Easter weekend – a pretty good excuse for a holiday! Weeks ago, Russ and I had made lists of the places we wanted to visit in Europe, so I searched frantically for a cheap Easter deal before the prices rose too much. Athens it was.Setting off straight from work on Thursday, I was eager to get away from London for a while and explore somewhere new. Plus Greece in the spring is supposed to be beautiful and not too hot (not that I mind!). After only a 3 hour 20 flight, but 9 hours after we set off, we arrived in Athens with our taxi driver, sign in hand, ready to take us to our home for the next 4 nights,
Diethnes Hotel. Very very basic but perfect for what we needed – somewhere to sleep!Holidays for me probably aren’t what most other people would call a holiday. I can’t sit still! I like to be doing something almost all of the time, or I feel like I’m wasting my time there. So, poor Russ knew in advance that this wasn’t going to be overly relaxing!
For day 1, I thought best we do the main archaeological sites. It’s not like you can really avoid them with the Acropolis and Lycabettus Hill dominating the city. For the Olympics in 2004 they designed a pathway to run along all of the city’s most important sites and monuments. Starting with the Temple of Olympian Zeus (6th CBC-2nd CAD), we bought
our tickets to cover them all (probably could have got away with pretending to be students for half the price), and set off on a glorious 26 degree day.We spent the day walking around the Acropolis (5th CBC), which rises around 150m above sea level, with the Parthenon and Theatre of Dionysus (about 4th CBC, I think) and the Odeum of Herodes, dating back to 161 AD. We also took in Ancient Agora and the ruins on the various sites in this central Athens spot. In between we browsed the shops in the lively district of Monastiraki
and ate lunch at a cool cafe near there, watching the local Athenians wearing their coats and boots while we toasted in our t-shirts!It’s clear there’s a big café culture there, which I loved! The streets around the old town, Plaka and generally all over Athens, are dotted with seats that spill out onto the footpaths. We quickly picked up the Greek café etiquette of sitting anywhere and waiting for someone to come and serve us. The downfall being that you
then have to wait for them to come back for you to pay, which can take quite some time in a busy area! But to me, there’s nothing better than finding a spot filled with the locals. You know it must be good!We finished up the day of touring in Keramikos which holds the oldest and largest cemetery in Attica (the Greek region we were in). While we were wandering around the ruins, I found a couple of tortoises amongst the reeds in what I think was the old moat. After calling Russ over to
check them out, we found they were everywhere in the cemetery. Really cute, nibbling on the grass. I even stumbled across an aggressive male pecking at a little female, trying to have his way with her. And when she finally gave in he made noises I didn’t know tortoises made!!After a very busy, hot day, we nipped back to the hotel for a quick nap before heading out for dinner in true Greek style! We dined amongst tourists (who, we were embarrassed to admit, stuck out like sore thumbs) and locals, eating some delish Greek cuisine!
And Russ tasting all the Greek beers he could find, before heading into some unexplored territory for a drink. Here we found where the locals like to go. This street, with only one or two apparent bars/cafés, was lined with hundreds of tables and full of loud, lively Greeks enjoying their drinks, food and pipes (of the relaxing kind).Day 2 was Russ’ pick, so we were up bright and early (with neither or us sleeping much during the night – possibly a mixture of the heat & noise) to find a bus stop that was only vaguely
described in the 2007 Time Out guide I borrowed from the library, knowing we had very limited time to get there before it left. Not knowing where the hell this bus stop was (the street was very long and nothing labelled), somehow, amazingly, a man approached us and muttered the name of our destination and motioned for us to follow him. He was the driver and the bus left as soon as we got on! Luck?We were heading an hour and a half down the Attica coast to Sounion, where the Temple of Poseidon, the god of the ocean and
flowing waters, lies on the cliff top. The views were stunning all the way down, from our coach. The water crystal clear and a beautiful green. At the site, the view over the ocean is stunning. Surrounded by these ancient ruins, clear blue sky, colourful wildflowers, and silence, it really was bliss! We spent a couple of hours there before catching the coach back to Athens. We were hungry and couldn’t afford to eat or drink at the restaurant on site, with a fresh glass of orange juice costing €5 (which we later found was still quite cheap for a tourist restaurant – the next restaurant had the same thing for €8.80!)!!! 
The afternoon was spent wandering around the National Garden, full of orange trees with the blossoms smelling like heaven! We exited on the side of Parliament and watched their version of the changing of the guard. We weren’t allowed to take photos, which was a shame as the guards wore ridiculous-looking shoes with fluffy pompoms on top. From here we discovered the impressive-looking ancient Olympic/sporting stadium. We thought it looked fairly new, but have just learnt that it was originally built, with wooden seating, around
566 BC and was rebuilt in marble in 329 BC. Definitely impressive!! We also watched as a couple of tourists patted a stray dog who then wouldn’t leave their side. It makes you feel a bit sad knowing how affectionate dogs are and how they must be starving for affection from anyone!As you may have picked up from previous blog entries, Russ likes to climb things. So, without delay, we headed to the base of Lycabettus Hill. I would never have lived it down if I had taken
the cable car up the steep 270m climb, so I walked it, panting slightly at the top, with Russ. I took plenty of photos on the way, of the breathtaking views over Athens. At the top we felt like the kings of the castle and muttered to each other about the lazy tourists who didn’t bother walking (only acceptable for the elderly or disabled!).After satisfying ourselves with the views, we walked the back streets into strange suburbs, taking in the look of the buildings, people, strays dead and alive (Athens has thousands of stray dogs and cats – they’re not big on pets), constantly on the lookout for a post box (which are ridiculously difficult to find), until we stumbled across the most amazing cake and sweet shop I have ever been in!! Where the food actually tastes like it looks!!
Devine!!! We could only wait until we found the nearest park bench where we tucked in with our fingers!Day 3 we had planned to head to The Mall, a massive shopping outlet in the outer suburbs of Athens, to do a spot of shopping, only to realise it was Sunday - none of those kinds of shops were open! You see, it wasn’t Easter in Athens. They work on a different calendar and follow the Greek Orthodox Easter, which this year falls on 19 April, so we missed it completely. Hence
everything running as normal, unlike other Western countries.Change of plan. We took the metro out to the old port of Piraeus. This is where the main ferries run from Athens to other islands such as Crete. We spent time browsing the flea markets until sirens sounded at one end of the street and stall holders had a look of panic across their faces as they desperately packed up their wares and ran like mad-men to their cars or into hiding. Most have their goods on the street on a big cloth so they can pick up the corners and take off without hassle. Was pretty crazy to watch!
We wandered down to Zéa Marina to check out the boats. The further
along you walked, the bigger the boats got. Starting with small two-person fishing boats and dinghies, and finishing with awe-inspiring, 3-storey high yachts. Not jealous, no, not at all!! Was a good time to sit in the sun and drink beer in one of the fancy-looking restaurants!Back into the city we wandered up a central shopping street in the hope that something may be open. Alas... We climbed the much smaller Filopappos Hill to take some nice photos of the Acropolis. I had refused to walk up it the night before as it was dark, unlit and very very creepy looking at night!!! We just sat at the top and relaxed for a while, enjoying the flowers and
butterflies and a bit of quiet in such a lively city.We thought a nice way to end our trip would be to take the cable car up Lycabettus Hill when it was dark to get some night photos of the city. However, our timing was out, so we walked, a different route to the day before. We came to realise we’d overshot the cable car and I refused to walk back down to it. A local Greek, standing on his balcony, told us to follow the tiny path in front of us
which would lead to the main stairs. We followed his directions, only for me to be violently stung by the most vicious-looking nettle I’d ever seen!! It stung my toe, and through my jeans! I first thought I was just being a woos, but when we examined the barbs on these nettles, we were amazed! They are HUGE!!! And stung like a !###!! I had a few choice words and Russ had me punch his hand in frustration! Haha, I’m probably just a woos, but I’ll be more than happy to send you the photo I took of the nettle barbs!!Our trip had come to an end. We had an early flight the next day. We loved exploring Athens and there is still plenty to discover there! We loved the lively
atmosphere, especially on the Sunday when everyone came out to shop at the flea markets and drink Greek coffee at the cafés (which we tried, even though I’m not a coffee fan). And loved how the city was overrun with wildflowers and delicious smelling blossoms. And it was funny that despite my obvious tourist attire, locals still assumed I was Greek. So, worry beads in hand (you often see Greek men fiddling with beads on a chain), we were probably ready to come home as we had had around 14 hour days with very little sleep at night, and were exhausted! On the plane I was already dreaming up our next trip!!You can see the rest of my photos here.
