This is part 3 of our long-awaited European trip. Part 1 was Rome and Part 2 was an eastern Mediterranean cruise.
Notes: I provided optional links in this article if the reader would like more information. I’m not affiliated with any of these sites nor can I confirm their validity. Also, all images are low resolution for obvious reasons.
Athens Day 1
Our cruise ended today and we began a few days vacationing in Athens, Greece.
At about 7am this morning our big boat docked in Piraeus Harbor. After a quick breakfast, we walked off the ship and grabbed a 20 minute taxi ride to our hotel, the Hotel Acropolis View. As the name implies certain rooms have a view of the Acropolis and their roof garden has a beautiful view as well. Thirteen months in advance we booked a room with a balcony that had a view of the Acropolis.
After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags, we went to the Acropolis Museum at opening time. We bought museum tickets online just as we walked into the “Skip the wait” line, so we skipped past everyone else waiting to buy tickets. This museum is very nice. It first opened in 2009. The museum was built in the shadow of the Acropolis which is visible from huge glass windows within the museum.
The architects cleverly built the museum over an archeological dig where the original buildings date back to about 3,000 BC. The museum architects set the foundational pillars in key locations to have minimal impact on the ancient site below. Visitors can walk under the museum to see this ancient site.
The museum itself has four floors and is filled with mostly original Greek artifacts from the Acropolis and the surrounding area. For example, the original marble statue head of Alexander the Great (one of my historical heroes) can be found in the museum. It could take up to three hours to casually walk through the entire museum, ponder the statues and other relics in front of you and watch a few multi-media exhibits.
After the museum we walked to Anafiotika, one of Athens most scenic neighborhoods. This neighborhood contains small, white-washed houses with colorful shutters and doors and looks much like the houses we saw in Mykonos and Santorini. These homes were built in the mid-19th century. There are only narrow walkways to traverse the neighborhood. If you visit, don’t let the graffiti dissuade you since it’s seen mainly as artwork. To reach this neighborhood you’ll wander past several small Byzantine churches and other beautiful newer two-story buildings based on classical architecture painted in warm Mediterranean colors.
Next, we stumbled on the Roman Agora. The Roman Agora is an ancient marketplace that was built between 19 and 11 BC. Currently, the Agora is a small archeological site that has one standing building, many standing columns and column bases that outline the ancient marketplace. There is a small entrance fee.
After a busy morning and afternoon we rested and left our hotel around 6:30pm to find a good Greek restaurant for dinner – there were so many to choose from. Tomorrow we will actually see the buildings on the Acropolis up close!
Athens Day 2
As usual for this entire trip we tried to beat the other tourists by starting early. We woke up at 6am, had breakfast and went to our first destination, namely the top of the Acropolis. First, some terminology since I was getting this confused as well. The Acropolis is a huge, natural granite hill. At the very top of the Acropolis there are several buildings. Visitors enter and exit the top of the Acropolis through an amazing gateway called the Propylaia, built between 510 and 480 BC, that is lined with columns and has a beautiful coffered ceiling. The most obvious buildings include the Parthenon, which was built between 447 and 438 BC, and the Erechtheion building, built between 421 and 406 BC.
A few days in advance we bought 9am Acropolis entrance tickets. There were only about 200 other tourists waiting in-line with the same type of tickets we had (yes about 200). In 2022, the Greek Ministry of Tourism reported that there were more than 16,000 visitors to the Acropolis each day. The Greek Ministry of Tourism previously decided to extend the tourist season, so this large number of tourists is expected. (See this Greek Reporter article for more details).
Since the main path up and down the Acropolis is largely the same, on the way up we skipped all of the buildings, statues and plaques to reach the Parthenon so we could take some pictures with minimal tourists around. Mission accomplished! Below are some of our photos with just a few tourists wandering about. Although, it’s amazing what a difference 45 minutes can make. After taking our photos and slowly walking around the Parthenon once, it quickly became mobbed with people and became standing room only in some places.
After about 90 minutes at the top we saw and photographed everything we came to see. When the peak of the Acropolis became mobbed with tourists wielding selfie-sticks we decided to slowly walk down the same path we took on the way up, but this time taking some photos along the way – like the Acropolis Amphitheater below.
After the Acropolis, we walked over to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus. The Arch was built by the Athenians in 131 to 132 AD in honor of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The Romans conquered Greece in the 2nd century BC, so the Greeks were ruled by the Romans for quite some time before they built this arch.
After grabbing sandwiches for lunch from a small shop down the street, we headed to Filopappou Hill (aka: Philopappou). The hike up this hill was gradual, somewhat shaded but rocky. It took us about 10 minutes to climb to the top. This hill offered a spectacular, free, 360-degree view of Athens and the Acropolis. This is a popular spot for young couples to watch a romantic sunset. It also has a small portion of the Philopappos Monument remaining (see image below). This is a grave monument built between 114 and 116 AD for Gaius Julius Antiochus Philopappus, which is where the hill gets it’s name. Once at the top there’s a path to the west where even more of Athens can be seen. If you are in good physical shape and decide to hike this hill, take water and some snacks with you.
That was all we were able to see during our last full day in Athens. There is so much more to see and experience in Athens. Early tomorrow morning we began our journey home.
Athens Day 3
We woke up at 3:30 am to fly home. We used the FreeNow app to call a taxi and take care of the payment vs. us paying the driver in cash.
We returned from this entire trip with lasting memories of Rome. Wonderful memories of our cruise destinations to eastern Mediterranean ports Salerno/Pompeii Italy, Siracusa Sicily, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens Greece, and Kusadasi/Ephesus Turkey. Our cameras were loaded with over 2,800 great photos that we’ll cherish for years. The people whom we met or interacted with at each of these locations were very nice. We hope to return to some of these locations in the future!
I hope you enjoyed this three part blog series as much as I enjoyed researching and creating it.
The Middle Road Less Traveled 