Hi everyone! Recently I haven’t been able to commit as much time to my blog as I did when I first started. My new plan is to write whenever I have pockets of time and most likely post more sporadically. Make sure to follow AnEclecticPlace on Instagram and sign up to receive emails, so you know when I do post! 🙂 I made a poll on Instagram quite a few months ago about what you would like to read next and Athens in 1.5 days won. So here is everything my friend and I did in a day (and a half) in Athens, the first stop on our backpacking trip through Europe.

Let’s go back to 2019, pre-covid and when traveling was more manageable at least for me. My friend and I found ourselves at the City Circus Athens Hostel after 18 hours of traveling and 3 flights. Our hostel, City Circus Athens Hostel was right on the edge of a sketchy neighborhood, but within walking distance to a lot of Athen sites! I would recommend it because it was nice, clean, and had a great restaurant attached to it. However, if you find yourself here definitely head towards the Acropolis, not the other direction and you will be good! After a good night’s sleep, we got up early to go on a free walking tour. A great recommendation by the front desk lady at the hostel. We met at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens and toured all of the sights of Athens!

Our Walking Tour of Athens

The first stops on our tour were Hadrian’s library, the Tower of Winds, and the Roman Agora. As we were stopping at all of these sights, we were slowly making our way up to the Acropolis. However, we didn’t go into the Acropolis, but we did stop at a viewpoint next to it where we saw all of Athens. Around the Acropolis, there is a pretty cobblestone path that we took to Hadrians Arch, passing the Acropolis museum on the way. At the Arch, we saw the ruins of Zeus’s Temple. This was about halfway through the tour and so far it was phenomenal! Our tour guide was absolutely phenomenal as well! He grew up in Greece, so he was sharing stories along with the history of Athens.

Our tour continued to the Zappeion exhibition hall. During the Olympics, it was a part of the Olympic village. For some reason, I did not take a picture of this building. I took about 5,000 pictures this trip, but none of this building. What I do remember is that it is a massive yellow building with a beautiful courtyard. Feel free to google it, if you would like a better image! 🙂 We saw a glimpse of the Olympic Stadium before we headed to the President’s Palace. Our tour guide was very excited to show us the changing of the guards at the palace. It was very fascinating to watch, as I had never seen the changing of the guards before!

Our last stroll was through the National Gardens to end at the Parliament building. It was about 2 pm, our tour had just finished and my friend and I were both very hungry! Anywhere you travel, I highly recommend going on a tour! Whether it be walking, biking, on a bus, or by segway. You will get to experience a lot of the city, but still, have time to explore on your own. We decided to head back towards the Acropolis museum and found a cute cafe along the way for lunch. We shared a massive greek salad and some delicious bread.

The Acropolis Museum

We still had some time left in our day, so we went to the Acropolis Museum. On the recommendation of our tour guide, we started our tour on the top floor and worked our way to the bottom. The museum was very fascinating because whenever they found some ruins, like pottery pieces they would plaster the missing pieces to make the full object. Many bowls, plates, and other little things were reconstructed this way. One of my favorite parts of the museum was the glass floor. You could see the ruins below where archeological digs were happening.

Something that we learned on our tour was how the British Museum houses a lot of the artifacts, but because Athens made their own museum they are hoping to get them back. The Acropolis Museum was even built with empty stands or spaces for the artifacts that the British Museum currently has on display. Most notably are the missing Caryatids, which are sculpted female figures used in place of pillars. The originals are preserved in the Museum, with the exception of the few the British Museum still have. There are replicas on the Erechtheion, which I will show a picture of later.

After we went through the museum we stopped at our first bookstore of the trip, Little Tree Books and Coffee. My friend and I tried to go to a bookstore in every city we visited. Read all about the other places we visited here! Anyways, we got a little lost on our way, but we ended up walking down this pretty road with these giant, intricate doors, so of course, we had to have a little photoshoot! We did end up finding the bookstore, which was super cute! It was mainly a cafe with a tiny book area, but a great find nonetheless. However, we found ourselves in a new area of the city and couldn’t figure out how to get to our hostel, even with a paper map. ALWAYS get a paper map when you travel, so you don’t have to rely on your phone.

Our only dinner in Athens

By the time we made it back to the hostel, we were exhausted! For some reason the jet lag wasn’t bothering me, but I was starting to get a really bad head cold. I think it was because we landed at night, so we could just fall asleep when we got there. Which I now know is the best way to travel anywhere when you have a severe time change. In Athens we were 7 hours ahead of our normal sleep schedule, so after 16 hours of traveling to be able to just fall asleep and not have to worry about staying awake was amazing!

One of the really nice things about the hostel was there was a restaurant attached, Zampanó. We ended up eating there since we were both tired. We got salmon with this cilantro bean salad and this other delicious meal to share. Again, I did not write what it was in my journal but don’t worry I got smarter the more I was traveling and took pictures of the menu of what I was eating. What I remember is that it was a cheese ball of sorts with tomatoes and I think pesto? Which I know doesn’t help you understand, but take my word for it that it was super delicious! That was the end of our full day in Athens! We did a lot, but we only had a half-day left and we couldn’t leave Athens without visiting The Acropolis.

An Acropolis filled half day!

It was a new day and the half-day of our day and a half stay in Athens. However, I woke up with such a bad cold and all I wanted was a smoothie. For some reason, I always think smoothies make me feel better! We stopped at a little gelato and cereal bar called Mattonella for breakfast. I got a strawberry banana smoothie and a granola bar, which was very sweet, but good nonetheless. We made our way back up to the Acropolis taking the same way that our tour guide had taken us the day before. However when we got to the main entrance, it was very busy, so we walked around to the side entrance and were able to get in quickly! So if you ever find yourself at the Acropolis, go to the entrance across from the museum, not the one closest to the Parthenon.

We started our tour of the Acropolis by seeing some sculptures that were on display and then headed to the Auditorium of the Theatre of Dionysos. Which if you look at the map above is the arena-looking drawing on the bottom right. We then made our way to the Theatre of Dionysos, which is truly spectacular! It was nice to stand there and try to imagine what the productions were like back then. I especially liked the checkered floor!

Next, we made our way up the steep hill to the Parthenon and the other various temples. The Parthenon was just how I had imagined it! Our tour guide had said that they are almost always doing construction on it, but that it’s done one side at a time because it is such a popular tourist spot. It was also nice to step away from the large crowd and look out towards the view of Athens.

Do you remember earlier the picture from the Acropolis Museum of the original Caryatids? Well below are the replicas that I spoke about on the Erechtheion.

Above is Nike Temple and the crazy crowd. It was only May and it was this busy, I could not believe it! I could not imagine what it would be like in the middle of peak season! Anyways, after we finished up at the Acropolis we got the most amazing sandwiches at Tupaki! I had a chicken and ranch sandwich and I don’t know why it was so good, but I think I will always dream about it! We then went back to our hostel to pick up our backpacks and then headed to our next destination!

The Murals of Athens

One of my favorite parts of Athens was all of the murals, so below are some of my favorites!

I hope you enjoyed reading all about our day and a half in Athens! I really enjoyed my time there and I highly recommend doing everything I wrote about and more! Next time, I would spend more than a day and a half in Athens. Thank you so much for your continued support! Sign up for the mailing list to be notified whenever I post something new or follow me @AnEclecticPlace on Instagram and Facebook.

Take care and stay safe,

Renée