Athens the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewellery and more from Ancient Greece.
Athens known to be the birthplace of democracy and the idea that all citizens should have a voice in governing their society. Athens also houses many historic landmarks, such as temples and theatres, which were made by ancient architects during the Classical period.
Our drive to Athens only 2 hours, the road virtually empty when we joined it at Kato, however closer to the capital the road became very busy. Two lanes, faster vehicles all passing by us on the left. Eventually once we hit the city the traffic came to a standstill and the last mile or so we crawled along. Our Sat Nav had been primed for The Grand Hyatt Hotel – 115 Syngrou Avenue, the main through fare of Athens. Chose for its proximity to the centre and easy access to the port of Piraeus, where we would later need to catch a ferry from in a few days’ time.
We arrived, the hotel, a large busy 8 Storey building.
Taxis and other vehicles coming and going, people everywhere, our car now directly outside, the hotel door man opened Ed’s door instead of mine, then realised we had arrived in a foreign car. 😊 I was ushered quickly through the rotating doors into the lobby with only a few small items I had manged to grab, in order to complete our check in. I stood and waited for Ed to follow once the car had been handed over for parking. However, it transpired the car valet had decided they didn’t want to drive a right-hand car down four floors to the underground garage. Instead, Ed was left to this task. You might think ok no big deal, but the underground car park was under the adjacent building, the new extension of the Grand Hyatt hotel soon to be Grander Hyatt hotel, unfinished, no signage, no lights, no working lift and no help. Ed resurfaced 30 minutes later, just like a pack horse, not happy to say the least and clutching my whole office in a large Lidl bag, laptop and our remaining luggage, why I bring so many shoes I don’t know, I never wear them all. There was no way he was going back for a second time. ☹ By this time at least I had been productive and checked in. Well, our room was rather nice, once we walked the half kilometre to it, at the back of the hotel on the sixth floor. At least the luggage was brought there by a porter this time.
We didn’t let all the hassle faze us, instead we changed freshened up and headed outside again to grab a taxi, let the tour of Athens begin. After realising actually, it would be good to stretch our legs a bit, and let’s face it all the eating we had undertaken in the last few days, we scrapped the idea of a taxi and opened our google maps to find the straightest line to the old city. You really get the feel of a place when you walk don’t you, we soon realised don’t presume anyone is going to stop for you at a zebra crossing or actually even when the lights are red. We adapted our strategy very quickly. 40 minutes later, hot & thirsty we hit the centre. The view of the Acropolis dominating high above us. We had tickets for the following day so would only admire it now from the outside. We strolled around the Plaka area, it had a village feel, with narrow cobblestone streets lined with tiny shops selling jewellery, clothes and local ceramics. Sidewalk cafes and family-run tavernas which stay open until late.
We sat at one of the cafe’s and had a light lunch, people watching before walking back to the hotel. Up to the 6th Floor again, we approached the lift just as one was closing, Ed put out his hand to stop the door, it re-opened, Ed one foot forward turned and said in a muffled voice this may be dangerous, I wasn’t sure what he meant however as I followed 2 x 6ft”6” Greek Adonises in bathrobes hairy chests, peeking out appeared before me, my neck straining upwards to look briefly at their stubbled faces. For you or for me I replied. Maybe for both of us he said with a smile. To make things worse the two guys understood everything we had said and quickly replied there’s is a great Spa in the basement in perfect English. They departed on the 5th floor……
In the evening we had a fab time up on the roof top restaurant and few drinks after at the very chic bar, I even managed to ask for a cocktail the barman had never heard of, much to his annoyance. Bless him he tried his best to replicate it, I gave him an 8 out 10 for my (Harvey Wall banger) they didn’t have any Galliano. He told me it must be old school …. ☹
Our following day was full on, up early to beat the crowds, straight to the Acropolis.
Turned out I had only purchased online tickets for the museum, so we made a quick dash to the on-site ticket office to add the extra tickets we needed. The Acropolis is breath taking, lots of steps up but well worth the climb. The views over Athens incredible. We spent a good 2 hours strolling around, as did hundreds of other tourists all taking that perfect picture for Instagram or Facebook. As we left several coaches of more tourists mainly Americans were making their way up as we were descending. We felt relieved that we had made an early start.
Next the Acropolis Museum, one of the most important museums in the world, houses the findings of only one archaeological site, the Athenian Acropolis located in the historic area of Makryianni, the Museum stands about 300 meters southeast of the Parthenon. Its entrance is adjacent to the start of Dionysiou Areopagitou pedestrian walkway, which links it to the Acropolis and other key archaeological sites in Athens. The top floor of the Museum, the Parthenon Gallery, offers a panoramic view of the Acropolis and modern Athens.
Once we passed the strict security, metal detected and bags scanned we were free to browse, there was just so much to view, artifacts of all sorts, pottery, sculptures, friezes, weapons the list was endless. Glass floors so that the original structure could be seen clearly. Lots of original pieces of the Parthenon being preserved and 3d models explaining how it once looked.
We felt overwhelmed. Our tour over we strolled back through the street towards our hotel once again.
Our plan for the evening to visit a typical Greek Taverna with live music. When reaching the hotel Ed thought he’d ask the concierge for some advice on where to go, surely, he would be our man on this. He mentioned a few names of singers he had liked to listen to in the past and whether there were any places that played similar music. His answer was no they are all dead. It was actually quite upsetting to hear this so abruptly; we really must be getting old. Anyway, good old internet we found our own place to visit, grabbed a cab this time, who took us as close as he could and we walked the last 5 minutes. A lovely place with two guys playing bouzouki’s, Meze, wine and song, we had our Greek musical evening after all.
Kalinixta. Good Night Athens.
Tomorrow Piraeus to catch the ferry to Chios.
