(Img 1.1 View of Athens City)
I haven't been to much places in Europe, thought a visit to one of the european country would be a good addition to my travel list. It might also make me change my opinion towards european destinations. The first question undoublty was regarding the travel companion. Who should I go with? The plan went ahead with two of my chilhood friends, we have been friends since primary school; almost a decade now. We brainstormed some places that would be good to visit during winter season. Our choices varied from Iceland to Prague to Czech to Switzerland to Greece and even Dubai. In the end, we all agreed on Greece & blimey now that I think of it, I am glad that our choice was Greece. The travel dates were fixed from 12th Nov 2017 to 19th Nov 2017. There are so many beautiful cities and islands in Greece, deciding on them had put us on tough spot. Later on, we settled for Athens and Santorini.
Flights:
Airlines : Swiss Airlines - always have had pleasant journey with this airlines , one of the best airlines to use for Europe. The flight prices are affordable too.
We took flight from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Athens International Airport( AIA) which was around 5 hours and had stop-over in Geneva Airport(GVA), Switzerland.
Geneva looked astonishing from the sky with it’s beautiful jaw dropping natural scenery. Switzerland has always been one of the country at my travel list but we will leave this for future. The airport is close to city but we took taxi to get to hotel in Athens for convenience.
Expenses:
Like any other city , the expenses mostly depends on the accomodation and restaurants you visit. On average, the price tags for most of the stuffs are decent and shouldn't worry too much unless you are on shopping spree.
(Img 1.2 Acropolis seen from the hotel's rooftop)
Hotel: Divani Palace Acropolis
Luxury!? I love luxury. The hotel accommodated us on our stay in Athens and it did provide the feel of luxury to certain extent but it wasn't the maximum. Besides that, the hotel was pretty close to city centre and almost all the places we wanted to see were on walking distance. The service provided was good as per the hotel's standard. The sight not to missed was the 'Acropolis of Athens' from the rooftop of the hotel, especially at night. The above picture just gives you the glimpse of it. Are you amazed yet?
Hotel's website: https://divaniacropolishotel.com/
Memory to be treasured
This might be cringy or weird to some of the readers but it is likely an asian thing. Before the trip, I had an idea to carry animal-face-masks; basically for the skin care and other reason being able to see your friends disguised as animals.This whole situation turned out to be funny, we were laughing really hard for few hours. I would say it is one of the best memories I have with these two.
(Img 1.3 Plaka district at foothills of the Acropolis)
Plaka Flea Market, Athens If you ever get a chance to visit Athens, I would advice you to go to this nice neighbourhood. Plaka is the one of the oldest section in Athens and lies over the foothills of Acropolis.This area is filled with hordes of tourist & shop that sells:antiques, wood carvings, paintings and hand-made goods. You will find beautiful postcards in most of the shops which can be sent to your friends.
(Different antiques, paintings, wood cravings found in Plaka)
A little warning though; if you ever see an old lady offering you a free rose, just avoid her. I basically got scammed €10 out of me. Apart from that, local people are normally kind and helpful.
This place also offers huge choices of resturants and the menu choices are quite good. While we are on the food topic; I just wanna point out that, lamb steak is quite good per my friends. And ofcourse, don't forget to get some Gelato for desserts.Gelato comes in so many different flavours that you will have hard time deciding which to go for. I just went for coconut flavour, which to me is a fav.
The rose at the side picture, by now you should have figured out where it came from. 10 euro for that rose? ehhh?
(Gelato for desert at Plaka district )
Another travelling tip: be sure to visit Plaka at night time as it provides a different vibe and impression compared to the daytime. Plaka has two main streets which instersects each other and are considered the center. > Kydathineon > Adrianou More information can be found in Google about the differences between these two.
(Parthenon- Παρθενών temple, dedicated to goddess Athena)
Acropolis of Athens ( ἄκρονπόλις )
As the name says, it is the highest point of the Athens city. It took us around 15-25 minutes to reach the top of hill.This hill can be seen almost from anywhere in the city.Several ancient buildings containing historical significance are situated on this flat hill. The remains of buildings have unique architectural structure.Someone with interest in architecture should definitely visit this site.
Parthenon being the famous structure on the hill, it's sight is magnifcient and most of you are likely to recognise it immediately (refer the picture above). It is an iconic image for Athens city itself. If you are not into old ancient buildings & history then do come here for the amazing view of the Athens city. The view from top of the hill is just marvellous, you won't be able to forget it ever.
(Odeon of Herodes Atticus , used as steep slope theatre in 161 AD)
(trying to get the 360 view of Athens from top of Acropolis)
Acropolis Mesuem (Μουσείο Ακρόπολης)
Acropolis meseum is one of the famous meseum in Athens and is located close to Acropolis. This archaeological meseum focuses on discoveries of artifacts, stones, statues, etc on the site of Acropolis. These findings have long history and are origin of different eras. If you have been here, you will notice that the meseum building itself has an interesting architectural design.
Enough with the boring stuff. Here are few pictures that I was able to take inside the meseum.
(Inside look of the Acropolis Mesuem, Athens)
Athens done! Onwards to Santorini
When we planned our trip to Greece, we had decided to stay in Athens for only few days. The next destination which is Santorini, is completely different to any place we have been before. Hence, more of our time was spent on island of Santorini. If you want to read up about cool things we managed to do in Santorini, definitely read up my blog post on Santorini. (here)
(having brunch on enroute to Santorini)
Copyright Infringement
All the images used in this blog has been personally taken by me & my friends, unless stated below.
[Img 1.1, used from Pexels under CCO license. No attribution required]
[Img 1.2, used from hotel's website. Permission granted but attribution required & only use for review purpose]
[Img 1.3, used from Pexels under CCO license. No attribution required]