Greece has always been toward the topic of my epically long travel bucket list, due to its sites and history and culture, and of course, food. We are loving living in Abu Dhabi with all of the direct flights, and the trip to Athens was another early morning non-stop flight that had us arriving early afternoon. Athens airport is about an hour away from the city, so we opted to take the metro into the city, allowing for a nice view along the way, and avoiding the traffic. We stayed close to Monastiraki square, and conveniently has its own metro station. The exit from the underground did not disappoint as we caught immediate views of the Acropolis above us.
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| Monastiraki Square, Acropolis in the background |
We had no plans for the afternoon, instead opting to just randomly walk around and explore our neighborhood. And this is exactly why I am in love with Greece: Random walk end up at historic sites hidden in the middle of a neighborhood.
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| Roman Agora |
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| Roman Agora |
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| Roman Agora |
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| Acropolis |
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| Roman Agora |
In our wanderings we came across this wonderful little market with a butchery and a table in the back. I would share the name of it, but it was completely in Greek, but fortunately the owner spoke a decent amount of English (for us monolingual Americans). We ended up sitting and enjoying a nice round of local libations while sharing a platter of meats.
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| Monastiraki Square |
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| Monastiraki Square |
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| Gyro anyone? Oh yes, please! |
I highly recommend staying in the Monasiraki area if you find yourself in Athens, it really is central to EVERYTHING in Athens, and makes everything very walkable and if not, the metro is right there, and very economical!
As the sun set on our first day, we enjoyed some street-food gyros and more relaxing walks through random neighborhood. I cannot wait to share our incredible excursions with you, so stay tuned!
