Athens, true to the word on the street, is everything you expect: chaotic, sprawling, rather dirty, full of ridiculously amazing ruins, always running on its own timetable. And I loved it so much more than I ever expected, despite the fact that our day went nothing like we planned.
Here’s what our one day in Athens ended up looking like:
6 a.m.: Our flight arrived only four hours ago, but I am awake and ready to go! Unfortunately, E isn’t, but I drag him out. While he’s in the shower, I fall back asleep accidentally.
8 a.m.: Our first introduction to Greek food (in Greece) is our breakfast. I taste my first Greek yogurt and my life will never be the same.
8:30 a.m.: We climb to the roof of our hotel to get our first daylight view of the Acropolis.
9 a.m.: We grab a map from our hotel, who informs us that due to the holiday (that I thought was happening the next day…) and a transit strike, the only form of transportation is buses, taxis, and our own two feet.
9:15 a.m.: After sussing out our options, we decide to buy a fare for a Hop-on-Hop-off tour, since we only have one day and Athens is hugely sprawling.
9:30 a.m.: Tickets bought! Success!
9:45 a.m.: We get lost looking for the nearest stop.
9:55 a.m.: We find the stop. We also find a parade.
9:57 a.m.: The woman with a walkie-talkie at our stop says our bus is stuck in traffic due to the parade, and that potentially the road might be closing, anyway.
10:15 a.m.: The bus arrives! We climb up and start listening. We drive past some favorite sites, but I have one in mind, that’s at the end of the line–the Archaeological Museum.
11:45 a.m.: We have just arrived at the Archaeological Museum. We realize if we stop, we can’t make anything else.
12:30 p.m.: Our bus seems to be seriously stuck in traffic. We get off at the next stop, thinking it looks walkable to the Acropolis from there.
12:32 p.m.: We immediately get lost.
12:40 p.m.: We stumble upon the Ancient Agora, and I realize we are on the right track.
1:00 p.m.: After a long hike, we reach the line for the Acropolis. It’s massive–we decide to hit the museum up first. We get distracted by Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the way.
I’m a little embarrassed with how badly I needed a haircut…
2:30p.m.: We are taking our time in the museum when we overhear someone saying the Acropolis itself is closing at 3:30 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. like we thought.
2:35 p.m.: We book it to the Acropolis. The line is still long, but E gets in while I grab us some drinks–we haven’t eaten or had anything to drink since breakfast, oops.
2:37 p.m.: I spontaneously buy ridiculous frozen lemonades (and a water, thankfully). Luckily it gives us something to do in line.
2:45 p.m.: Tickets are in hand! We immediately begin the climb up.
3:30 p.m.: We take a million photos and try to see every corner and every possible view before we get kicked out.
3:37 p.m.: I slip on the crazy-slippery rock steps and nearly die. But my camera survives, so that’s important.
3:40 p.m: We decide to walk to see if we can still get into see the Temple of Zeus, spotted quickly on the bus this morning.
4:00 p.m.: Sadly the temple is already closed, but I act obnoxious and get some pictures through the fence. We stare at it through the fence for a bit.
4:15 p.m.: We pass Hadrian’s Arch and walk back through the Plaka, where our hotel is and where we’re planning on getting dinner.
4:20 p.m.: We get distracted by the adorableness that is the Plaka district. We end up wandering much longer than planned–and shopping. I buy wooden spoons that are supposed to be a wedding present, but end up keeping them.
5:00 p.m.: We realize we have no idea where we are.
5:15 p.m.: We are inadvertently close to our hotel. We stop to freshen up, and can’t resist getting a drink at the rooftop bar.
6:00 p.m.: We are both starving at this point, so we decide to get an early (especially for Greece) dinner in the Plaka.
6:20 p.m.: We randomly choose a restaurant with outdoor seating.
6:25 p.m.: E immediately bonds with our waiter (he tends to do this with many strangers) who gives us some free ouzo to taste.
6:45 p.m.: Our food arrives! My souvlaki is absolute perfection.
7:15 p.m.: Our waiter convinces us to try dessert–which he then comps. He really liked us (or E, at least).
7:45 p.m.: We pay, and head up to the top of the restaurant for more views, as recommended by our waiter.
8:15 p.m.: We arrive back at our hotel, after getting a little lost again.
8:30 p.m.: We head up to the rooftop bar to watch the sun finish setting, and watch the stars come out above the Acropolis!
My hair was definitely a little unorganized in Athens… 
10:30 p.m.: We head to bed early, as we have a ridiculously early flight to Santorini the next day.
And there it is! Our very unorganized day in Athens, which, while chaotic, isn’t actually that different from a typical day when we travel elsewhere…although we haven’t encountered that much transit striking (but oddly, a lot of parades).
Have you been to Athens? What did you think?
Linking up with Wanderlust Wednesday.