Preston and I decided to go to Athens, Greece for our 1 year anniversary/honeymoon, since we never official went on a honeymoon when we got married. Never in my life would I have thought this would be what I'm doing for my first anniversary! I must say I'm pretty lucky! Now its going to be hard to top this one ;)
Today was the day we got to hop on a plane to Athens, Greece for our first anniversary. Our flight left at 10:05 from Venice. When I say leaving from Venice I still can't believe how close I live to it. Only about an hour away! One thing about the Venice airport I thought was funny and different was the type of restaurants/places they had to eat at. You definitely know your in Italy when you see cafe's with croissants, different pastries and of course the cappuccinos. Oh and the wine bar. Plus, there were eating tables in the middle of the terminals that were nicely set with flowers in the middle of them. Never have I seen anything like it before in an airport.
Our hotel was near Syntagma Square, which was one of the centers in Athens. We stayed at Central Athens Hotel, which was only a short walk to from the square.
On the bottom of the page when booking the hotel you could write a request if you had one. I had ask if we could have an Acropolis view since it was our 1 year anniversary, not actually expecting they would give it to me since so many people stay at these hotels. But they did well with listening. We got a room with an Acropolis view, plus they had an I Love You stuffy on the bed with a card saying Happy Anniversary and a bottle of Greek wine. Beyond what I had expected from them! So far we have no complaints for our hotel.
Today we went exploring for a little bit and also to find some food. We found a place right down the street from our hotel called, Athens Beer Restaurant, Cafe, Bar. It was half outside half inside restaurant and didnt look too expensive. So why not try it. We got two different meals to share. One was a sausage platter, with 5 different type, while the other plate we got was carbonara. Plus we also got a side of their fries.
 |
| (Peach Tea) |
 |
| (Carbonara on the left, Sausages on the right) |
The pasta was tasted good, while we liked 3 out of the 5 different types of sausages, so that's not bad. The fries were really good though.
Before going back to our room we wanted to check out the roof top bar. The views up there were so beautiful!!
 |
| (The view from the roof top bar) |
 |
| (Left, Preston's milkshake; Right, my strawberry daiquiri) |
 |
| (Greek dessert wine) |
There is also a hot tub up there on one side of the roof. We decided to come back up to it and watch the sunset.
 |
| (A little chilly for a hot tub) |
Now time to rest before we start our real adventures tomorrow!
Saturday, July 5
Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Preston and I!!
Today was the start of our tours we had booked through a site Preston stumbled upon. Luckily he did because they had some amazing deals for all the places we went, plus 10% off that deal. We had to meet at a hotel near Syntagma Square for the bus to pick us up. Our first stop on the tour was to the Panathenaic Stadium, which is the site of the first mondern Olympic Games in 1896. It was rebuilt from an ancient Greek Stadium that used to be there. This stadium is the only stadium in the whole world that is built entirely of white marble. Its also, one of the oldest in the world and it still looked like it was brand new.
 |
| (Podium) |
After stopping there it was time to head up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, Athena Nike Temple and Porch of the Maidens.
Everything on top of the Acropolis is absolutely beautiful! It still blows my mind how there still standing after thousands of years.
One thing in some of the pictures you probably will notice is the different colored stone on the temples. The whiter the stone is the newer, reconstructed parts. The cool thing about this is, they know where the marble back then was dug up from so they still go to and use the same marble they did back then so over time it will look the exact same.
After walking around to see all the different remains atop the Acropolis we got to go down to the Acropolis Museum. The museum is pretty new, its only 5 years old. When you walk up to the main entrance, you walk on a glass floor where you can see them still digging up artifacts and remains still buried. Once they are all done digging down there our guide told us they plan on having it as another floor you can walk around on, so you can see what it would of felt like walking through their houses.
There are 4 different floors of artifacts in the museum. The first floor doesn't have too many things on it right now, more of information and films you can see.
They came out with new technology where they can turn the marble/stone back into the same color as it used to be. There are special lasers they use to go up and down sections of a wet/damp statue or artifact to make it "white" again, instead of black/brown from all the dirt it was buried in.
The top floor was the same size as the Parthenon and all around on the walls were remaining pieces they found that were on the Parthenon.
Below is a video of one of the sides of the Parthenon.
After we finished walking through the museum we had a little break before our next tour for the day where we could go get something to eat or relax.
It was really convenient where the museum is because you are on Plaka Street, where there are tons of shops, restaurants and other fun things for you to go to.
We found a random, hole in the wall gyro place to eat at. It turned out to be amazing!! They make everything fresh right in front of you. You can even watch them cut off the pork or chicken you get from the huge slabs of meat they have cooking over the grills. Plus, its really cheap! Can't beat that!
Now that our tummy's are full we now have the energy to go look in all the different shops they have on this street. We wanted to see if we could find a statue of one of the Gods to take home. You can't leave Athens without one :)
One thing you need to know how to do when your in Athens, is know how to haggle! We found a shop with 2 sculptures we wanted. If we went with their sticker price we would of paid well over 200
€, definitely not happening! With Preston's amazing haggle skills we got them down to a total price for both of 110
€. Yes, it still sounds expensive but Preston and I only wanted to the really big pieces for our house. (Throughout the rest of our stay we did go in multiple stores to see if we actually did get a good deal and we think we did, very few places had the same size ones we got and if they did they were almost twice the price, so I must say I think we did get a pretty good deal.)
Now time to run these back to our hotel before we have to start our next tour in about 30 minutes.
The next tour on our deal was to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. Which is a little over an hour drive from Athens. On the way there you got to see all the amazingly beautiful beaches of the Saronic Gulf. I definitely want to go back to Greece just to go to some of these beaches and the islands surrounding. The water is so blue and clear you can swim out as far as you want to without worrying. Plus, there aren't any sharks around to get you.
A little pit stop to take in the beautiful views around us.
The views when you got here were so pretty! The Temple of Poseidon is on top/edge of a rocky hilltop overlooking the Aegean Sea. This temple was built in 44 BC and still had more than half of its pillars still standing.
This was both Preston and I's favorite temple to see. The views for me, made it even better.
Time to head back to Athens.
We ended up getting back around 6pm, which was perfect timing because we got to see them do "changing of the guards" for the unknown soldiers. Very different than the "changing of the guards" back in the states, but really cool to watch.
After watching that we wanted to relax and shower before finding a place to go to dinner for our 1 year anniversary.
We had noticed the night before a rooftop restaurant out our window that wasn't too far and wanted to find out what it was so we could go. We asked our really friendly concierge what the name of the restaurant was and how to get there, who told us you just take 3 lefts and your there.
It was a little fancier than we expected but what the heck, its our 1 year anniversary dinner! :)
The first appetizers we got were olives and bread/breadsticks. I can't remember the name of the second appetizer we got, but I actually liked it.
Then for the main course I got chicken with potatoes while Preston got a pasta dish. I thought mine tasted really good.
You can't beat the view we had. Watching the sunset while eating dinner.
We decided we wanted gelato for dessert, so we found a place a few blocks away to go to. Turned out to be pretty good.
It was a really popular square at night. The whole place was packed! There was also a band playing in the middle of the square.
Time to head back so we can get a good nights sleep for our next tours tomorrow.
Sunday, July 6th
Same as the day before we met at the hotel for the buses to come pick us up. Today was an all day tour. We were going to Delphi, which is about 3 and half hours away from Athens. Don't worry if you do take this trip with Viator they do stop half the way to get something eat/drink or go the bathroom. The place we stopped at on the way there was pretty nice for an off the side of the road stop. Plenty of little snacks to eat and also a mini cafe to one side.
Delphi is the location that was dedicated to worship the God Apollo. Here you can visit the most important structure for Apollo, the Temple of Apollo.
Walking up...
Before you make your way up the hill to the Temple of Apollo, you will see the Athenian Treasury. It still is in pretty good standing shape after all these years. Still has all it's pillars and walls but no roof.
The surroundings.
 |
| (The "center of the world" rock) |
Keep walking up the hill and you will find the Temple of Apollo.
The amazing views!
If you walk all the way up the hill, very steep hill I might add, you can find the site's stadium where musical competitions and the Pythian Games, which were similar to the Olympic Games, took place. This stadium started holding events as far back as 776 BC.
After visiting all the the structural remains, you can walk back down the hill to go to the archaeological museum. In this museum you will find different sculptures, gold, bronze or ivory statues, along will other objects that were donated to the museum.
After walking through the museum, we got to go a little bit further down the road to where we would eat lunch.
The place we ate lunch at is also a hotel and right on the edge of the mountain, so there are some amazing views!
You better come hungry, because you will be served a lot of food! Almost every restaurant has bread to start with. Then as your first appetizer you got two different food items. One was called Spanakopita, which is a spinach pie. The other one was called Tiropita, which is made with layers of buttered phyllo and filled with cheese and egg mixture. I thought they were both pretty good.
Next came the salad. Which here means, tomatoes, sliced green peppers, olives,sliced cucumbers, feta cheese and olive oil.
Then the main dish. It had chicken, peas, potatoes and carrots.
Now onto dessert. We had a Greek dessert called galaktoboureko, which is semolina based custard in phyllo. I thought this was pretty good too!
Time for our 3.5 hour drive back to Athens.
By the time we got back it was almost time to eat dinner. But wanted to walk around a little more before finding a place to eat.
We found a place where one of the hostesses said he would pay for our first round of drinks. Plus we looked at everybody's food as we passed by and thought it looked really good. So why not try it.
For my free drink I went with a sangria,while Preston just went with his usual coke.
We each decided to get the gyro platter. It was delicious!! You have to have gyros at least a few times while in Greece.
For dessert Preston got his chocolate milkshake, while I wanted to wait and get some gelato later.
I tried a new gelato place today that was across the street from the other one we went to the night before. I got mint and chocolate chip.
Time for bed after a long day of adventures.
Monday, July 7th
Last day in Athens :(
We both slept in this morning till around 9 since we didn't have to be anywhere to go on a tour. Today we could just wonder on our own.
We wanted to go to the Temple of Zeus and the Agora. Both of these places you can get into for free if you went on the Acropolis tour and kept your ticket to get up there. All you have to do is show that ticket and they will stamp it for you to get in. Gotta love that! I also love how you can walk to everything, you don't need a car to get to these places.
First to the Temple of Zeus. You can easily find this because its across the street from the Plaka. At this temple there are only pillars left standing. All around it though are pieces that have fallen down from the temple or other remains from smaller structures.
After that we decided to walk to the Agora, which is a little bit of a walk but you have plenty of cool things and shops to look at along the way.
The Agora was known as the city center and marketplace back then. They also used this place to convene to talk about business, politics or current events here. Now here lies the remains of the Temple of Hephaistos, other ancient buildings and a museum with ancient artifacts.
Neither Preston nor I had actually heard about this place, which is surprising because it has the most intact temple in all of Athens. Everything is still standing on it, the pillars, walls and ceiling. It still blows my mind how things like this can stay intact after all these years and then others fall completely apart.
On the bottom floor of the museum there are all different types of pottery, plates, mini statues and sculptures that date all the way back to 3200-2800 BC!
On the second floor there are all different statues and busts of different gods, goddess and people.
 |
| (View from the top floor) |
Other random statues and artifacts around the Agora.
After all that walking it was definitely time to take a break and eat lunch and relax. We ended up going back to the same gyro place we went to the other day. Can't beat the price and the taste of their gyros.
One thing I was surprised they had in Athens was a Starbucks. I definitely didn't think they would have those over here. I really wish they had on in Italy! So we had to stop and get something to drink. Still very tasty! I missed getting frappuccinos or other drinks from there.
Sadly it was time to head back to our hotel to get our belongings and head to the airport. Glad we left earlier than most would leave because we had a few set backs. Found out both of the metro stops close to us were shut down. But thankfully we found a policeman that spoke English and could tell us where the next closest one is. He said it was about a mile, definitely not! Closer to 2 miles than 1 but oh well, we have long legs! (Yes, we could of taken a taxi but there insanely expensive here! And not worth it for a little less than 2 miles)
Made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We had to get dinner inside the airport before our flight since nobody wants to pay the prices for food and drinks on the plane. It's like 5
€ for one can!
They literally are everywhere! We found a McDonalds we thought we would try. They had beef or chicken McBaguettes which they definitely do not have back in the states, so why not try it. I got the chicken while Preston got the beef. Surprisingly good, and I didn't feel absolutely disgusting after eating it. I wish they had McBaguettes back in the states, but I guess it wouldn't really matter for me since I go to McDonalds maybe twice a year now since its usually so gross!
Time to board the plane and say goodbye to Athens, Greece for now! It was amazing while it lasted! Couldn't have ask for a better 1st anniversary, now to try and top it next year! :) Till we meet again Greece!
