Authentic Athens

*After living in Athens of the South (Nash) and going to Athens, GA – I was excited to see what this Athens had in store*

After Dubrovnik, we flew to Athens, Greece. I was still exhausted from Santorini, so I slept the e-n-t-i-r-e flight luckily. I even missed the meal that they passed around. When we landed, I was pretty confused in customs when everyone was discussing the plane meal.

I still had not gotten used to going through customs. I did not realize this, but in the EU you only go through customs when you leave the Schengen region. So far, we had mainly traveled within the Schengen region.

We took a train and bus to get to our AirBnB in Athens. I tried to sleep on the train, but couldn’t fall asleep.

After we settled in to the apartment, which was up 8 like floors of stairs I swear. We found a little Greek place nearby. As Kai was exploding with joy to be in Athens, we were all exploding with joy over the fresh food.

After lunch, we decided we should watch the sunset at the Parthenon. We took the metro, which was always uncomfortably packed to buy tickets for multiple sites in Athens. We started by exploring the Roman Agora and then taking off up the Acropolis towards the Parthenon. We didn’t realize it, but the Parthenon closed at 6:30. So, we climbed this rock structure and watched the sunsets and guard change for the Parthenon from there. I was in awe at each sunset. I never thought a sunset could match the previous one, but they always did.

After watching the sunset, we explored the markets and food around the area. We were in the Psiri area, which is for younger people and tourists. None of us were hungry enough for dinner, so we tried gelato. Yurie and I got greek yogurt gelato, how fitting! Each street of this area was just as exciting as the last. So many trinkets for sale, and t-shirts, and gifts. Also, the perimeter streets had cool decorations like umbrella ceilings and a Halloween-town. We tried this snack place called Wok-n-Walk. After, we went to a little rooftop bar with a view of the Acropolis.

The next morning, we struggled to get back to the Acropolis. There was a strike, so the metro line right by us was shut down. We ventured into the Acropolis eventually by walking, the help of locals, and another metro line. Once at the Acropolis, we had brunch. Our first freddo cappuccinos well, might I add. We quickly fell in love with them. They’re just cold cappuccinos though. After getting food, we went to The Temple of Zeus. I was amazing by the fact that only a few towers were still left. After reading online, it turns out there used to be around 100 of the towers, but during tough times they were used for construction and some just fell. It began to rain while we were there, so we hustled to the Acropolis Museum. Luckily, we got our tickets for free because we are students. However, this was one of our first actual student perks, even though most places try to boast that they have them. The Acropolis Museum was full of artifacts, found on the Acropolis. I was amazed by how much had been found and preserved so well. The museum was even built over an excavation site! The site was preserved so well that we got to walk through it. After the museum, a few of us got ponchos to protect us from the rain. The others in the group were not short of amused by our look.

Doting our new look, we went to get lunch. Hiding under the cover, I ordered a chicken Cesar salad and shared calamari. We also decided to share wine. Yurie and I split the red together. When we finished, we went to the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium was the first modern Olympic games. We did an audio tour of the stadium. We even got to run the track, the tunnel where the Olympians ran through, and stand on a trophy stand!

After the stadium, we *booked* it to the Parthenon. We luckily got to cut through parts of the Acropolis and saw the theater and other sites on the way. We were exhausted after running all the way up to the Parthenon, and very sweaty. The Parthenon was extremely cool and monumental, don’t get me wrong, but it is weird that in Nashville we have a “cleaner” Parthenon.

Afterwards, we went down to the shops again. I got gifts for friends and family, that I CANNOT wait to give them. For the night, we went and hung out at Collin and Reed’s AirBnB and the area around it. They had a great view of the Parthenon and stayed in a cute, hipster area.

The next day, we had to leave for Santorini. We got one more more before heading out. At the airport, I went to the ticket counter, because I was not able to check in online. Turns out the flight was overbooked, so I had to be on “standby.” When they told me this, I burst into tears. They were very reassuring and felt badly for me, they ended up putting me in business class! Take off for Santorini!