For my boyfriend and I’s big summer vacation this past year we went to Greece, specifically Athens and Santorini. We were traveling there after a wedding in Lake Como, so we flew direct from Athens to Santorini. We found a cheap deal on EasyJet (tickets less than $100 each!). Easy jet is one of those European budget airlines where you have to pay extra for large carry-ons or checked luggage. Rather than try to cram five days’ worth of things into our small carryon backpacks we decided to pay a little extra to share a larger bag.
Athens is a pretty small airport, and it is very easy to get from the airport to downtown. Both ubers and taxis are available from the airport. Additionally, you can take the metro right downtown pretty easily.
We did not land in Athens until after 5p.m. so we decided to take a taxi to our Airbnb in order to get downtown as soon as possible to enjoy the evening. Our Airbnb was an adorable little studio within walking distance of every major attraction, and it was so cheap!! Really everything in Athens was surprisingly (to me at least) cheap.
That night we picked a random place to eat dinner and were not disappointed. We were so hungry by the time we sat down somewhere my boyfriend tried ordering numerous things off the menu and the waiter actually told him “No, that is too much food.” LOL. He was right though! We could barely finish everything we did order.
The following day was our big tourist day in Athens. In my opinion, you really only need one full day in Athens in order to see all the major tourist sites. Had we stayed longer we may have ventured out farther outside of the city. But all of the main attractions are within walking distance of each other, and you can always take the metro.
Everything I saw online said to be at the Acropolis right when it opens at 0800. I should also mention we were in Athens in July, peak tourist season. We planned to be there at 0800, but alas, we slept in and ended up winging our whole schedule. We did not end up making to the Acropolis until late afternoon, and honestly I thought that was fine. So in no particular order, here are the sights we saw:
Monastiraki Flea Market
One of the first places we saw was this cute flea market, mostly because it was right next to our Airbnb. It is an extremely colorful market, fun to walk through with loads of vendors selling numerous fruits, vegetables and meat. We also stopped for coffee near the market and ordered something sweet to go with it.
Hadrian’s Library
This place was not originally on my list to hit, but we walked right by it while walking to other sites, and our combo ticket got us free entry. I am glad it did because this was a cool area not to be overlooked! It was constructed under the rule of Roman Emperor Hadrian. I loved walking through the area imagining what it used to look like.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus
Unlike Hadrian’s Library, this site was on my list of places to hit, and afterwards I felt that we totally could have skipped it. Unfortunately, not many of the original colunms are left standing and the structure was covered in scaffolding, which really took away from the marvel of it. I do not know if this scaffolding is temporary while they work to preserve the temple, or if it is there for permanent support.
The Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaestus
The Ancient Agora is a really cool archaeological site which served as a marketplace some thousand plus years ago. The Temple of Hephaestus is an extremely well preserved temple in the area and you should definitely walk up to it while in the Ancient Agora.
The Roman Agora
The Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora are super close to each other so you might as well hit them both. It is another great architectural sight worth stopping by.
Acropolis Museum
It is worth taking a look at this museum, but if you need to skip something you could skip this. It is similar to many other museums I have seen with various pieces of old art and sculptures. Not to lessen the importance of this museum, but I was very tired by the time we hit it.
the museum was cooler than the museum itself
The Acropolis
As I mentioned, we went to the Acropolis later in the afternoon. While it was extremely hot outside, crowds were not too bad. We even managed to get a cute picture without any people in the background! A random tourist took it for us and I have to say I think she did a really great job. The Acropolis was huge and amazing and I definitely see why it is the number one attraction in Athens.
Areopagus Hill
This hill is worth the climb to get a great view of both the Acropolis from a distance and the city. The path up the hill is right next to the main entrance into the Acropolis so I recommend doing these sites one after another.
Conclusion
After a full day of activities we ordered dinner somewhere random where we could sit outside. As it was the night before, the food and wine was amazing. We tried to go to bed at a reasonable time as we had a very early ferry to Santorini to catch the next morning, which I will go into in my next post.
Until next time,
Sarah