During the Eid holiday a few weeks ago we went to Greece. Why Greece? B/c we've never been there...and it's a quick 4.5 hr direct flight. (Yes, 4.5 hrs is considered short for us!) We did Athens for 2 days and then Crete (the largest Greek island) for the remainder of the week. Athens in 2 days was plenty of time to see all the touristy sites like the Acropolis & Olympic Stadium. While we enjoyed our time there we were glad to be out of the city and spend our remaining 5 days in Crete. Crete is pretty much awesome. It has beautiful beaches, an amazing coastline, pretty mountains/scenery. There's something for everyone on Crete. And the weather was perfecto. Be prepared- you're about to be inundated with lots of photos of Greece! I will, however, only post Athens pics in this post. Next post will be Crete. (Apologies about the quality of the photos- they are not so great and I couldn't be bothered to edit!)
Our flight into Athens arrived in the evening. We were starving. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we walked to Plaka (lots of shops & restaurants here)- we ended up at a restaurant at the top of a little hotel and had a great view of the Acropolis!
Hotel foyer shenanigans.
How much longer? The younger kids asked this many times when as we walked towards the Acropolis...little did they know (or realize) at this point we still had quite the uphill walk to go.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus (or big, stone theater)
Mei was glad to stop for a photo...it meant rest time! Almost to the top of the hill...
And...we made it! In the background is the older temple of Athena.
The next few pics are Parthenon photos. It was a fairly busy day with lots of people...but we managed some decent photos. We had a lot of friends that visited the Acropolis a few days later (they were on a cruise) and apparently once the cruise ships arrive it's totally packed! Glad we went in the early morning so we could beat the cruise ships.
Parthenon family selfie! No selfie stick needed- just Brian's long arms!
My favorite travel buddy.
After the Acropolis we started walking towards the Temple of Olympian Zeus. On the way you pass the Arch of Hadrian.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Cheeky Mina is trying to knock it down!
Kids were pooped from all that walking. Mina sat down, said she was starving, and gave me this face.
...So we took a rest/snack break.
After a quick break it we went to the old Olympic stadium- Panathenaic Stadium. 99% sure this will be the only time my girls stand on an Olympic podium as medal winners!
This is typical Kaiya.
It was fun walking up the steps to the top of the stadium. Man, those steps were narrow and tall! Mei's tiny legs had difficulty climbing them...and it made me nervous to watch the kids bound down the steps as we left.
View of the stadium from the top.
Couple photo
To help lessen the amount of walking we did a hop on/hop off bus tour. The littles enjoyed riding a bus...and we enjoyed seeing more of the city. Parts of Athens is definitely dirty...but I liked some of the graffiti.
Flea market in the city.
Random statue in the city. But...it had a horse and Mei is obsessed with horses. Thus, the photo.
In the early evening we went to the Acropolis Museum. The museum is currently renovating these ruins (underneath the museum) and hopes to let people eventually tour through it- so cool!
In front of the museum. Again, cheeky Mina holding a tiny person...
Dinner with JP. JP is another lawyer that started just after Brian. He comes over about once a week for dinner and our kids think he's way cooler than us. We love JP and hope the feeling is mutual and that he won't get tired of hanging out with our crazy kids. Anyways, JP happened to be in Athens the same time as us and we met up for dinner. (I should mention that the food in Athens was amazing- so, so yummy! This particular restaurant was a favorite- we had octopus, lamb, calamari, fish, greek salad, etc...it was all so tasty!
The next morning we went to the Parliament Building to watch the changing of the guards. Here's Kaiya posing with a guard.
Brian and I enjoyed watching the whole procession. Kids were bored. Oh well.
After that it was souvenir shopping time in the markets in Plaka. And that concludes Athens. Phew. Next up- Crete.
