Wonderful. Our trip was wonderful! I have to admit to some trepidation as we were planning this trip. Despite Jamie's company defraying some of the cost, an international trip for four is not an inexpensive endeavor. I wondered often if the girls would truly appreciate it. Would they understand the history? Would they be bored? Would the jet-lag overwhelm them? Would they have the stamina to run around and see all the sites I had planned for us? Would the limo ride to the airport be the best part?
Getting There
I was very pleasantly surprised by what good travelers the girls turned out to be. There was little to no whining or complaining and the girls were up for every adventure I had planned for them.
Maddie was accurate about the flight. It's a loooooong way and by the end of the journey, everyone just wants to get off that plane. But we each had a stack of books and a stash of snacks to ease the trip. Our hotel was on the outskirts of Athens. The good news: it was beautiful and right on the water over-looking the Mediterranean Sea. The bad news: it was 45 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic to get into down town Athens. In the end, we loved it and it felt like a good trade off. Had we stayed down town, we could have avoided the extra shuttle ride everyday, but we would have missed the seeing the incredible sites on the coast where the hotel was located.
Going to the Dogs (and cats)
I am not sure what Athens municipal policy on stray animals is, but is safe to assume it's more liberal than what I am used to in the U.S. Everywhere we went during our stay, there were stray dogs and cats dozing in the sun and under tables. The girls were thrilled! Both are passionate animal lovers and stopped frequently to pet as many as possible. Jamie and I tried to discourage them, but despite Jenny's memory that we didn't let her pet them, both girls managed to get their hands on dozens of stray pets each day.
Here are some high lights from the trip as well as some tips for anyone planning a trip to Greece.
The Plaka
The Plaka is the downtown marketplace. It is something of a tourist trap, but as
tourist traps go, it is absolutely charming. I've been to many touristy places in my life and most are filled with ridiculous plastic objects and there is very little variation from shop to shop.
Not the case here. We found so many wonderful shops filled with lovely clothing, jewelry, shoes and hand-made items. There was junk too, but even that was fun. Every shop offered a collection of plastic miniature replicas of the most common Greek gods and goddesses. We ended up purchasing a classic pair of Greek leather sandals for the twins (I am still wishing I had purchased a pair for myself!) and several "evil eye" charms made from venetian glass and silver...earrings for Jen and a necklace for Mads. Greece is a very superstitious country, and many locals still believe the evil eye wards off evil.
This area of Athens was charming. The streets are cobblestone and wind so unpredictably that I was concerned we might never make it back to our hotel. The area is dotted with small, family owned restaurants and fountains. And then you look up and suddenly, there it is...
The Acropolis
It is stunning how the Acropolis rises right out of the middle of Athens, hundreds of feet into the sky, capped by the Parthenon and all its history. We looked up and saw it many times the first day, but waited until day 2 to visit it so Jamie could be with us. On the 2nd day, our primary goal was to visit this incredible landmark and one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.
There is one main gate located next to the new Acropolis Museum, but without a tour guide, we didn't know about that. And I am so grateful, because had we known, we would have missed our own private adventure. We ended up trekking up the side of the Acropolis, through a sort of residential neighborhood, built right into the side of the mountain. I was most amused by the signage. Here we are, walking towards the Acropolis, one of the wonders of the world and the single greatest tourist attraction in Greece, and here is a picture of the official directional signs to guide you on your way.
Hilarious. And not particularly helpful at times. But totally charming. We ended up climbing to the top on a far less traveled path and had a much richer experience as a result. When we finally summitted the steep hillside, we joined the rest of the hundreds of tourists who had entered via the main gate. It was crowded and somewhat dangerous, yet stunning from every angle. In the US, every national treasure is heavily guarded, surrounded by glass or rope, with painstaking effort taken to ensure the safety of the tourists and accompanied by brochures and signs to explain exactly the details and history of the site you are visiting. Um, not the case here.
We wound our way up the steep steps with not a guardrail in sight. Jamie and I marveled about how many tourist must fall every day on the way up. The girls opted to skip the steps altogether and scamper up the rocks on the side. There are virtually no guards at the Parthenon, only a few college students with whistles. Jump on a 2000 year old treasure and get carted off to jail??? Nope. But someone will blow a whistle at you!
There are no signs, no barricades, no brochures. In a way, it's very refreshing. I was amazed by the sheer volume of marble remains...so much that often it is just piled up around the base of a temple and partitioned off by a single thin rope. There are dozens and dozens of Ionic and Corinthian capitals stacked in pallets as if to say, "Look! We have so much history here we just have to stack up the extra in a corner! Please don't stick it in your purse and walk off with it." (Oh that I could have carted one of those home to put in my garden!)
We spent about an hour at the top, examining Athena temple and the other smaller structures and then made our way back down to the museum area. It was incredible to see such an amazing intersection of history and architecture and I was pleased that the girls seemed to enjoy it and soak it all in, even though they did try to pet all the stray dogs on the way up and down : )
More to come! Stay tuned...
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