We arrived in Athens after a 2 hour flight delay but a mostly pleasant flight. We had a nice driver meet us at the airport to take us to our airbnb where the cleaning lady met us to let us in and show us the amenities. The driver told us some fun places to check out and told us that before the recent immigration there was a Greek saying that even the rocks in Greece spoke English. Our place was cool, it was small but nice and had wifi and a small terrace. The coolest part though was the rooftop access. You could see the Acropolis from it which was breathtaking at night! We at a fairly touristy spot when we got in because we were hungry but it ended up being pretty decent food. We started our tour in Athens at around 5 and there were two groups, one led a by a very friendly woman and the other by a guy who was smoking. We got put into his group, and I am kinda glad we were cause he was really funny, although he wasn’t really trying to be. He was crazy anti-government or at least the Greek government and reminded us about that every chance he got.We went to the Arch of Hadrian, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We got to learn about the columns that were stolen from it and all kinds of information. We also walked passed the Prime Minister’s house, or the liar’s house according to the guide, and got to see the funny uniforms they make the guards there wear. We also got to see Panathenaic Stadium home of the first modern Olympic Games and the only stadium in the world built completely of marble. After we saw that we went through the National Garden and then headed back to the apartment. After trying to order delivery food, all apps/sites/menus we could find were in Greek, we headed out to Thanasis Kebab to pick some food up to go. We got our food, and then came back to the apartment to have a rooftop dinner under the Acropolis. It was poorly lit, but the food was good and the company was even better 🙂

We slept in a little that morning and then headed out towards the Acropolis Museum, even though we had already seen the Parthenon marbles at the British Museum, and there is a tiff between the two as to who really should have them. However, before we went into the museum we went to get some authentic Greek yogurt for breakfast, and it was really good! After going to the museum we went out to go see the real site and see what remained up there. It was a lot of walking and climbing but it was definitely worth it. All of Athens was visible from the top and it was clear why they decided to build at such an easily defensible position. After that we tried to go to the market to get food… which was a bad idea. Don’t go to a fish market past noon unless you want to throw up, after that we found a place near there to grab a quick lunch and then we went out window shopping. This is about where I had found out we were doing really really well on the budget so I was getting a little spend happy. I really really wanted to buy one of the gorgeous giant Olive Wood bowls but you said no, just because it would be impossible to take home. We ended up getting you a dress, a hat, some gold earrings, and some Athenian costume jewelry though from nice people all over the city. After our shopping expedition we were looking for a good place to eat and decided on a place called To Steki Tou Ilia.

It was a little out of the way and you were getting nervous but the food was so, so worth it. We both had lamb chops for the first time and walked away forever changed. After this amazing meal we went back to the apartment to chill and get ready for our flight the next morning.

This is normally the part of the story where we have a really short went to the airport got on the plane, maybe there were delays but no major problems. Unfortunately for this stop and the next that is not the case. In this case though we had enough time planned and were doing fine until we had a total brain fart. The building we were in must have been very security conscious because a key was necessary to unlock the apartment door as well as the building door, whether you were entering or leaving. The checkout instructions said to leave the keys in the apartment, which made sense until the second the apartment door auto-locked behind me and I realized the front door would be the same way. We had ordered an Uber driver and had just been waiting on him to show up to leave the apartment so when the door locked behind me he was already downstairs, but we were trapped. Luckily for us the front of the building was glass so he could see we were there and just trapped. It took about 30 minutes of furiously texting the airbnb owner and knocking on everyone in the building’s door until finally a cleaning lady for another apartment came in the front door and we escaped! I don’t think I’ve ever felt dumber. ;p

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