Athens, Greece

After flying out of what has to be one the smallest airports of a country's capital city (Podgorica, Montenegro), we landed in Athens, Greece. At the airport, we met up with our friend Brad, who was joining us for Athens and Santorini. It was nice seeing a familiar face and to have him join our adventure in Greece. We took the train from the airport and got off at our neighborhood, Makriyanni. It was Saturday night, and when we walked to our place around 10pm, the streets were rocking and abuzz with locals having a cocktail and enjoying the weekend. Meanwhile, we were wandering through the crowds with our big packs, trying to figure out where the heck the entrance to our Airbnb was (apparently, right above the pizza bar that we immediately grabbed a slice from). We imagine we made a pretty funny sight for those at the bars.

On our first day, we took it easy in the morning, went out for brunch, and started to walk around the different neighborhoods and see some of the ancient ruins scattered around the city. Prior to arriving, we all booked a pass that allowed us access to the Acropolis, as well as many of the other ruins. We visited the Roman Agora and Hadrian's Library first, which were both interesting, but much less intact than the Parthenon, which kept drawing our eyes in the distance. We walked around the famous Plaka neighborhood and browsed the many stores and antique shops. For lunch we got gyros, which were delicious, but the experience was memorable for more than the food; the woman that took our order was all business, and pretty intimidating. She sat in a high-backed office chair, spoke no English, and took no questions. We all ordered as quickly as possible and accepted whatever we were given. Carson likened her to the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Luckily, the gyros were delicious, so it was all worth it.

After lunch, we headed to the main attraction - to meet up with the tour we booked for the Acropolis. If you didn't know (we didn't until we looked into it more), the Acropolis is an entire complex sitting on a hill that overlooks the city of Athens. The Acropolis includes many ancient structures, with the Parthenon being the most famous. There were actually many places in ancient Greece called "Acropolis" because it literally just means "high city" (hence the hill), and the term was pretty generic. These days, though, if you talk about the Acropolis, everyone knows you mean Athens. Before you even set foot in the Acropolis complex, you can see how impressive it is. The center of Athens is relatively flat as you walk around, but the Acropolis (with the Parthenon perched at the peak) overlooks everything and offers an imposing and impressive sight. You really can't miss it as you walk around the city!

We made our way up the Acropolis hill and saw many ancient temples and structures like the Theater of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Old Temple of Athena, Erechtheion, and more. It was really interesting seeing each of these and learning their history; while the Parthenon tends to get all of the glory, there was plenty of history and fun facts to go around, for example:

The Theater of Dionysus built into the side of the hill, was built in the 6th century B.C. and is regarded as the world's first theater and the birthplace of Greek drama. At it's peak, it could seat up to 17,000 people!
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a theater later built by the Romans on the slopes of the Acropolis, is still standing (with the help of renovations), and still hosts concerts and events. We even considered going to see a play while we were there, but the timing unfortunately didn't work out.
The Propylaia, with stairs leading up to this grand gateway to the Acropolis, controlled who could enter and represented a partition between the religious part of the city on the top of the hill and the secular parts of the city below.
The Temple of Athena Nike is the smallest temple of the Acropolis and is dedicated to Athena Nike, the winged goddess of victory. Interestingly, the statue of Athena Nike at this temple is depicted without wings, so that she (victory) could never leave Athens.
The Erechtheion is a beautiful temple that draws the eye, specifically because of the six Caryatids, also known as "The Maidens." These are are 7.5-foot-tall statues of women that also function as columns, and hold up the southern porch of the Erechtheion. The columns on the temple at the Acropolis are stunning, but they are only replicas, as five of the originals now live in the Acropolis museum and one is in the British museum. Aside from the columns, the Erechtheion has some of the most interesting history, as it was here that it is said Athena and Poseidon competed for the patronage of the city. According to myth, Athena and Poseidon argued over who would control the city, so Zeus proposed a contest between them. The people of Athens and the gods met on the hill of the Acropolis, and Poseidon struck his trident into the earth and created a saltwater spring. Athena, on the other hand, planted an olive tree. The people of Athens chose Athena as the winner, as she provided a much more useful gift, and she gave her name to the city. The Erechtheion was later built at the site of this contest and the temple was divided into two areas- one dedicated to Poseidon, and one to Athena, to recognize the reconciliation of the gods following the contest (and to not piss of Poseidon even more). There is even a full grown olive tree that still remains outside of the Erechtheion that is said to be the same tree planted by Athena. Regardless of whether you believe the origin of the tree, it has been around for over 2,500 years; the tree suffered during wars over the centuries, but it has always survived, or a branch was always saved to be replanted. Pretty neat!

Ok, hopefully Mel geeking (or should we say Greeking?) out over this history has convinced you that the Acropolis is more than the Parthenon, but in all reality, the Parthenon is the main event, so let's get to it. The Parthenon is MASSIVE, and it's basic structure remains intact, even though many of the statues and original detailing does not. It really does dwarf most of the other temples around it, and while we didn't think it was the most beautiful temple (Erechtheion and its Maidens get that honor), it's certainly the most eye-catching. The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC and dedicated to the goddess Athena (lots of love for Athena in Athens, as you've probably gathered). While impressive to see the bones of this ancient temple, it is clear that it has been through a lot of damage and is still undergoing renovation (evidenced by all of the scaffolding on the western side). We know from later visiting the Acropolis museum and seeing many of the original artifacts removed from the Parthenon and from seeing videos reimagining what it looked like in it's heyday that what we were seeing of the actual building was only a fraction of how impressive it once was. For example, only a few statues and a small portion of the frieze that runs along the top of the structure were still clearly visible and intact. Most of the damage was due to the tumultuous history the temple went through when it changed hands. We learned that the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church in the 6th century when the Byzantines conquered Greece. Later, in 1458, when the Ottomans seized control of Greece, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque. Much of the damage to the Parthenon and other temples of the Acropolis occurred in the later 17th century, when the Ottomans, facing attack, converted the Parthenon into an ammunitions shelter (what could go wrong?). The structure was bombarded with cannonballs and its ammunition stores exploded causing massive structural damage and many deaths. After our time in Rome, it was really incredible to see some of these temples and learn more about Ancient Greece since most of this was constructed nearly 1,000 years before the Colosseum was even built.

We stayed atop the Acropolis admiring the temples and watching the sun start to set. On our descent back down the hill, we saw Greek soldiers in their unique uniforms marching up to lower the massive Greek flag that was at the Acropolis (something they do every Sunday). We walked over to nearby Philopappos Hill and watched the sun set over the Acropolis. It was beautiful to watch the temples light up for night time. After another dinner of delicious Greek food that we thought we'd never get tired of, we went to a bar outside of our Airbnb where Carson tried ouzo for the first time. Mel had had it before at Greek festivals, but never really liked it all that much since it tastes like strong licorice. But, our waitress was really friendly, and showed us that we should be pouring it over ice and having it really cold. The liquor turns opaque when it's this cold, and serving it this way really cuts the licorice flavor and makes it much more enjoyable. So enjoyable, that we definitely enjoyed our fair share that night and a few more times during our Greek travels....

On our second day, we set out to visit Zeus's Temple and Hadrian's Arch. Zeus's temple was larger than the Parthenon, but most of the columns do not exist any more so it didn't look as impressive. After an adventure finding lunch (why was everything closed on this side of town?!), we hit up the Panathenaic Stadium - aka the original Olympic stadium. It was in great condition, and really cool to walk around the track and the stands. The stadium was originally built for games in Ancient Greece in 400 B.C., but the structure we see today was rebuilt entirely from marble during the Roman period in 144 A.D and could hold about 50,000 people. To this day, it remains the only stadium in the world built entirely from marble, and it's as beautiful as it sounds. The stadium was later largely abandoned for centuries, but was refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympic games in 1896. The stadium is still used some today, including as the end of the annual Athens marathon. We took our time exploring the stadium and listening to the informative audio guide. We also visited the tunnel where athletes would emerge; inside, this had been converted to a small museum which contained torches and posters from every modern Olympic Games. Seeing all of the historical Olympic art materials was really cool, and Carson purchased a pin that was worn by the Swiss torch bearers during the 2004 Athens Olympics. Brad and Carson also ran a lap around the track, while Mel (in improper shoes for running) cheered them on from the sidelines.

We then headed to the Acropolis museum to learn more about what we had seen yesterday and see some of the original artifacts from the Acropolis (and cool off in the air conditioning). The museum was beautifully setup and contained a ton of unique sculptures and art that were part of the Parthenon and the other temples. The top floor was one of the coolest parts, as it recreated the outside of the Parthenon to match it's real dimensions and showed a representation of the original pieces that had been recovered next to recreations of what it would have actually looked like. It was pretty eye-opening to see that even some of the artifacts in the museum were replicas because the originals are in the British Museum (and not necessarily by choice...).

After the museum, we walked around the small and historic neighborhood of Anafiotika, which was recommended by our Acropolis tour guide. Lying underneath the northwest side of the Acropolis, Anafiotika was very steep and so small, and felt like a much older and quieter oasis in the middle of bustling Athens. With white-washed buildings, beautiful flowers, mural, and lots of cats, it gave us a glimpse of what we would come to see on all of the Greek islands.

After all this walking we were hungry for a snack, so we stopped at at a family restaurant where we sat on the top patio looking over the neighborhood and had some savory Greek pies. As we continued our walk, we stopped at a store where Carson had an unforgettable experience purchasing a blue linen shirt. Carson went in to look at the shirts, and by the time Melissa and Brad walked in, the Greek grandma who owned the store was taking off Carson's shirt in the middle of her shop. Brad and Melissa couldn't help but laugh and take photos from the corner as the woman eyed Carson up picked a size for him, and buttoned the shirt up on him. It was a very funny experience from all points of view, but we can't deny she knew what she was doing- the shirt fit perfectly, and Carson had to buy it.

The last sight we saw was the Ancient Agora. We didn't realize the Agora closed somewhat early, so we only had about 40 minutes to walk around, which was a bummer since there was a lot to see. We did get to visit the Temple of Hephaestus, though, which was probably the most intact temple we saw, and almost looked like a mini Parthenon. We were big fans of this area to walk around and see more intact history, even if it was brief.

Overall, we loved our time in Athens, even though it was short. We feel as though there is a bit of a Rome vs. Athens debate that people talk about, but we thought they were very different. While Rome had more history right in your face (ruins EVERYWHERE), Athens was a bit more subdued; aside from the Acropolis, many of their ancient temples and structures have fallen into more decay, and you can certainly walk around many parts of the city without bumping into any. We also felt the cities had very different vibes. We ended up really digging the young, social, and relaxed culture in Athens, and could easily have spent more time there.