Greece Trip - Day 1

June 26, 2009 – Athens

I flew Aegean Airlines from London Stansted Airport to Athens, Greece and the instructions provided in my trip notes to get from the airport to the hotel made the trip trouble free. I arrived at the Hotel at around 7pm, so there wasn’t a huge amount of time left in the day to explore, but that didn’t stop me. As soon as I had dropped off my bag, I headed up to the rooftop of the hotel (a bar / restaurant is up there) to get a view of Athens and the famous Acropolis. It was amazing. The city itself if quite compact, square, grungy and busy, and yet the whole city has the awesome view of the Acropolis sitting high up on a hill. I now knew which direction to start walking in. The map I obtained from the hotel was very basic, but it helped keep me heading in the right direction anyway.

Eventually I made it to a square that was full of pigeons, it was like Venice! I could see the Parthenon still, so I know I was still going the right way. I followed a wide and immaculately clean paved walkway up the hill. I stopped soon after as I could see some columns from something behind some trees off to the side. I walked through the park and then peered through the bushes and behind the fence were the grounds of Thissio and the incredible Temple of Hephaestus. I kept walking up the hill, past olive trees, alfresco dining areas and ruins until I eventually found the way up the Acropolis. When I got there it was about to close, so I was a little bit disappointed, but really what could I have expected – it was nearly 8pm. The sun was still bright and warm so it is easy to forget how late it is, so the Acropolis would have to wait until the morning.

I continued along the walkway down the other side of the hill. Along one side of this walkway were ruins, virtually the whole way from one side to the other. Once I made it down the other side of the hill, I crossed the busy 6 lane road and found Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus. I crossed back to the city side of the road and then found my way back to the hotel by making my way through a maze of market streets and souvenir shops and of course, ruins. Back at the hotel, I went to the rooftop again to take another glimpse of the Acropolis while I enjoyed a nice cold drink – the Acropolis looked remarkable lit up against the night sky. While I was admiring the view, I found a more direct path towards the Acropolis, so I will take that way in the morning.