Greece: Athens

From London we flew to Athens, Greece, one of the world’s most historic destinations. Athens is a sprawling metropolis of 3.7 million people. We stayed right in the heart of the city in an area called Monastiraki. The majority of our time was spent wandering around Athens’ old winding streets, which are chock-full of tavernas, cafes and character. We ate gyros like they were going out of style, lazily lingered over tasty sangria and made the Greeks roll their eyes with our attempts to speak the language.

Our big tourist activity in Athens was an afternoon at Acropolis, one of the most important ancient monuments in the world. Acropolis was inhabited in Neolithic times, and the first temples on the site were built in homage to the goddess Athena during the Mycenaean era. In other words, the structures in Acropolis are wicked old. As you’ll see in the photos, some of them, including the Parthenon (completed in 438 BC!) were in the process of being restored. Wandering around Acropolis and taking in the views overlooking Athens was an awesome experience, and a great start to the Mediterranean Europe leg of our trip.