Athens, Greece!!!

September 10, 2021

The day started out like any other...I drank about 6 cups of coffee. Just kidding, I actually did drink the 6 cups of coffee but that is not the norm for me. However, I was extremely productive haha. The explanation? Hostels in Frankfurt for tonight were too expensive, so Lauren and I decided to take a midnight train from Koblenz to Frankfurt for our 6 am flight. So we hopped on a bus to Koblenz.

September 11, 2021

We got on our midnight train to Frankfurt (while on board may or may not have booked a flight and hostel for Milan), tried to find our way to the other terminal for a good 30 minutes, went through security, and sat at our gate for 3 hours. We got a pretzel for breakfast before boarding. Although we were at the front of the non-priority line, we were not aware of an entry form that had to be filled out for Greece and had to race against the clock to finish it before they closed the gate. Then we flew for 2 hours and 45 minutes to Athens!! And of course, listened to Abba most of the way. Chiquitita is a total bop. I slept for about an hour on the flight, which was just enough combined with adrenaline for me to have energy. After landing, we had to take a metro to the heart of the city. We were staying a block from Monastiraki Square. 

Roman Agora

First things first, we were very hungry. We were 1 hour ahead of Germany and made it to our restaurant of choice for lunch around 1pm Greek time. I would first like to give a huge shoutout to Chef Denise, homegirl had the BEST recommendations for food in Athens. This was from Taverna O Platanos.

lamb with potatoes, tzatziki sauce, and bread 😍

Our hostel didn't let us check in until 2, so we walked around after lunch and saw the flea market, a beautiful church, and tried some Greek coffee, which neither of us liked. 

Since we're two of the biggest Mamma Mia fans, we were both dying to go to a Greek island. The closest one was Salamina, which we took a 20 minute tram, then a 30 minute bus, and then a 1 euro, 15 minute ferry to explore. We got off the correct metro stop, saw a bus stop with the bus number we wanted, then waited for the bus. We got on and rode for a while, but Lauren checked google maps and saw we were going in the opposite direction. We got off at the next stop, walked 25 minutes in a sketchy part of town, and then got on the correct bus at the correct bus stop. Then we took the ferry to the gorgeous island of Salamina!

the water was UNREAL

We both wanted to swim, so we took a taxi to get from the east to west coast. The water was insanely clear, so gorgeous and stunning and amazing and salty and WOW. Hands down the best beach I've ever been to. All that time and effort spent getting to the island was THE move. 

We decided that although we didn't want to be out in the dark for very long, we did want to stay for sunset. So we got dinner lol.

I don't even know what this crepe had in it other than Nutella, but easily the best crepe I've ever had

We then took more pictures on the beach, because when in Greece 🤷‍♀️

Then we taxi-ed back to the port we came into, got on another ferry, and waited for a bus...for an hour. In the dark. Buses got delayed and then also didn't pick people up where the bus stop sign was. Very confusing. We quickly learned that Greece doesn't have the best signage. But we made it back to the hostel safely and slept very well that night.

September 12, 2021

Before the trip, Lauren did some Tiktok research while I did Pinterest research of Athens. She found this cute cafe (Ellyz) and we had passed it the day before. We stopped in for coffee before exploring. 

We wanted to go to the Temple of Hephaestus first, but could not find the entrance and it was gated. Google maps did us dirty and there were no signs. So we walked around for a while. 

the Acropolis!!

We finally figured out that we should buy a ticket that got you into 7 different locations, so after buying that we had more direction for our day. We first went to the Roman Agora. 

We've both studied Greek and Roman architecture, so we found everything fascinating and kept trying to remember the orders of columns and their characteristics. Next up: the Ancient Agora. There was a lot inside so walking around took at least an hour.

Temple of Hephaestus

there was a church inside the Agora, it was interesting learning the history of how different religious people groups conquered Greece

It was time for another Chef Denise recommendation: Sunday lunch at Klimataria. 

lamb with zucchini for me, grilled feta with pork and mushrooms for Lauren

they gave us Greek yogurt for dessert on the house

Then we went to the ruins of Kerameikos. 

a cute street en route

views of a church from Kerameikos

Hadrian's Library was next.

On our way to the Acropolis, we wanted to stop at a cute neighborhood called Anafiotika, where we stopped for some coffee since we had that afternoon daze. 

Then we made the trek to the Acropolis but kinda got lost on the way. Instead of using google maps since they lost our trust, we asked people coming down from a path if the Acropolis was that way and they said yes. So we went on this steep incline for like 10 minutes before the path went down into a residential area and we found out that was not where the entrance to the Acropolis was. At least we got some nice views of the city.

Then we went back down, followed google maps, and found the entrance to the Acropolis. 

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

entrance to the Acropolis

Temple of Athena Nike

Parthenon!!

Porch of the Caryatids

It started to drizzle so we headed back to the hostel. We cleaned up a little before heading to this extremely tacky restaurant we had passed so many times close to our hostel. It took up at least a whole street on two blocks, and then some. The waitresses are dressed as Tinker Bell, complete with the poof on the shoes, wings, and a wand. The waiters are dressed as Peter Pan, including the slippers and hat. 

Trelawney's Oreo Biscuit Magic Frostie

Holy guacamole it was to die for. It was a donut on top of a vanilla milkshake with oreos in it. Next, we went back to the hostel and went to the rooftop to see the Acropolis lit up. Then we watched Mamma Mia :)

September 13, 2021

We started the day with coffee and then went to the best street food souvlaki you can get, according to Chef Denise. 

Kostas-10/10 would recommend

The souvlaki did not disappoint. Since it was a Monday morning, there weren't many people out and about. When we saw a very cute empty street, we had to take the opportunity for some basic Greece pictures. 

The next stop was Olympieion. This place was truly in ruins and there was not much to see. 

Hadrian's Gate

Our next destination was the National Garden. Along the way we saw some cool things.

Roman Baths

The last stop included in our tourist ticket was Aristotle's School. 

Before leaving Greece, we had to get baklava. A quick google search that morning said that the best baklava in Athens was between Aristotle's School and the National Archeological Museum, our next stop. So of course we had to go. 

from Karakoy Gulluoglu

It was amazing, to say the least. Wow. But we also realized we had not had a gyro or moussaka yet, so that was our lunch. The restaurant was called To Neoklassiko, and it was phenomenal.

Then we walked to the National Archeological Museum of Athens and got half off the ticket price for being under 25. 

we passed a guy whose shirt said "no bad decisions, just great adventures" so that's my new life motto

On the way back to the hostel, we passed by Aeropagus, which I believe is the church started by the Apostle Paul. 

We chilled at the hostel, started packing up, and then went to watch sunset at the Acropolis.

insane sky at Hadrian's Library

We ended our last night with a piece of Peter Pan chocolate cake (which was sugar free) at the Little Kook once again. We already ate some before remembering to take a picture. As we seated ourselves a waitress asked if we had been there the night before. Then the waiter came up and told us he recognized us from the night before as well. Then he asked us if we had gotten our 10,000 steps in that day and mentioned that all of the decorations had been taken down. He explained that they were decorating for Halloween and he could show us the inside, even though we were not allowed inside. We both said no. And might I remind you: this is a grown man dressed as Peter Pan. I could not stop laughing for the rest of the night that some dude dressed as Peter Pan was flirting with us. Then we watched Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, which I had not yet seen. Alarms were set for 6 am the next morning.

September 14, 2021

We woke up, hurried to catch the tram, and made it to the airport. At the airport, we started planning our trip to Milan, which we leave for on September 24!! I think it's safe to say that Greek cuisine is my new favorite. Greece slapped. That's all for now :)