Athenai (Athens), Greece

We arrived in the Athens bus station around 5am and were quickly confused as to where we needed to go from there. After some direction from the locals, we boarded a city bus into town and transferred to the subway towards our hostel. We arrived around 6:30 and knocked on the door in the hopes someone would be awake. Thankfully the staff was up and let us check in early and take a much needed nap before our day out.

We set out from the hostel after a few hour nap and stopped by the tourist information booth to get a map and some tips on things to see. We had lunch at the number one rated Slouvaki stand before making the walk towards the Acropolis.

We bought tickets (half price for students!) and began the ascent to the infamous ruins. Atop the Acropolis, we visited the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena and the ceremonial gateway. With views overlooking all of Athens, we spent some time picking out the famous buildings below. We saw the Temple of Zeus as well as the former Olympic track, home to the first modern games. Eventually, we made our way down from the Acropolis and walked the pedestrian streets over towards Zeus’ Temple and the Olympic track for a closer look. Afterwards, we headed home for a bit before dinner time.

In the evening, we took a tip from our guidebook and had dinner at a traditional yet quite modern restaurant, being greeted with shots of some traditional Greek alcohol. Afterwards, we walked up to the City Hall building to view the changing of the guards. We managed to arrive for the 8pm show and it was quite a spectacle. The dancing (high kicks, toe points, moon walks and spins) along with the pleated miniskirts (400 pleats, 1 for every year in the 400 year war) and not to mention the pompoms made for quite an exhibition. If you don’t believe us, watch this.

After that exhilarating performance, we returned for the night. In the morning, we rose for breakfast before storing our bags and heading out for another excursion in Athens. We passed by more ruins (Adrian’s Library and the First National Cemetary) before stopping by the market and having a pomegranate snack. We ended our time with an attempt to watch the guard change show again but were disappointed to find out that the dancing show we had witnessed the night before is not performed every hour. We walked back to our hostel, gathered our things, and headed to the airport via subway. This time, we had a plane to catch.