Day 1 – May 21, 2011

The day began with an free breakfast downstairs at our hostel studio and then an organized 3 hour walking tour of Athens for only 5 euros . We saw many monuments and important sights;

• Temple of Zeus
• Arch of Hadrian
• National Royal Garden
• Olympic Building & Stadium
• Zappion (Building used for exhibitions, Olympics, events etc.)
• Parliament building
• Library of Hadrian
• Temple of Hepaisto
• Monastiraka (Athens Flea Market)
• Roman & Greek Agora (Marketplace)
• Acropolis
• Parthenon
• Erechtheion (Orginal Temple of Athena)
• Dionysos Odeon (Opera House)

Since the tour ended in front of the Arcopolis, we bought tickets and went to see this historic and iconic site of Athens. It was really amazing to see that they accomplished this with what they had back in their time.

We had lunch in the main area in Monastiraka Square at Thansis Souvaki, which was delicious and filling. We also discovered this yummy coconut Greek candy stick –really unique, fresh and perfectly sweet.

We briefly wandered the market to buy our souvenirs and then dropped it off at our studio. We rested a bit since we were all tired from the walking and heat. We weren’t calling it a night yet, we took the subway to Lycabettus Hill to see the sunset. Wow! The subway was surprisingly clean and very nice! We expected it to be sketchy and dangerous but not at all.

We started the hike up the Lycabettus hill, the tallest hill in Athens, 900 feet above ground. I read online that halfway there is cable car that takes you the rest of the way up. We looked out for it but there was NO cable car at all and we mindlessly walked all the way up.  The view was spectacular since you could see all of Athens and the monuments.  We watched our second last sunset and walked back down. We picked up some dessert along the way and went up to the Hostel’s rooftop bar to get a quick view of the Parthenon at night.

Day 2 – May 22, 2011

This was another early morning since most of the archeological sites close at 3pm and we wanted to spend time visiting the Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hepaisto and the Olympic stadiom since we only passed by during the walking tour.

We headed to the Temple of Zeus first to take some photos. There was a direct view of the Parthenon.

Next, we walked through the National Royal Gardens to get the parliament building to see changing of the guards. It was very interesting and it looked a little bit like Yoga at times.

After that, we went to Temple of Hepaisto next and the Roman Agora.  The Temple of Hepaisto is one of the best preserved ancient greek temples.

We walked around Acropolis and picked up some free coke light and a gigantic Greek donut, which tasted similar to a regular donut but coated in sugar.

The boys were eager to see the Olympic stadium. There were some fun photo opportunities here and we played around. It was quite fun!

Our last stop was to the new Acropolis Museum, which was rated one of the top 6 museums in the world. We were interested to see the architecture of the museum and learn more about Acropolis. The museum was built on top of a archeological site. For this reason, glass floors were a common theme. Once complete, people will be able to walk below on the site as the lower level.

There were many artifacts from Acropolis and it was very interesting to see the small models on how Acropolis has changed through time.

The marble slabs on the third level were impressive as these were the sculpted slabs on sides of the Parthenon. The museum was built to hold these pieces to mimic their position in the Parthenon. Very fascinating! Did you know, the Parthenon was originally had color?

After the museum, we picked up some traditional greek yogurt at a yogurt bar. This was not the same as a fro-yo place as it was cold yogurt but with many toppings. I went with fresh strawberries, honey and almonds. It was very smooth and yummy!

Not hungry yet, we walked around some more in another shopping street. Michelle and I bought wired necklaces handmade on the spot in about 2 mins. It was cute and only 6 euros.

We picked up some promising ‘Ferroro’ cake for late tonight before heading to a fancier restaurant called Stoufi, which had a great view of the Parthenon. We should have made a restaurant to sit on the roof but we still saw the view on the 2^nd floor. I ordered the Pork fillet with oregano noodles. The pork was good but the noodles I found a little bland. We had a nice dinner with everyone and wrapping up our trip reminiscing about the trip and our lives.