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Athens: An Ancient and Modern Metropolis

April 27th, 2011 amguar12

Hello again!

The travel stories continue! Now, last you all heard, if you have been reading, is that I took a ferry from Santorini to Athens and arrived in Athens at midnight. We checked into our hostel and went to bed. The next day we got up bright and early to see the Acropolis before it was taken over by tourists. Having been to Athens 10 years ago, I remembered the Acropolis well and definitely think it is the highlight of the city. Acropolis means ‘high city’, and the views looking out over Athens are pretty cool, in addition to the ruins.

There is so much to see in Athens, old and new. We saw the Ancient Agora next, and then made our way into Plaka, which is kind of the old quarter of the city. It is one of my favorite parts, as it is very touristy and there are lots of restaurants and places to walk around. We took a stroll through these very lovely gardens and even saw the changing of the guards at the Parliament Building. That was definitely a cool experience as, unlike in London, in Greece you are allowed to take pictures standing right next to the guards. The Athenian guards also kick their feet up in the air as they are swapping posts…a very interesting sight overall. Other places not to miss are the Acropolis museum, the Temple of Zeus, the flea market and any other ruins you stumble upon. Athens is also a hilly place, so you will definitely get your exercise!

Although they are the same country, there is such a sharp contrast between Santorini and Athens. While Santorini was very much its’ own little isolated world, Athens was similar to many contemporary European cities, reminding me a lot of Dublin and Brighton at times. I was surprised at the British influence there – there were so many British food products in grocery stores, British chains such as Costa Coffee, and also the BBC Breakfast show was broadcast on the TV screens each morning at our hostel. There were so many stores in Athens, which reminded me of Grafton Street in Dublin and just the general shopping nature of Brighton! However, you never had to look too far before you saw some more ruins, or a museum containing ruins. Athens is definitely a city where old meets new. The only hard part is that the streets are kind of like a maze, making it really difficult to get around. Also, there is still the issue of the stray dogs in Athens too.

Our trip to Athens was brief – we really only had 2 full days there. In my opinion that is enough time to see the city, and I very much enjoyed it. To mention some food, Easter time really seems to bring out some excellent Greek treats, as I saw in the cookies in Santorini. However, Athens had a lot more variety, with Easter breads (some even had colored eggs baked inside them!) and lots of other baked goods.

At the end of the trip, we parted ways, as Nora was off to a family event in Northern Ireland and Kelsey and I travelled to Portugal. Read my next blog, which is all about Lisbon!

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