The Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Athens... Amazing!

Towards the beginning of November we were lucky enough to take off on yet another week long vacation, and although I cannot speak for Steve I think this may have been my favorite European trip thus far. This time it started with my idea to run the Athens marathon and we decided after that to tag on a visit to each Rome and Venice. Some day we hope to go back to the Greek Isles as well as November was well after the end of tourist season and stopped us from visiting this go around. But that aside, let me start by recapping our weekend spent in Athens...

We headed out on late Friday afternoon for what we were sure would be an interesting, potentially difficult night of flying. To start with it was Emma's first flight. Second, there were virtually no direct flights from Zurich to Athens, which meant we were stuck flying through Paris (yes for those of you familiar with your European geography, Paris is in no way in the direction of Athens from Zurich). Third, we would by flying during Emma's bedtime and arriving in Athens very late. Lucky for us the first and third points of worry should not have been a worry at all - Emma was amazing! Many people commented on how good she did and we were also impressed. The second point though, flying through Paris was much more of a hassle. There was a reason I had read an article a few months ago about the ten worst airports in the world to connect through and Paris was one of the top few cities. We had less than an hour to connect and to our surprise despite flying the same airline the entire way (Air France) we had to completely change terminals, which meant going outside of security and trying to figure out a shuttle bus to take. Not to mention they would not let us bring the stroller through security and do a planeside check as they had for the first flight so then we had to run through the check-in area trying to find out where the oversize luggage drop-off was at. To say it was a pain might be a slight understatement. Especially with a four month old that is tired and you know has a dirty diaper! Luckily we made our connection with just minutes to spare. At least Air France made up a few points by serving us an unexpected "free" dinner on the flight.

I love flying!

Our first full day in Athens was about preparing for the marathon on Sunday, but it was also about seeing as many sites as we could. We knew that the marathon would eat up the majority of our Sunday and we only had Monday morning before we were scheduled to fly out. So it was important to see as much as possible on Saturday. This would not be my normal attitude the day before a marathon, but obviously this one was a little different. My hopes were only to finish with no knowledge of really how good of shape my body was in, and with a lack of sleep in weeks preceeding it was more important to me that we also get to enjoy and site see in Athens. Looking back on the weekend, I am so glad we made the most of it as tourists!

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Zeus

Looking down on the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis

To start off Saturday we took care of business and headed over to the marathon expo, but from there it was off to see Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, and Ancient Agora. It was a full day of walking and some hiking as the Acropolis sits at the top of a large hill. Hadrian's Arch and the remains of the Temple of Zeus were impressive, but the Acropolis was beyond amazing! I don't know what I had really expected leading up to it, maybe it was my lack of research, but I was blown away. The enormous size of these structures, the fact that they were constructed over 2000 years ago, and the way that they are set on top of a large hill simply blew my mind. I was in awe of not only these massive and ancient temples but also of the one of a kind views of all of Athens that I was able to enjoy from there. Finally, to wrap up the day we wandered through the neighborhood of Agora, which was most likely the original center to this ancient city.

Here is a look around the Acropolis, there were simply too many amazing photos to choose from!

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus theater near the base of the Acropolis

Amazing views from the Acropolis over Athens and other ancient remains

The Parthenon, one of several temples at the Acropolis



Parthenon



Views of the Parthenon from the back

Another temple at the Acropolis, Erechtheion

Beautitful carvings into these temples

A view from the Acropolis onto another one of these "hills" throughout Athens

A view out to the sea from the Acropolis

Stunning views of the Acropolis from the Agora

Just enjoying our perfect day in Athens 

As I mentioned earlier Sunday was marathon day, there will be a separate post dedicated to this, so stay tuned. Although most of the day was devoted to this (marathons after all do take a little while), we did get to end the day wandering and enjoying the Plaka and Monastiraki neighborhoods which are filled with fun and unique restaurants, cafes, markets & shops. Post-marathon dinner was also a fun meal filled with relatively authentic Greek cuisine including grilled Octopus and a special lamb dish. Unfortunately, Monday was also a short day as we had to head to the airport around midday. We did manage to sneak in a quick hike on a hill nearby the Acropolis with some more views, but it could not rival being at the Acropolis.

More views of the Acropolis from other parts of the city...

Our weekend in Athens kicked off the start to one of our best trips yet for several reasons. First, the city was much more than what we anticipated. I think our expectations had been pretty low going into the trip here as we had heard so many wonderful things about the Greek Isles and some people even say to entirely skip the visit to Athens. I can most definitely say I am glad we did not skip spending a few days in this city as the history that is there can only be rivaled by a few other cities in the world. Second, the Greek people are one of the most welcoming and fun cultures we have visited yet. Although the country is struggling right now, there are still many people that are extremely proud of their country and history. They seemed happy to act as tour guides and tell us as much as they could about what we were seeing (especially taxi drivers!).

And perhaps what was best was that the Greeks absolutely loved Emma! It was difficult for me not to keep replaying scenes of My Big Fat Greek Wedding while we were there because it just seemed to stereotype the culture so accurately! Although it did get old at times, it was hard for us to go anywhere without people wanting to fuss over our daughter. We had several people ask to take her photo, want to hold her, or simply walk up and stare at her. Even young school girls got excited when they saw her. It quickly became obvious that family and children are an extremely important and integral part of this society. I can't wait to go back again (hopefully sooner rather than later) and enjoy more of this great culture and people!

Family photo at the Acropolis in front of the Parthenon