Greece: Athens

When I originally planned my trip to Greece with three of my best friends, I thought that we might be spending too much time in every place we were going. I’d heard of people stopping through a ton of different islands in the span of a week or two, and in three weeks we were visiting only 3 islands & Athens.

Let me tell you right now, if you can afford to spend more time in one place, DO IT. It was the best decision we made. Every place that I went to, I left feeling like I really visited & didn’t just stop by on a boat on a random day. I had to time to meet people and make friends everywhere I went, I could go outside without getting lost on the streets, and each time I left a new place, it was like leaving a new home. I get attached to people and things kind of easily, but such is life.

I landed in Athens on August 8th around 9am Greece time (that’s 2am Montreal time) and I managed to stay wide awake almost the whole day except a few sleepy bits in the car rides around the city. I’ve never experienced real jet lag before this trip, and let me tell you it’s no treat at all. But it’s really funny to go through. Basically, because of the plane ride (which I slept about 30 minutes in the 9.5 hours) we skipped over night time and had to stay awake for 2 straight days to try and be jet lagged as little as possible.

We were staying with my friend Agnes’ (remember her guest post? Great huh?) family in Athens, so once they picked us up & we got settled into their apartment, we were ready to visit the city a little bit. Her cousin Christos and his girlfriend Dimitra came to lunch with us and offered to give us a little tour of Athens in the afternoon. We were MORE than happy to go along with them- visiting with locals is way better than trying to figure things out yourself!

They brought us out to the Acropolis, where we walked around below and took some pictures. It was scorching hot that day- like humid and over 30 degrees and just all around Athens awful weather- so none of us were in the mood to climb to the top, but we did go right next door to a little cafe that has the best view of the Parthenon in all of Athens.

Coffees in front of the Acropolis on August 8th. Jet lagged but so, so happy to be in Greece! 

A far away view of the new Olympic stadium, we were staying quite near it! 

The view from our balcony at the apartment in Maroussi, Athens

Our first day was really lovely, but I think what set the tone for our trip is the way it ended. We got back to the apartment after the sun set and we were exhausted and starving. The four of us sat outside on the balcony looking out onto the suburbs of Athens, and Agnes’ aunt Georgia made us a huge homemade Greek salad. We shared (and devoured it) while listening to Greek music blaring in the apartment across the street, and I think we knew at that moment, sitting at the little table outside, that the next 3 weeks would be spectacular.

Sidenote: the lack of pictures has a lot to do with the fact that looking back, I was a LOT more jet lagged than I realized & didn’t really take that many on my first day! 

We only stayed that one day in Athens at first before leaving for the island of Kefallonia the next morning. We made two more stops in Athens after that: once in between Kefallonia & Mykonos, and the second on our very last day.

It was so nice to be welcomed into their home without them knowing any of our faces. By the time we left after three weeks, it felt like I was leaving people I had known for much, much longer. They were always there to pick us up and bring us to our next destination, and always helped us when we needed it. Next time I go to Greece (because there WILL be a next time) I’d love to spend more time in the city, that’s the one thing that was missing from our trip. We always stayed in Athens when we were tired and in between travels, so we never really had time to visit much. To be fair, we were told it wasn’t much to see, but I definitely want to get to know that city a little bit better next time!

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