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.
Van @ Snow in Tromso says
Yeah that’s pretty much how I imagined Athens! Also, is the Akropolis actually smaller than I thought? I’d love to visit Greece some day but I might just skip Athens and head straight to the islands… 😉
AmyMacWorld says
Yeah I wouldn’t blame you! Although I really loved Athens. Not totally sure why 😉 but the Greek Islands are where it’s at!
Tanja / The red phone box trav says
how did you manage to remember all the details and the hours?:) #wanderfulwednesday
AmyMacWorld says
I took the photos on my phone and it records the time 😉 NOT because I have a super memory, haha!
Sara Elizabeth Urquidez says
Gorgeous photos of Athens. I was looking at trying to figure out Athens and the islands recently, but the flight times seemed to be exactly what you experienced (arriving late / departing super early) and I’ve heard about how big Athens is… so I’m pretty sure our day would go a lot like yours!! lol
AmyMacWorld says
Yeah I would probably stay in Athens a little bit longer than one day ha 😉 I have a feeling our day was not abnormal! Although there PROBABLY isn’t a parade every day 😉
Cynthia says
What a packed day you guys had!! My goodness. This was when you visited around Easter, right? Ohh man, it really took me back! I’d love to go again and see more, but there’s no way in hell I’d visit during the hot summer months!
AmyMacWorld says
Yeah I think end of March/early April was perfect, although it was too cold on Santorini. But it was already getting a bit warm in Athens. I can’t imagine trying to see all of that stuff in the summer!!!