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| The Parthenon |
It's been a very warm summer in Athens and this week is no exception - with a forecast high of 38C today, we wanted a nice and early start so we could sightsee before the heat of the day.
The Acropolis is about a 20 minute walk from our AirBnb (all uphill, lol) so before too long, we found ourselves lined up with hundreds of other tourists waiting to get in. The line moved quickly, and before we knew it, we were making our way up the stairs and to the Acropolis.
Not only is the area just rife with rich and storied history, it's also a pretty epic panorama over the city - allowing you to see Athens sprawl out in all directions.
As you climb up toward the Acropolis, you get a spectacular birds-eye view of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus before continuing upward toward the top.
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| Odeon of Herodes Atticus |
Because we came to Athens on a relatively quieter week (tomorrow being the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, a very significant holiday in the Greek Orthodox church, where many Athenians head to the islands for a big celebration), this was our first time actually encountering any crowds at all.
Thankfully, at 8am, the Acropolis wasn't too crazy hot (only about 28C) but the sun was pretty unrelenting. Dorky hats and big water bottles for everybody, whether they like it or not.
We enjoyed exploring the Parthenon and other historical sites as well. Once we got our fill of sun and exploration, we headed down to the northern side of the hill and set out to explore some of the historic side streets and the old Agora.
The girls were very excited to check out all the tiny tourist shops (and I, for one, heartily approve of their decorative fan purchases). We are still on the lookout for the perfect Athenian bookmark for Grammie. :)
After some restorative ice cream and slushies, we headed to the Agora to see more Greek ruins and to check out the Temple of Hephaestus.
We spent another hour or so wandering around, and then it was time for some lunch. We clocked about 7k wandering through the city this morning.
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| Rosie becoming one with the water misters. Pretty sweet view of the Acropolis from our lunch restaurant |
Most restaurants that we've seen here are not air conditioned, but many of the restaurants near the Agora had these genius misters and many fans, so we ended up finding a relatively cool and misty restaurant - I enjoyed a tasty lunch of mixed dips and bread (really, is there a better meal than toasty bread, cool Greek dips and a nice cold beer?).
After lunch, we retreated back to the AC of our Airbnb for the afternoon to cool off/nap off a bit more jet lag. Even the 2k walk back to Airbnb was reeeeaaallly hot - definitely don't want to start out trip off with heat stroke.
For dinner tonight, we checked out a local favourite called Lolos and made it back in time to enjoy sunset on our rooftop terrace. Rosie in particular has been loving the street cats of Athens (she counted 12 on the walk home from dinner tonight).
It's still pretty warm but at least without the intensity of the sun, it's much easier to manage.
The sunset is fabulous! You are so fortunate to witness the wonder of such amazing history and architecture. Even as hot as it is, you must have had a few goosebumps seeing the Acropolis. I’ll bet that cold beer went down well ;) and it wouldn’t surprise me if Brad came back and built a mister for the front patio. The food looks scrumptious and I can’t wait to see what wondrous things you’ll see and do tomorrow. 🙂
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