Athens visit

There was a bunch of stuff I didn’t have time to do last time I was in Athens, and sadly I didn’t tick off everything from my list this time either, but I did squeeze in a few important things. You can only get so much into three days!

After arriving on the train from Thessaloniki, I jumped onto the metro to take me to Syntagma Square. The apartment I’d booked was just off the square, so an amazing location. I was pretty tired after the warm train trip, so I had a rest in the afternoon and headed out for a walk in the evening, visiting the National Garden and wandering down into Plaka. I found out that the Summer Movies festival was happening, but since the first session each night started at 9pm or later, it ended up being too late for me, even though one of the outdoor theatres was right in the National Garden.

My first full day was full! I started with a walking tour (Athens Food on Foot) which ended up being two groups of ~12 people, so we trod on the toes of the first group a few times. We had a good variety of foods to taste, although the first few were all non-GF, like koulouri, filo pastry pies and other pastries. Some highlights were: Mastiha-infused water, coffee with turkish delight, meat skewers, and my ultimate favourite: a visit to the cheese shop. Yum!

That was followed up by a mosaic workshop, using Greek marble. Unlike the regular glass tesserae I’ve used for mosaics before, this was using irregular chunks of marble and pressing it into thick glue in situ, rather than glueing each piece down and then needing to grout. I made a (slightly wonky) fish design which has lots of “character”, and had a great time chatting with my instructor.

Tired from the day of activities, I slept in a little before the next walking tour, this one focusing on the suburb of Exarchia. We met up with Constantine, a wonderful guide who’d even gone to the effort of sourcing some GF treats – spinach pie, a donut and a koulouri. We also wandered past a deli, a sweet shop, stopped at a taverna for a couple of traditional dishes (the slow cooked chick peas were to die for – trust me!) and had juice and coffee (separately) while we explored the bookshops and and music shops in the area. A really interesting place, especially given how much graffiti is in the area and what an off-putting vibe it gives.

My last full day was spent visiting Delphi. somewhere I’d regretted not visiting before. I booked an organised day trip where I was picked up, schlepped out to Delphi and then handed over to a different guide to tell us about the site, then brought back again after lunch. The museum was great and we saw some amazing items like the sphinx statue that had been up on a column, a bronze statue of a charioteer and various intricate friezes. Then out into the heat to visit the site. I was thankful I’d brought an umbrella to act as a parasol, but it was still ridiculously hot and lots of steps to get up to the Temple of Apollo where the Oracle had been installed to hear the prophecies, and see the small theatre above it.

Lunch was at a taverna recommended by our guide, with a great view over the valley. The food was pretty good too, and I took the opportunity to have a slow cooked goat dish with local greens. Then we headed back to Athens, and almost everyone on the bus dozed off.

I needed to go collect my now-dry mosaic masterpiece, so I headed off for a walk to also find some dinner, stopping for some grilled octopus and fries. Then it was packing and tidying as it was an early train to catch my flight to Stockholm the next day. While I’d prefer it wasn’t 40C when I’m there, I do enjoy Greece: the ancient monuments, the people who work hard to make sure tourists like me have a good time, and of course, the food.