We were very lucky to be able to stay with my extended family in Athens – a cousin of my dad’s married a Greek and they run a hotel on Santorini in the summer, but live in Athens during the winter. My dad has only met her three or four times in his life, so it was very generous of her to pick us up at the airport and put us up in their spare bedroom, and on top of that feed us and entertain us for 3 days.
They live near Doukissis Plakentias so we took the metro everywhere during our stay. The Athens Metro is quite awesome – during the pre-2004 Olympics expansion, they uncovered ancient aqueducts and underground rivers and other buildings, and they built several stations around them with clear glass floors and walls so it’s like going through an archaeological museum. It’s also quite cheap – only €0.80 per trip in one direction.
The EU student card trick worked again in Athens – free admission to all the attractions, which saved us about 20 euros. No worries, I promptly spent the savings at the huge Athens food market between Syntagma and Omonia (so many goodies! I think I got Ian hooked on pistachio loukoum = Turkish Delight) … and also bought myself some new red shoes!
The highlights were of course the Acropolis, with the Parthenon (it decided to be quite photogenic for us that day):
… and the Erechtheion with the six Caryatid columns:
We didn’t take any photos (perhaps because we feared getting shot or something!) of the huge PASOK rally we ran into in the Monastiraki area. We didn’t know who they were at the time, but the streets were full of loudly chanting people carrying green flags and very animated and angry-sounding messages carried by megaphones as well as professional speakers … a bit intimidating!
The next day we enjoyed visiting the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The highlight (for me!) was this funny statue of Aphrodite refusing Pan’s advances by beating him with her sandal:
We finished our visit to Athens with a visit to Syntagma Square to see the changing of the guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You have to get there about 10 minutes to the hour to get a good spot.
More tips if you are thinking of visiting Athens: all the attractions are free on the first Sunday of the month (or any time with an EU student card). Also, it was only March and it was already quite hot on the Acropolis – bring sunscreen and lots of water if you go during the warm months. And don’t fall for the touts offering tours at the entrance to the Parthenon – they look all official but they’re not and they’ll rip you off. Actually, don’t fall for any touts at all, especially ones offering you free wine or appetizers to get you to eat at their restaurant. Much better value for your money is eating at one of the countless gyros/souvlaki kiosks all over town.