Athens - A View to A Ruin
A journey through time in a place that blends the ancient world with the modern city
A highlight was of course the Acropolis, which we could see from pretty much anywhere in the city. This fulfilled my beloved’s childhood dream - on his actual birthday - but so much of Athens has historical and cultural significance.
We first saw the Acropolis in the dark during our initial city exploration, then the next day from the M&S Cafe of all places. The most spectacular sightings came while having an excellent birthday dinner at the Radisson Blu. And on our last night at the Intercontinental, enjoying our traditional rooftop holiday cocktails. Well, I had a glass of wine because I would have chosen only the Old Fashioned cocktail on the menu and the birthday boy selected that. Plus cocktails were 21 euros which was a shock to the system as everywhere else, Athens was pretty affordable.
I also loved seeing the original place of the Olympics, the Panathenaic Stadium, which you can see from the outside so need to pay to go in. Athens has maximised its amazing ancient sights and built the city around them.
Seeing oranges and/or lemons growing in the city centre was a wonderful sight and walking past the sandals shop that Richard Ayoade had gone to with Dawn French for the Travel Man programme was a hilarious coincidence. I make a mental note to re-watch those before I go away. (I won’t though).
Other dinners at Artemis, Bandiera, and Indian Chef (where the locals seemingly go) are all good. We also made time for a proper lunch at Quick Pitta to give us the energy to climb to the Acropolis and also at Santa Pasta when we trekked out to the beach at Piraeus. Worth doing on the tram just to see the view.
The coffees started at Tate where we managed to grab the only 2 seats while it looked like rain, Dope, a big well-known roaster and one of my favourites, Tailor Made where nearly all the seating was outside. This seems fairly standard in Athens, where I guess most of the year, it is fine to sit outside. It was mostly high teens and dry when we went in late November. Warm enough to sit outside and have ice cream from Oggi.
My favourite coffee experience happened by chance. My sister had been in the city a couple of weeks before and had lost her keys. We walked the 5 minutes to her hotel after breakfast on Friday to enquire (they didn’t have them) and this sent us in the direction of Myller, which was in the neighbourhood we’d had dinner in previously. We sat in a square with outdoor seating, next to a Buddhist temple, a church, and a bar about to open. The best part was that someone had brought their dog along for coffee, which made the experience even more enjoyable.
The shopping is great in Athens with lots of high-street action and many indies including the Little Pottery Co we made a special trip to and bought a couple of trinkets for the bookshelf - one a festive snowman.
Athens is a great blend of culture and history and yet so modern with ample public transport options to get you around the hills and see the stunning views.
November 2023
