen and probably sold for the metal. Today, the Nashville Parthenon is the only one to have replicated what they believe that statue to look like.

Next, we made our way throughout the entire Acropolis and the various structures. Like Florence and the Renaissance Walk, there is so much to see and explore I am going to put them in list form of what we saw. (There are many structures we didn’t have time to explore):

Erechtheion: Temple dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon; During a battle over the city, Poseidon offered a spring, Athena offered olive tree (which still stands) and the residents wanted the tree, so she ‘won’ the city, therefore the name Athens. You can still see Poseidon’s ‘angry’ trident mark when he struck down because he didn’t win.
Propylaea: The entrance to the main site
Temple of Athena Nike
Odeon of Herodes Atticus: Amphitheater built in 151 AD that has been renovated and still used today
Theatre of Dionysus: Considered to be the world’s first theater
Areopagus: Believed to be the rock where St Paul stood and proclaimed Christianity. Not many converted immediately but overtime they did. Next to this is Ancient Agora, which was the political center of Ancient Athens.

Athena's Olive Tree

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Temple of Athena Nike

That wrapped up our Acropolis tour and soon we were back at our apartment for dinner and bed. The next day we would be heading home and back to Denver. What an incredible two weeks of history, food and fun we had experienced. Where to go next?!