**Big Adventures loves to feature real life travel stories from our friends. Following is an account of one of our travelers from a Grecian adventure.
I have a hard time saying no to adventure, even if the trips are last minute. When an opportunity came up that allowed me to tour Greece, I immediately started making travel arrangements. No trip to Greece is complete without a trip to the capital city - Athens. Our itinerary only allowed us 24 hours to explore Athens, but we attempted to make the most of it and hit the highlights. There were a few places and experiences in our time in Athens that really stuck out to me.
After a 4 hour bus ride from Porto Cheli, we hopped of the Metro and sat down at the first café that we found. We ordered Greek Coffee and tea, and had a quick lunch of Greek Salad before doing our full day tour of Athens. We were finishing lunch and looked at the clock and it was 11:50 - in 10 minutes the changing of the Guard was going to take place. We ran across the street to the Parliament at Syntagma Square and waited until the top of the hour, and watched as the Evezones marched in. The Evezones are a special unit of the Hellenic Army who guard the Monument of the Unknown Soldier, and they must stay completely still for 60 minutes. If you are in the area, I would highly suggest getting there early to be able to get the best view of the ceremony.
The next place we walked to was the Acropolis. The Acropolis is the most breathtaking ancient Greek monumental complex that is still standing. The Acropolis is home to one of the most famous buildings in the world: the Parthenon, which was built for the goddess Athena. If you are passionate about architecture, this is the place for you to visit. Even if you aren’t, the views from the Acropolis are not like anything I have ever seen. If you plan on climbing up to the Acropolis, I would recommend going early in the morning or later in the evening. If you try to go mid-day, it is going to be miserably hot. Another thing that I would recommend before going to the Acropolis, is to check out the Acropolis Museum. The museum is located across from the Acropolis, and will walk you through the history of the monuments so that you can appreciate what you are seeing.
One of my favorite places that we visited was the Areopagus. The Areopagus is a marble rock that is located near the Acropolis. The Areopagus was also coined Mars Hill by the Romans after Ares, the god of war, so you will probably see both of the names on your map. During pre-classical times, the Areopagus was the council of the elders of the city, similar to the Roman Senate. During the classical times, Areopagus was the homicide court of Athens. So essentially, this hill was a place of great debate among the elders and philosophers in the city. My favorite part of this marble stone, was that this was the place that Paul delivered his speech on the identity of the “Unknown God.” We sat on the top of that hill, overlooking the city, and read out loud Paul’s speech, imagining what this exact place looked like during that time.
After our views of the city below, we climbed down and headed to the next stop: the Ancient Agora. This was a place where people gathered together, very similar to a marketplace. The ancient Agora houses some of the best preserved ancient Greek temples from the Classical era. It was really cool to walk through these ruins, seeing things as they used to be. I would highly recommend reading up on the history of this specific Agora, so that you can be appreciative of the ruins that you are seeing.
Once you leave the Agora you are on a street that is lined with restaurants and shops. We chose a restaurant (we just googled “best places to eat in Athens, Greece) and went to the first one that came up. The restaurant had an amazing rooftop view of the Acropolis, but because the rain was coming in, we decided to sit inside. Our driver from the airport to our Airbnb told us we must try the Moussaka and the Souvlaki, as they are traditional Greek dishes. Between those dishes, and all of the Greek Salads, the food here in Greece did not disappoint!
If you are looking for a city that feels like time has stood still for centuries, Athens is the perfect destination.