If you are reading this blog only to follow my adventures in Israel, well, you will be frustrated until Valentine's Day. I have given myself the next two weeks to delve into Athens. So please excuse us while we go the Greek route first.
Kalimera, dear reader! That means "hello" in Greek. Getting you in the mood.
Today I spent a fun morning searching for top things Mike and I won't want to miss in Athens. How do we want to spend our time? What do we need to plan ahead? I like to prepare options, and then flex with the mood while we are there.
Mike and I are not huge museum-goers. We will visit one, and spend some time in one section or seeing two or three sections, but that's our limit. We like walking. We would rather go deep into a moment than hit all the moments shallowly. On the topic of museums, art museums seem to be particularly uninteresting to us. To one of us.
We do not like crowds. At all. (Please note that when I say "we" I could be meaning only one of us but "we" are a unit when we travel.) We don't need to see everything that is important in Athens. Don't have that compunction at all. This is vacation. Fun and soul inspiring.
We like parks and gardens. Grand architecture. Science. Understanding a place. Absorbing the culture. We like walking, then having a coffee. Then looking at something. Talking about it. Walking around it. Talking some more. Photos, love taking photos. Then walking to lunch. You get my drift?
I started with some old dependable websites. Conde Nast's Travelers' Guides (to do, to eat, to stay) are an excellent jumping off spot I think. What is on their top 10 for Athens, that meet our likes?
1. Acropolis
2. Temple of Zeus - walk Ancient Promenade from here to Monostiraki
3. Acropolis Museum
4. National Archeological Museum
5. National Gardens
6. Mount Lycabettus
Abercrombie and Kent's two day Athens tour is:
Day 1 - AM Acropolis and Acropolis Museum
Changing guards at Parliament
Walk through Plaka district, have lunch
PM Benaki or Lycabettus Hill (take funicular up, walk down)
Day 2 - AM Free
PM Cape Sounion
Temple of Poseidon at Sunset
New York Times Travel in Greece
The NYT has a good set up. They list top things to do, where to eat, where to stay... and link you to articles on most of them.
Top three things:
1. Acropolis
2. Ancient Agora
3. National Archeological Museum
Time Travel
Top Ten things to do, with links to hotels and restaurants.
1. Agora
2. Anafiotika (stroll neighborhood)
3. Acropolis
4. Acropolis Museum
5. Byzantino, in Plaka, a Greek jeweler
6. Benaki Museum, Modern Art
7. Mount Lycabettus, cafe, funicular
8. Thiseion Cinema, outside shows
9. Gazi, night life
10. Monostiraki Flea Market
Other websites new to me confirmed the above and gave a few new ideas, but I think these above are the top sites.
Reliable Fodor's organized Athens into five neighborhoods, or Places to Explore as they title it. Excellent way to organize a visit. Then they progress to more detailed descriptions on each Place to Explore. Here's a general idea of these five neighborhoods. Our hotel, Grande Bretagne, is the blue cross on the map.
The five neighborhoods are:
1.Acropolis (Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, New Acropolis Museum, Temple of Dionysus)
2. Agora / Monostiraki
3. From Central Athens to National Archeological Museum
4. Plaka and Anafiotiki, Temple of Zeus
5. Syntagma and Kolonaki (Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens, Museum of Cycladic Art, Benaki Art)
My thought process. We will have Tue, Wed, Thurs, Fri and half of Sat to explore. Tuesday should be a light day, more walking and not so much heavy duty figuring stuff out as that is our first day after flying from US. Saturday also should be a less intense day, as we fly to Israel that evening. Wed, Thurs and Fri are totally open. One of those days we could hire a tour guide to take us to Delphi or Corinth.
At this point, I say:
Tues Acropolis neighborhood (1)
Wed National Archeological Museum neighborhood (3)
Thurs Delphi or Corinth
Fri Grande Promenade (part of 2 and of 4) from Temple of Zeus past Acropolis to Agora and Monostiraki
Sat Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens (5)
So, going to mull on this for awhile. We will see some of Plaka, Anafiotiki and Syntagma walking to and from our hotel, eating dinner etc. Want to decide on Delphi or Corinth. Oh man, that's tough. Delphi the Oracle, or Corinth, Paul's home for a few years. Hm..
Kalimera, dear reader! That means "hello" in Greek. Getting you in the mood.
Today I spent a fun morning searching for top things Mike and I won't want to miss in Athens. How do we want to spend our time? What do we need to plan ahead? I like to prepare options, and then flex with the mood while we are there.
Mike and I are not huge museum-goers. We will visit one, and spend some time in one section or seeing two or three sections, but that's our limit. We like walking. We would rather go deep into a moment than hit all the moments shallowly. On the topic of museums, art museums seem to be particularly uninteresting to us. To one of us.
We do not like crowds. At all. (Please note that when I say "we" I could be meaning only one of us but "we" are a unit when we travel.) We don't need to see everything that is important in Athens. Don't have that compunction at all. This is vacation. Fun and soul inspiring.
We like parks and gardens. Grand architecture. Science. Understanding a place. Absorbing the culture. We like walking, then having a coffee. Then looking at something. Talking about it. Walking around it. Talking some more. Photos, love taking photos. Then walking to lunch. You get my drift?
 |
| Acropolis |
1. Acropolis
2. Temple of Zeus - walk Ancient Promenade from here to Monostiraki
3. Acropolis Museum
4. National Archeological Museum
5. National Gardens
6. Mount Lycabettus
 |
| Lycabettus Hill and Parthenon |
Day 1 - AM Acropolis and Acropolis Museum
Changing guards at Parliament
Walk through Plaka district, have lunch
PM Benaki or Lycabettus Hill (take funicular up, walk down)
Day 2 - AM Free
PM Cape Sounion
Temple of Poseidon at Sunset
New York Times Travel in Greece
The NYT has a good set up. They list top things to do, where to eat, where to stay... and link you to articles on most of them.
 |
| Agora |
1. Acropolis
2. Ancient Agora
3. National Archeological Museum
Time Travel
Top Ten things to do, with links to hotels and restaurants.
1. Agora
2. Anafiotika (stroll neighborhood)
3. Acropolis
4. Acropolis Museum
 |
| Anafiotika |
6. Benaki Museum, Modern Art
7. Mount Lycabettus, cafe, funicular
8. Thiseion Cinema, outside shows
9. Gazi, night life
10. Monostiraki Flea Market
Other websites new to me confirmed the above and gave a few new ideas, but I think these above are the top sites.
Reliable Fodor's organized Athens into five neighborhoods, or Places to Explore as they title it. Excellent way to organize a visit. Then they progress to more detailed descriptions on each Place to Explore. Here's a general idea of these five neighborhoods. Our hotel, Grande Bretagne, is the blue cross on the map.
The five neighborhoods are:1.Acropolis (Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, New Acropolis Museum, Temple of Dionysus)
2. Agora / Monostiraki
3. From Central Athens to National Archeological Museum
4. Plaka and Anafiotiki, Temple of Zeus
5. Syntagma and Kolonaki (Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens, Museum of Cycladic Art, Benaki Art)
My thought process. We will have Tue, Wed, Thurs, Fri and half of Sat to explore. Tuesday should be a light day, more walking and not so much heavy duty figuring stuff out as that is our first day after flying from US. Saturday also should be a less intense day, as we fly to Israel that evening. Wed, Thurs and Fri are totally open. One of those days we could hire a tour guide to take us to Delphi or Corinth.
At this point, I say:
Tues Acropolis neighborhood (1)
Wed National Archeological Museum neighborhood (3)
Thurs Delphi or Corinth
Fri Grande Promenade (part of 2 and of 4) from Temple of Zeus past Acropolis to Agora and Monostiraki
Sat Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens (5)
So, going to mull on this for awhile. We will see some of Plaka, Anafiotiki and Syntagma walking to and from our hotel, eating dinner etc. Want to decide on Delphi or Corinth. Oh man, that's tough. Delphi the Oracle, or Corinth, Paul's home for a few years. Hm..
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