After a lengthy trip to Athens from New York via London on budget carriers Norwegian Air and EasyJet, we checked in to our downtown Airbnb apartment and set out for a late (11:30pm) dinner at Atitamos, a classic Greek taverna. Hungry from a cummulative 10.5 hours of flight, we started our trip with Greek salad, spicy eggplant dip, tzatziki, fried zucchini, grilled haloumi cheese, lemon and thyme roasted chicken, and a carafe of Greek red wine. We had complimentary baklava and mestika, a light, slightly sweet digestif. On our busy street, we also had a taste of frozen Greek yogurt with honey from Lukumades, a dessert café named after the eponymous Greek donuts. Suffice to say, we were stuffed and happy by the time we went to bed at 1am, ready for two whirlwind days of sightseeing. Our first full day began with a walking tour of Athens, introducing us to the city’s history, culture, and ancient sights. Following a lunch of fresh chicken gyros, we visited the Museum of Cycladic Art, an uncrowded and exceptional collection of antiquities. The detailed and informative explanations were welcome after typically vague museum descriptions in China. We walked through the graffiti-filled and alternative (i.e. abound with anarchist and communist posters) neighborhood of Exarchia. Dinner was at Atlantikos, a seafood restaurant where we ate Greek salad, grilled seabass, shrimp pasta, and bread with white wine. Today, we enjoyed Athens’s incredible ancient history, starting with the Agora. The Agora was a public meeting place, legislative and judicial center, and neighborhood for citizens of ancient Athens. We had souvlaki on grilled pita for lunch at O Kostas, a famous joint operating since 1950. Then, we walked through the colorful, charming Plaka neighborhood to the Acropolis museum, where we got an introduction to Athens’s most famous site. We stopped to take a break for Greek coffee and orange pie at Lotte Café-Bistrot, recharging from our jetlag and intense pace. At the Acropolis, we saw the incredible Theater of Dionysus and Odeon of Herodes Atticus, two well-preserved ancient theaters, with VIP seating still intact. Crowning the Acropolis, most famously, is the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, overlooking the whole of Athens. We enjoyed seeing the incredible ruins in the late afternoon light, then headed back through the cobbled, flower-lined streets of Plaka to Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani, a restaurant specializing in pastourma (Greek pastrami) and mezes (dips). Mashed oniony fava beans, smoked eggplant and paprika salad, stuffed grape leaves, fried Sachanaki cheese, cured meats and cheeses, and fruity red wine made for a delicious and filling meal. We had fresh yogurt and honey at Spani, a bakery founded in 1931, and took home some baklava for breakfast on our balcony tomorrow. We are headed out in the morning for Delphi and Meteora, north of Athens on the Greek mainland.
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September 2018
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