Athens Part I

I don’t remember if I posted on here or not that I was going to Athens for a few days with my parents, however if you follow me on Instagram you will have seen lots of pictures from my lovely little getaway in the sunshine!

When Dad told me last month him and Mum were going to visit Greece for a few days, I jumped at the chance and bidded for 5 days off. It was my “top bid” month, so luckily I got the days off and promptly booked my flight.

On the morning of the flight it was all looking rather full and I didn’t think I was going to get on, but luckily someone didn’t show up at the last minute and I made it! I was meant to be meeting mum and dad at Athens airport but as their flight was cancelled they arrived a little later.

Luckily our hotel had a gorgeous rooftop bar so I sat out in the sunshine enjoying an iced coffee.

Once Mum and Dad finally arrived the sun was setting, and we were all feeling rather hungry, so headed out to find something to eat.

The next day we got some tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus, and set out to do some sightseeing!

Spring had most definitely sprung, and there were beautiful blossoms all over the place!

Our first stop was the Acropolis. I think it would be a crime to come to Athens and not go and see the Acropolis and the Parthenon!

As it was a weekend, it was pretty busy. I can’t even imagine what it’s like in summer, considering this was only mid-April! We climbed up the steps to reach the Parthenon. Isn’t it incredible to think that something that was built over 2000 years ago can still be standing?

Albeit with a little restoration work done to it, but even so!

The Acropolis is an ancient citadel located above the city, so as you can imagine there are some beautiful views over the city of Athens.

Once we’d done our fair share of exploring, we walked back down the hill. We explored a little around the area, and found a cute little cafe serving delicious coffee. There’s a Greek speciality called cappuccino freddo; it’s like an iced cappuccino but better!

We continued on with the bus tour, which took us past lots of the beautiful buildings which are everywhere in Athens.

We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant, and as mum wasn’t feeling too well she popped back to the hotel to rest for a bit.

Dad and I continued our exploring with a walk around the meat, fish and fruit and vegetable markets near our hotel. So many delicious looking things, and more types of olives than I’ve ever seen before!

We wandered over to the National Gardens, which are located right by the parliament building.

Unfortunately we just missed the changing of the guards, which happens every hour, by about 10 minutes! Never mind, the beautiful gardens more than made up for it.

Around the same area is Mount Lycabettus, which is at the top of a pretty steep hill with hundreds of steps to climb. We made our way to the top, enjoying the beautiful views and pretty blossom all the way up.

Once at the top, we got on a funicular which took us up even higher. Stepping out you are greeted with the most fantastic panoramic view of the city.

There’s also a little outdoor restaurant and bar at the top, however if you climb up one more story theres a lovely 360 viewing area. And as seems to be so common in Athens, there’s a church at the top! In fact, churches were a recurring theme during our trip, we seemed to notice one on every street corner!

Can you spot the Parthenon in the distance?

As the sun was beginning to set, we wandered back down the hill towards our hotel. At one point we looked up, only to realise the Parthenon was straight ahead!

If you look carefully you can see it in the middle, perched upon the hillside. There was just time to enjoy some delicious dinner at a lovely traditional restaurant we stumbled upon not too far from our hotel, before the sun set and the day of exploring came to an end.

Stay turned for Part II of our little getaway to Athens!

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