Athens Greece

Our time in Athens Greece was very awesome and special. We had a really amazing time. We arrived in Athens in the evening after flying from Santorini. We took the metro from the Athens airport to downtown where our Airbnb was. Just a little trip, make sure to get your metro ticket validated because if not and the police stop you and ask you for your ticket then it's like 60x the price you paid for you ticket up to 400 euro so that is a lot. So yeah, get it validated. This is the Airbnb we stayed at. Highly recommend, everything we needed, comfortable and on the roof you can even catch a glimpse of the acropolis.

Once we got settled into the apartment we did a quick search for good food and found that there was tons of options within just a few blocks from the apartment so we stroll down the street and found a really fun Mexican street food place called Grexico like Greece and Mexico combined. We kept walking and came across this really really pretty Greek Orthodox Church. When we got back to the apartment we noticed that our street was totally buzzing and happy with music and people it seemed like a really fun neighborhood but since we knew we were going to get up really early to get to that acropolis first thing in the morning we decided to get to bed early.

We took the metro which was just a few blocks from the apartment a couple of stops to the Acropolis metro. Then we walk to the entrance of the Acropolis and we got there about five minutes before opening time which was 8 o'clock. We got our tickets and got right in. There were no lines just a couple other people buying tickets. We used the south entrance I think we didn't come in the front entrance. We hiked up the hill and it is a little bit of a walk but we got to top and we read some of the signs along the way about the different areas. On the top of the Acropolis after you enter through the temple the main site you see is the Parthenon and it is amazing although it's continually been in restoration progress for years and years now. So I don't ever think you can catch it without scaffolding. But I'm really glad we went early before the crowds because there was just like 20 other people on the whole Acropolis. When we were there we had tons of room to ourselves we got to take a bunch of pictures almost without anyone in the background or just a few and it was really nice to just be able to sit and relax without feeling like you were being pushed because another tour groups coming in. By the time we were making our way down from the Acropolis there were a bunch of people coming up with the headsets and the tour group flags so we were definitely glad we went early and got there soon as possible.

After the Acropolis we decided to go find some breakfast and luckly there was this really fun yogurt place just a few blocks from the Acropolis on our way to the Temple of Zeus and the arch of Hadrian.  It was called Fresko Yogurt Bar and was very yummy. I got a smoothie and Clark got breakfast yogurt and we got a tradition Greek pastry called --///.  Then we were on our way to the Temple of Zeus the Acropolis tickets that we bought included the Temple of Zeus so we got into that and it was really nice because there was hardly anybody else on the grounds maybe a total of 10 people. We were trying to do all the major sites that we want to see earlier in the morning as to skip the afternoon crowds of the cruise ships. Then we headed to the Panathenaic Stadium which is home to the first modern Olympic Games. You do have to buy a different ticket for that but it was just five euro and was totally worth it. We got to stand on the podium and got a hike all the way up the marble bleachers the whole stadium is marble it's insane. And then we went back into this museum area and there was like a montage of the best and big moments of the Olympics and I actually teared up. It was so sweet.

We then headed over to the Greek parliament area which was pretty close to our apartment and we got there at the top of the hour and watched the changing of the guard. It was pretty chaotic actually at first everyone was lined up really neatly and nicely and then there was a bunch people sitting down on the ground and then the guy came out and told everyone to move. The ceremony was really cool though and their official uniforms and it's a very prestigious honor to get to do the changing of the guard and to guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier which is what this is in front of the Greek Parliment.

Later in the day we headed over to the ancient Agora which is also included in the ticket we purchased. We explored the area and we wanted to see one of the best preserved Greek temples. It's still fully standing and has almost all of its original pillars unlike the Temple of Zeus and the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis. We were actually really excited because we saw three turtles around this temple and it was so funny there's all this Greek history and then everyone is just so excited to see turtles like 2 feet away from them in the grass. We then headed to Monastiraki square. The square was really beautiful and colorful and has a lot of amazing shops and an awesome view of the Acropolis but I will say there were a lot of paddlers and hustlers in this part of Athens kind of similar to Naples, Italy but maybe even more so. I also got really amazing gelato I'm not sure what the place was called but I think it's my mission to find the best ice cream in the world so I like to try them out in every city I go. Haha.

I just noticed how much I've already written for this post it's actually insane so much to do in Athens and we came across this really cool street, we actually came across it by accident we were trying to find the ancient Agoura and I don't know what the street name is I know is that it's near a restaurant called Little Kook. It was so colorful there was colorful buildings and ribbons lining the street and there was this big Humpty Dumpty a and carriage and girls dressed in tea party outfits. Seriously go find this place or just even walked on the street it's incredible.

The last day we were in Athens we got to catch the sunset as we eat louloumades, basically mini donuts. And then on our last day before we got our flight back to Naples we got McDonald's and in Athens and they have onion rings at the McDonald's in Athens and I was so stoked they were so good as well I think that my life would be complete if there were onion rings at the McDonald's in all the cities I've lived in lol. I'll keep dreaming.
love, Carlee

Dress: Thrifted

Nike Shoes:  Famous Footwear

Bag: JCPennys

Sunglasses: Target