Last July, Emma Grace and I made the epic trip to Greece to celebrate her upcoming 18th birthday. To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed in deciding where to go in Greece, because there’s so many islands. The only for sure was that we were flying into Athens before jaunting off to our island destination. We landed very early in the morning and left very early in the morning 48 hours later. I’m sure we missed a lot in Athens, but from my perspective, we got to see and do plenty!
I booked us a room at the Titania hotel (booking.com had a terrific price). It was honestly the perfect spot for exploring. Nestled in the heart of Athens, the rooms were simple, but it was an easy walk to everywhere we wanted to go. We took advantage of the free breakfast every morning and also dined one evening at the Olive Garden (not to be confused with the US chain restaurant) on the hotel rooftop. With the Acropolis in the distance, it was unforgettable.
Since we only had 48 hours to explore Athens, I tried to plan well beforehand. My philosophy is always to make a packed full schedule. If we decide it’s too much, then we can always leave something out. I chose to buy a ruins combo ticket through Get Your Guide so we could just pop in and see as many ruins as we wanted. After a few hours sleep and a good breakfast, we set out on day one. Here was our itinerary…
Athens Day 1
Changing of the guards at the government building
Aristotle’s School
Panathenaic Stadium
Temple of Zeus
Monastiraki Market (highly recommend!)
Falafel at Falafellas
Followed by gelato (can’t remember the name but it was close to Falafellas)
Omonoia Square
And then it was time to go to the hotel and sleep!
Athens Day 2
Hadrian’s Library
Ancient Agora
Roman Agora
Areopagus Hill (otherwise known as Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul preached)
Acropolis
Dinner at Olive Garden
Athens proved to be such a fun and unforgettable experience. I’m so glad we chose to spend a full day there. Even though neither one of us are history buffs, we really enjoyed seeing the ruins and exploring the city. It was hot so if you go in the summer, be prepared!
We walked a lot, but for our hotel pickup and return, we used Welcome Pickups. I highly recommend them! Our driver was super helpful and even gave us tips on what to do in Athens. He also took us back to the airport. Also, tips to the drivers are not common which was nice to know beforehand.
After a city of ruins, we were ready to check out the islands!