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A Greek Holiday
Insights from history-soaked Athens, Greece
Dec. 17, 2023 5:45 am
At the end of October, I traveled to the Balkans with my partner and his parents to watch his brother compete in the U23 World Wrestling Championship in Tirana, Albania. In the days ahead of the competition, we took an hourlong flight to Athens, Greece, to pack in two and a half days of sightseeing. When planning the trip, we asked ChatGPT to build an itinerary of must-see places in Athens, which we cherry-picked activities from.
Our Airbnb was located in the Plaka District, minutes from the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum and many restaurants and shops. We did not rent a car because everything was within walking distance. Our Airbnb host left us a welcome gift of Ouzo, which is a liquor flavor with anise or fennel seed and made from grape must. It is considered the national drink of Greece.
The Plaka District is a center of tourist activities so buskers sprinkle themselves along the streets. I loved the musician buskers. Many of them played instruments I had never seen in-person before, like an oud and a hammered dulcimer.
The Acropolis and Acropolis Museum
My favorite experience in Athens was touring the Acropolis Museum. We viewed hundreds of artifacts and the ruins of a city dating back to Roman and early Byzantine Athens.
The area of Acropolis was first settled in 3000 B.C. toward the end of the Neolithic period. From 1600-1100 B.C. people lived in groups on the summit and slopes. The first area you encounter in the Acropolis museum was designed to mimic traveling up a slope — as if you won’t get enough slopes and stairs walking around Athens.
We toured the Acropolis the morning before our flight back to Tirana, which helped us avoid large crowds. I was grateful to have toured the museum before this experience. It helped to put things in perspective.
Atop the Acropolis, you have a front-row seat to the ongoing restoration of the Parthenon. In 1687, the Parthenon was severely damaged during a Venetian bombardment. This caused the roof to collapse and damage to pillars. During our visit, we watched the placing of a piece on the top of the Parthenon. It’s an incredible puzzle to put back together.
Restorers aim to use original marble pieces wherever possible but these pieces are scattered across Acropolis and beyond. The pieces of collected marble stored on the Acropolis mainly come from the monuments but some pieces are from the city of Athens. Missing pieces of Parthenon have been replaced with new pieces of marble that is painstakingly cut by hand. The new additions are easy to identify by their cool gray color.
On our way down the slopes, we passed by amphitheaters and stone carved to honor gods and nymphs in 300 B.C.
One free experience we enjoyed was climbing up Areopagus Hill to watch the sunset. This was a suggestion from ChatGPT. The hill is located near Acropolis and to reach it you have to climb a lot of steps. Getting to the top of Areopagus was tricky as the rocks are slippery and there are no railings. Unfortunately, there also is litter and broken glass along the rocks.
Finally, the Panathenaic stadium is a great, cheap experience. We paid about $20 for two adults to enter the historic Olympic stadium. You can run along the track, sit in the seats and head up the tunnel inside the stadium to view a small collection of Olympic torches. Because the stadium is so large, it is not very crowded and provides ample space for photos.
Greek Food
My partner’s mom has Celiac’s, which can limit her options when eating out. Thankfully, every restaurant we ate at had 90 percent to 100 percent of their menu gluten-free. The food was fresh and the servings were large. It seemed like every restaurant squeezed or pulverized fruit into juice to order — although I was a bit shocked when my pulpy apple juice came with the peel mixed in.
While Uzo is a popular liquor offering, we were served the pine flavored liquor Mastika to conclude our meal at Arcadia, a restaurant on the stretch of restaurants across from the Acropolis museum. It had a pleasant, sappy flavor but a bite at the end.
My partner’s parents enjoyed Athens’ oldest distillery, Brettos. There you can sample ouzo, brandy and other liquors in front of a beautiful backdrop of rainbow bottles.
You can get traditional dishes like moussaka, gyros and souvlaki at almost any restaurant in the city though I would suggest eating at Lyra. This is where I enjoyed freshly grilled octopus, incredible seasoned pita, light tzatziki and a savory, juicy gyro stacked as tall as my head. It was my favorite meal of the trip.
We ate on a narrow patio between two buildings while live musicians performed. My only issue was that our table was on a steep slope and I almost fell out of my chair while leaning to take a picture. Our four-person meal with drinks and appetizers cost 142.50 Euros, or about $150.
Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com
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