We felt like we stepped into the history of ancient Greece when we visited Athens. This city absolutely blew us away with the architecture, food, and culture. It is the capital and the largest city in Greece. We will show you how to make the most out of your time in Athens, as we only had one day in this fabulous city.
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Transportation
- Sights of Athens: We arrived by cruise into the port of Piraeus and from there took this double decker bus (the blue one-you will see a few other ones lined up there as well). This is a GREAT way to get around the city, offering amazing (although windy) views of all the sights. Tickets were very reasonable at only 13€ per person and it is good for 2 days if you have more time to spend there than we did! The bus did include free Wi-fi so we were able to check in with our friends and family back home.
Travel Tip: If you do decide to take a cruise and use Sights of Athens double decker bus tours, make sure you give yourself a cushion and left a little bit early. Between Athens and the port of Piraeus it is a 25 minute drive. The last bus was running late because they were trying to wait for more people to come so we almost missed our cruise ship!
To-Do
The majority of what we wanted to do during the day was see the Acropolis, which houses a couple of different important temples. Tickets must be purchased in person (there is nowhere online to repurchase) and there are a few options they gave us. We ended up purchasing the “evialo combo” ticket for 30€ per person, which was a little spendy.
Looking back now, we would have only bought this ticket if we were able to take full advantage of all it included. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to see everything in Athens that this pass included, which was: Ancient Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Roman Agora, Kerameikos, the Olympieion, the Archaeological Site of Lykeion. All things considered, we would have been better off purchasing just the entrance for the Acropolis for 20€.
- Parthenon: Located on the Acropolis, this temple was built in 447 BC and dedicated to the goddess Athena. There was a lot of walking involved so we were thankful we did it first thing and had some good walking shoes.
- The Erechtheion: Located also on the Acropolis, this temple was built between 421 and 406 BC and was also dedicated to the goddess Athena. Between the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, we spent about 2 hours walking around and enjoying the great panoramic views of the city.
- Temple of Olympian Zeus: This temple is also know as the Olympieion and was built slowly between 174 BC and 131 CE. It was one of the largest ever built in the ancient world.
- Sights of Athens: We mentioned this under transportation but it was also something to do. We hopped back on the double decker bus and rode around Athens admiring the beautiful sights of the city. Since we had limited time, we decided to just enjoy some of the sights from the bus.
- Monastiraki Flea Market: We decided to do some shopping at this outside market and there were many different shops here to buy good souvenirs. We were able to find the best discounts here since many of the locals liked to bargain. The shops run down Ifestou and Pandrossou streets. It was off season when we went but this market still filled up quickly and was a little tight to get around so we were careful to watch our surroundings. After we finished up shopping we went over to Monastiraki Square and people watched for awhile. We saw how the Greeks go about their day and even had a few conversations with some locals. We also noticed the busy street of Ermou right by the square. It is very interesting just to sit back and watch this street during rush hour. We saw a lot of cars and scooters squeezing close to each other and heard a lot of Greek yelling!
Travel Tip: Beware of pickpockets and scammers at the Acropolis tour bus stop as well as in the Monastiraki Flea Market and Square. There were many people asking us to buy things such as clothes or small souvenirs. Also, there were some people trying to scam us by putting a bracelet on our hand or trying to hand us a rose. If you do take the item be prepared to get heckled for money. We have found the best practice is to ignore them and then they will not bug you. Check out our Scams and Travel Tips here.
Food
- Savvas Restaurant Monastiraki: Located close to Monastiraki Square, this kebab restaurant was a good choice for us in Athens. Savvas is one of the best restaurant in Athens and we did not have to break the bank to eat here. We started our meal off with Kesaria Pie which is Armenian pastourma, kasseri cheese, and tomato stuffed into Filo 5.50€ (A thin dough composed by pastry sheets). For our entrees we had Oriental Souvlaki 9.50€ (Chicken) and Savvas Mix 10€ (4 different types of meat).
To top our Greek meal off we had some Baklava 5€ to share. The meals were huge and very filling. Savvas also had a very professional waiting and kitchen staff who seemed to pride themselves on making delicious traditional Greek meals.
We left the city happy and had a great experience in Greece. The Greeks are very nice and warm people. We were able to hold many conversations with the locals and made new friends visiting this amazing city and country. We will most definitely be back again!
