Greece - Exploring Athens the Greek Way
Athens sits on an overabundance of ancient history. It's a treat for all the history buffs looking at preserved temple formations on acropolis; museums maintaining ancient rock formations and sculptures that are damaged through ages. If you a person looking for more outdoor and engaging activities than roaming around ancient buildings and read about their history then Athens is definitely NOT the place you!
Having said that, there are few things one should be aware of while staying in Athens. It might be overwhelming for tourists and sometimes feel unsafe too since Athens is infamous for its pickpockets.
Become a history buff at the basement of Acropolis
Acropolis was the highlight of our stay in Athens. Probably, Acropolis was the reason why we included Athens in our Europe itinerary. It takes a while to reach the summit, hence better to have some company along the way to make it an interesting climb.
Getting a glimpse of Parthenon temple after climbing the mountain and reaching the basement of acropolis was an amazing feeling. Whole acropolis area is comprised of temples dedicated to Athena (who was a Goddess as per Greek mythology).
While climbing the Acropolis hill, you witness some other ancient ruins such as the below ancient theatre which goes by the name 'Theatre of Dionysus'; amazing isn't it!
Acropolis gives you incredible city views of Athens. You can see each and every monument, household and ancient statues from acropolis.
Try sprinting at Panathenaic Olympic Stadium
This is a historical site! This stadium hosted the first ever Olympic games played in the world. It's an open stadium where you can wander around on actual stadium running rings or sit back and admire the view from audience seats. When you visit there, ticket counter office will give you audio guides where you can experience virtually how one would have felt attending the inaugural Olympic games while sitting within the stadium. Audio guides had recordings of some running competition (not sure if it was legit) with a commentary and you would notice that era after hearing crowd cheers.
If you are visiting the site with a group of friends, you can have your own running competition as if you were an Olympic runner! The stadium also has a winner podium setup at a corner for celebrating 1st, 2nd and 3rd position athletes and take a for final picture. Nice way to recreate such picture with your friends.
Explore ancient ruins of old city scattered across Athens
This is one of the unique things of Athens that it has preserved most of the remains of ancient ruins as it is in the middle of the city. You would notice that city has gradually developed around these historical sites keeping them intact and now serve as a great boost for its tourism. I am sure local government must be paying lot of money just to preserve these sights or renovate at the right time so that its life can increase over time.
It might get quite boring for someone who is not a history buff and has no interest in looking at random damaged buildings with some memorabilia attached to it. For e.g. personally I liked Athens a lot while my gf don't even remember what we did for 2 days there!
Take a stroll inside National Garden
This is arguably one of the most beautiful gardens I have visited in the world, however it comes with its own set of challenges. It's a popular hangout spot for locals on daily basis since it is large in size and has lots of sitting place along the garden. It can become confusing for a first timer visiting and navigating across the garden. It has plenty of natural habitat including ducks, pigeons, different kinds of birds, etc. You will see all types of people visiting the garden including young couples, families, senior citizens and overseas tourists.
One tip I received from my hotel receptionist that please don't visit the garden during late evening or night since lots of pickpockets are active during that time and waiting to prey on tourists like us. Also, once it gets dark in the garden it can become a scary place to navigate since not many street lights and direction guides can be confusing sometimes. Hence, try to visit it during day light so you can enjoy the time without worrying about getting robbed.
Observe the street arts across the city
Athens is full of street arts. For the first time when I landed in Athens and took a local bus to get to my hotel, I saw most of the walls on either sides of the road are filled with random graffitis. Some of them were amazing and artistic while some were simply rebellious with some controversial message or images on it.
I was shocked to see spray painting done on some important buildings too. While seeing all these street arts around I was questioning myself whether is it good that people have freedom to do what they want or its bad that locals are not happy with their lives and just painting the town in black using random art!
Eat local food, especially Greek salad!
Greek food is full of cheese, shawarmas, salads, tomatoes and rice. Greek salad is world famous, hence it makes more sense to try it in Greece where it was originated. I personally liked the lemmon grass chicken rice we had for a dinner on one of the nights. Simply delicious!
Try the local Greek coffee
When i tried the local Greek coffee for the first time, I felt a unique taste. It felt like having a coconut in coffee and also it had quite a different texture compared to a usual Espresso. I personally liked the taste but some may not like it. So, try it and find out.
Play with the Greek cats
This is something you will notice as soon as you land in Athens. Athens is full of cats and they roam around as if they own the city! There are plenty of these naughty creatures crossing your paths or judging you while sitting on a fence at a distance. They are not at all afraid of people walking around and simply mind their own business. They can be friendly on a given day, if get a chance try to see if you can play with them.
Explore activities during daytime since no nightlife to experience!
Surprisingly, Athens don't have much of a nightlife to offer to visitors. Most of the shops including restaurants get closed by 9 pm in the night and city becomes a ghost town in a flash. Also, when I was visiting Athens personally I noticed (almost) not a single lady walking on the street during the night and it was mostly local guys. Honestly, I felt a bit unsafe since I was travelling with my gf. Hence, I likely recommend that you get the most out of Athens during day time and try to do indoor activities during night that hanging outside.
In nutshell, it may not be the best place I would personally recommend to visit in Europe, however its historical heritage makes it unique compared to other European cities and hence worth visiting; at least once!
Hope you liked this blog and gave you some insights on Do's and Don'ts of visiting Athens. Thanks and Happy travelling!