Planning a trip to Athens? In this episode, we share our Athens itinerary, including the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Ancient Agora, Greek food tour, Plaka neighborhood, Aegina Island day trip, Lake Vouliagmeni, and practical travel tips for transportation, tickets, and budgeting in Greece.
If you want to take this exact trip, download our 3 Day Athens Itinerary and if you plan on visiting the islands check out our 9 Day Greece Itinerary!
Athens, Greece Episode Highlights:
- Download an E-sim before you arrive
- Small Group Greek Traditional Food Tour in Athens 20+ Tastings
- Aegina Island Daytrip
- Delphi Daytrip
- Lake Vouliagmeni Thermal Spa And Temple Of Poseidon Tour
- More Greece Activities & Tours for all activities we recommend and even some that we wanted to do but couldn’t get to.
Our top recommended hotels in Athens:
Check out our Greece Activities & Tours for all activities we recommend and even some that we wanted to do but couldn’t get to.
We have many other Greece episodes, listen to a few to extend your trip throughout this beautiful country: 1 Week in Greece, Mykonos Wellness Retreat.
Find a great flight deal to Athens with Thrifty Traveler’s Premium Subscription. You’ll get flight (and hotel!) deals sent straight to your inbox. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.
4 Days in Athens, Greece – Episode Transcript
0:34
Insurance and get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.
Hello fellow travelers.
Hey, squaddies.
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.
Today we’re taking you to Athens, Greece.
Brittany and I spent five days in Athens.
0:51
This is a continuation of our trip that we took when we went to Turkey.
Now originally we were supposed to go to Lebanon and visit family that I have out there, go visit again, Kim.
That was a squad trip in 2020.
We all had a great time out there, but unfortunately the current situation going going on in that part of the world made us have to cancel and pivot.
1:12
And so since we already had the time off requested for work, we were in Turkey.
We said where are we going to go?
That’s close by someplace that we want to go haven’t been.
And we landed on Athens, Greece.
And Kim, I know you love Greece a lot of the time that you’re out there because you’ve been there multiple times, really island oriented.
1:29
Of course you are in Athens too.
But we utilized Athens as a hub for five days, spent time there, and of course took a couple day trips outside of Athens just as well.
So we’re here to tell you all about that.
Yeah, I was surprised when you said that you were pivoting your trip to Greece, that you were only going to do Athens, because I do love Athens.
1:49
I think it’s a wonderful blend of crazy history that is so cool to see in person and really cool modern culture and great food.
But like the islands of Greece are the islands of Greece.
Well, we took a day trip to an island of Greece, but outside of Athens, right, We didn’t go to Mykonos or Santorini and they’re.
2:08
Not that hard to get to from Athens either.
They aren’t.
But when we did this pivot, of course, it was kind of last minute.
Not to say that we couldn’t have finagled something together, but really, then again, it wasn’t necessarily too cumbersome.
But we just decided, all right, instead of really having us dedicate like one day to travel and then another day back because we got to get to the Athens airport to fly back home, we’re like, we’re just going to utilize Athens as a hub.
2:33
So that’s exactly what we did.
And in fairness, I will agree, I think 5 days as a whole in Athens is a lot.
I wouldn’t necessarily do it again, but I still enjoyed our time and it was nice because of course we did Turkey 1st and so we’re at the tail end of our trip here.
2:48
And it was nice to just really do things at leisure without a rush and have a lot of time of just downtime, but still exploring the city and doing things.
Part of the situation and what made our decision was one of the days that we were going to be there was a holiday in Greece and public transportation shuts down that day and there’s not a lot going on.
3:08
So so we were just like, you know what, we’ll just use Athens as a hub, do some day trips and make the most out of it.
And then when we come back, maybe we’ll do a Greece Islands cruise or just go and visit the islands itself since we feel like we have now done all of Athens.
3:24
So I think it’s still great to do.
Is five days a lot in Athens?
Like do you need that much time?
You definitely don’t if you’re not going to do these day trips, but I enjoyed what we did.
So, and you said it to Kim, like Athens is a great city, has a a lot of cool ancient history, but also some modern culture as well and has really great landmarks, obviously the Acropolis, the Barthenon, but you get to walk through thousands of years of history and still experience a vibrant European capital.
3:53
Yeah.
So a little bit about Athens before we get into the tips here for you guys.
Athens, most of us do know, is a place where ancient history and modern culture come together.
Brittany, you kind of already alluded to that, but it is known as the birth place of democracy and philosophy, home to the iconic landmarks such as the Acropolis and Parthenon.
4:14
But beyond the ancient ruins, the city is filled with lively neighborhoods, rooftop restaurants with the Acropolis views.
Kim, I remember when we’re doing our Grease episodes in the past when you went, you talked about how seeing the Acropolis from a rooftop bar lit up at night almost brought a tear to your eye, just like the rhino did to me when we went on our first safari.
4:33
I wouldn’t say it brought a tear to my eye, but it was a really fun experience.
Never the less, you have bustling markets, incredible Greek food and cafe culture, so Athens really is a city to be explored and enjoyed.
Squatty’s I know you’re going to want to go to Athens and it is a major airline hub.
4:51
So I do want to remind you about Thrifty Travelers premium subscription service that alerts you of really good flight deals, both cash and points.
They also have a hotel deals now, so if you sign up for that, you can get alerted of really great deals coming into the Athens airport from wherever you’re flying to.
5:08
Another good tip is you can reposition yourself to another nearby airport from your home airport.
Anyway, you can check that out more at thriftytraveler.com/premium.
And if you want to sign up for that premium subscription, use our promo code TSP.
You will get $20 off that first year subscription.
5:26
So let’s dive right into the tips.
First tip is the currency in Greece is the euro.
They are on the euro.
We did have cash, but the good news is most every place does accept credit cards.
So we used it sparingly, mostly for tips when we did our day tours and things like that.
5:43
But I do want to say be cautious.
If you are there and going to pull out money from an ATM, do not use euro Nets.
Euro Nets are private ATMs, they’re not from banks, so they do have high markup, fees, conversions, etcetera.
So you’re really going to get the worst rate.
6:00
And I guess this is good for Greece, but anywhere in Europe.
Do not use a Euronet ATM.
Try to find one from a bank.
The official language in Greece is Greek, but we didn’t have any issues getting around speaking English and all of our guides and everyone we came across spoke English as well.
6:15
Athens has excellent public transportation, combination of metros and buses making it very easy to get around the city.
The great news is and what I really loved about Greece too, is for a country being on the euro, things are relatively inexpensive as in comparison to places like France or Germany for that matter, right?
6:34
Transportation is capped at 4 point €10 per day.
So you can use your credit card as a tap on, tap off system capped at 410 per day and you do have a 90 minute window.
6:50
So say for example, you take the metro, then you need to catch a bus, you tap onto the bus, but you’re not going to be charged.
So any that you do within 90 minutes of that first tap is counted as one fare.
They also have rideshares like Uber and Free Now that are available in Athens, but they’ll connect you with licensed local taxi drivers rather than traditional rideshare drivers and we did use that while we were there I.
7:13
Remember when I got picked up from the Athens airport?
The man was just this old Greek man chain smoke cigarettes the whole drive to the hotel.
Oh.
Nice.
They like to smoke cigarettes in Athens they.
Definitely do and we did not have anybody smoking when we took our taxi, but our taxi back to the airport when we were leaving, it did smell of it.
7:36
It was tough to say.
Was it from our female driver?
Was it just from people who had been in the car?
But yes, I guess that is also a good tip if you are adverse to the smell of cigarette smoke.
Just expect it when you’re there is probably like any other place in Europe or traveling internationally outside the United States.
7:53
Sig and enjoy like win in Greece that’s.
Just a norm of everyday life outside of America.
People smoke, guys.
OK, so.
While we were there, and I know this has changed a little bit since you had gone Kim, but a lot of the Athens historic sites now have online ticket reservations and some of them require a time slot.
8:11
So it’s important to book some of these ahead, especially for the Acropolis because you want to visit the Acropolis first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds, the heat and all of that.
We did find though that not necessarily every site do you have to book one online in advance.
8:27
There were times that we were like, OK, let’s leave this kind of flexible and booked online once we got there to bypass the ticket line and didn’t have to commit to a timed entry.
So just keep that in mind.
Yeah, a lot of places now too, of course, they will have a traditional ticket window, but so many people were not using the QR code that was just posted up with multiple signs that you could buy your ticket in advance or right there on the spot, I should say.
8:52
And then you you can just get in.
So you bypass the ticket line and you bypass the line, so to speak, to get in that everybody who just bought a ticket is going and they have a separate line at most places if you utilize the purchase for the QR code in the moment.
So definitely do that.
9:08
Don’t wait in line.
And the last tip, I kind of mentioned this when I said Greece is a very affordable country in comparison to a lot of other European countries that are on the euro.
But food in Athens is very affordable.
Coming off of our trip to Turkey, I was was shocked at how expensive food was compared to what I thought it was going to be.
9:28
And food in Athens was substantially cheaper than what it was in Turkey.
So you can eat a lot of really good food very inexpensively while here in Athens.
One thing I did notice about Grace, a lot of places in Europe, but getting your check at the end of your dining out experience is difficult.
9:45
You really have to try to get their attention.
They take a long time to bring it to you.
That’s.
Very true.
And again, a lot of European places are like that.
But I feel like now that you say that, Kim, I did notice it struggled to get the check, struggled to get their attention even when I asked.
Sometimes it would take another 10 minutes for them to even bring it to me after asking.
10:03
So just know that when you’re sitting down, things move a lot slow.
So Jamal had mentioned that we went to Greece after we went to Turkey.
So we actually flew from Cappadocia to Istanbul, had a layover and then from Istanbul to Athens, all on Turkish Airways.
10:21
We left Cappadocia at around 10:30 and landed in Athens around 3:00 PM.
We decided to take the metro from the airport.
It took about an hour to get from the airport to our hotel.
We only had to switch lines once, but if I were to do it again I would just get a taxi.
10:39
That was a mistake to do.
A lot of times when we go to Europe, we will take the metro from the airport, especially if they do have a connecting metro at the airport, right.
I did not realize how inexpensive taxi fares were.
They’re actually capped from the airport to city center and from city center to the airport at a very reasonable rate.
10:59
I think it was no more than what?
They said 45 to 50 U.S. dollars.
So honestly, not too bad.
Of course you can do it a lot cheaper.
If you take the metro it will take about an hour.
But after doing that the first time, we decided we were going to take a taxi back.
So you have either option, but the taxis for how far it is to get to the city center relatively affordable.
11:21
We stayed at the Athenaeum Intercontinent by IHG and we booked 32 night back-to-back stays.
So two of the bookings were through the Chase edit and we ended up getting $100 property credit, $250 credit for each booking.
11:36
So we got $500 off total for for the days free daily breakfast and the breakfast would have been €38 a person per day if we paid out of pocket.
We did get a room upgrade and we ended up getting 600 IHG points.
And how was the breakfast?
11:53
Breakfast was really good.
It was a nice breakfast buffet.
They had an egg station where you can get omelets.
They also had another menu that you could order from.
So one day we got eggs Benedict, which wasn’t part of the breakfast buffet, and then they had a coffee station as well.
12:09
They had some really good like lattes, espressos, and other specialty things you could order.
And this is all on top of the actual breakfast buffet with your staples of the eggs, potatoes, pancakes, waffles, pastries, fruit.
12:24
Greek yogurt.
Yeah, all of that.
It was really good.
I don’t know if I would pay €38 per day for it, but since it came included with all of our stays booking through the Chase Edit program.
And then we of course did book through the Capital One as well because we had our travel credit still to use on that.
12:43
And of course they gave us $100 property credit for that stay just as well.
So we really kind of travel hacked this one and raked in good savings on the hotel stay.
Great hotel, great location, all those added extras that they gave us.
It is a little outside of the main area.
12:59
Like if we were to stay again and we weren’t to use the Edit hotel, I would stay in the Placa neighborhood.
But this did have easy transportation with buses, with the metro.
It was walkable.
So I’m glad we did just because we had a lot of perks and things like that.
13:15
But if you’re not going to use those perks and things and you wanted to stay closer, then I would stay in the Placa neighborhood.
So again, we landed around 2:50.
This was actually the longest time it took an immigration.
When we landed somewhere in a long time.
It took us about an hour to go through the line.
13:30
So by the time that we got through customs and immigration, took the metro to our hotel, got checked in and settled in.
Coming off of Turkey, you know, this is one of the few times we did not hit the ground running.
We actually decided to relax, stay in the hotel, and we utilized some of our resort credit that they gave us for one of the stays of the $100 just to eat at the restaurant in the hotel.
13:54
We ended up splitting a Greek salad.
Britney loves Greek salad.
When in Greece you got to get it.
She wanted to get it right away.
We got it.
We got a euro meat plate that came with French fries, some great tzatziki, and we got a Basque cheesecake.
14:09
So we just stayed in and utilized our credit and just relaxed that day and evening.
And upon check in, they gave us free drink vouchers.
Oh yes.
And so Jamal got a beer, I got a wine, and we just made it an early night.
How early?
Probably like 9 or 10.
14:24
OK, that’s.
Not, that’s not that crazy.
No, it’s not.
Too crazy.
And again, coming off the trip, that’s why we really didn’t want to go out to explore.
We knew we were going to have a lot of time.
So we’re like, let’s just take it at leisure and enjoy the hotel property and amenities credit that they were giving us.
Squaties, we do have an itinerary for Greece.
14:42
I have been here to Athens before, so we have a full week itinerary for Greece that goes to some of the islands as well.
We are working on a just Athens specific itinerary.
You know it will be ready for you by the time this episode comes out.
You can always find the links to that in the show notes or at shoptravelsquad.com and you can download that right away.
15:02
Take this exact same trip.
So the next morning was Thursday April 30th and we went down, had breakfast at the breakfast buffet and then we wanted to do the Acropolis of Athens.
I had booked tickets for 8:00 AM and like we mentioned in the tips, if you were to book one thing online, make sure you book this in advance because they do have the time to entry tickets.
15:26
They’re €30 per person.
And it now includes the Parthenon and Slope, so the North Slope and the South slope, and we’ll get into that.
And it’s definitely worth it to go first thing in the morning.
Yeah.
You definitely want to get there first thing in the morning for the main reason why we mentioned in the tips one.
15:42
This is the most popular tourist attraction that there is in Athens going to the Acropolis and Parthenon.
So you want to get there before the crowds in general.
And obviously for photos, if you’re really concerned about taking photos, not having as many people in it.
And depending on what time of year that you go, Athens can be very hot and humid.
16:01
It is on the Mediterranean.
So going early in the morning, it’s going to be the coolest that there is for you, you.
Actually went at 8:00 AM and you want to get there a little bit early.
And by the time we got there it was like 75°, but it’s all sun exposed and it was really hot.
16:16
And you’re going up the hill too, to get to the Acropolis.
So just keep that in mind.
Like I wore a dress and I was super glad that I did because it would have gotten really toasty that day.
When I did that little trek up there, had my hair down, and by the time I started walking around the Acropolis, I had to put it back in a braid because it was just too humid and sweaty.
16:35
That’s.
Exactly how it is.
So a little bit about the Acropolis.
The Acropolis is a fortified hill that overlooks Athens.
If you’ve seen any image of Athens, you know it.
It’s has the Parthenon Temple on the top of the hill.
But what the Acropolis is, is actually the entire fortified hill and ancient city area during classic Greek time.
16:56
So the Parthenon, just for clarification, is the temple dedicated to Athena, which is the namesake of the city on the top, and the Acropolis is the surrounding hill area.
This whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
So first thing we did is you rush up that hill, you go and see the Parthenon, and then we were like, OK, well, this says it includes the slopes, so let’s go check out the slopes.
17:19
So first, did you do the slopes while you were there, Kim?
I did the slopes.
Yeah.
I wasn’t really impressed with the North Slope, to be quite honest.
It is a quieter side with some sacred sites, but they’re not well preserved on this side.
And while we were there, at least the north slope and the South slope didn’t touch, there was some construction going on.
17:40
So we went down, did the north slope, and then we had to go all the way back up to get to the South slope.
But if you were to do only one slope, I would say do the South slope.
Yeah, the South Slope 1 is better.
And two, it actually has the Amphitheatre too, that you can actually see on the north slope.
17:58
There’s not really too much.
The South slope, again, would be the better one to do for you.
But at the same time, you can see the amphitheater from the outside too.
Before you get in, you could look in.
You can see it.
So when you just do the South slope, once you’re done seeing the Parthenon at the top of the hill, you really just get an elevated view, which is cool to see.
18:19
So we continued on down that way and exited a different way than we came in because they have one main entrance you could get in from other way, but the South slope exited us out another way.
The South slope actually exits you really close to the Acropolis Museum, so we decided to do that next and cool down a little bit.
18:36
It’s about €20 a person.
This is 1 where you could book this in advance at a time slot, but we decided to just book it with AQR code right when we walked up to it and we were able to walk right in.
Don’t know if that’s different, You know, peak season in the summer.
We were kind of on shoulder season, so just keep that in mind.
18:54
But it was a good cool down.
It’s a modern architectural masterpiece that houses artifacts discovered on the Acropolis.
There’s sculptures, there’s paintings.
It’s a really cool building and design.
There’s like glass floors and open spaces, so you can actually see the ruins beneath you, which is actually a Museum of itself.
19:14
And your ticket to the museum gets you down into that area.
Yeah.
Can when you went did they have this open?
Because my understanding is it’s relatively new.
Or if it was open, did you even go?
Which part?
The Acropolis Museum.
Yes, it’s been open for quite a while and it’s really cool that the fact that you can see the ruins down below.
19:32
I think for that reason alone you want to go in there.
Yeah, because again, it’s a city of literally thousands of years of history.
So this modern building is built on top of an excavation site, so you could see old artifacts and temple areas, things like that.
And then even when you’re in the building, it has the glass bottom, so you could see down below.
19:52
And of course, there’s a separate entry area where you could walk the actual excavation site just as well.
But if you didn’t go do the excavation site, you can see it down below through the glass floor.
So really unique.
Cool.
From the museum, we decided to visit the ancient Agora of Athens.
20:08
This is another one where they sell the time tickets online, but we decided to buy upon arrival.
The line to get in was huge.
It probably would have taken us at least 3045 minutes if we were to wait in line for tickets, but we just used the QR code and got to skip that line and walk right in.
20:24
Yeah.
And if you’re unsure what the Agora is, if you’re familiar or ever been to Rome and the Colosseum, the famous Roman forum that’s right by it, you could imagine the ancient Agora of Athens is exactly like that.
This is the area where most everybody live, socialized shops, etcetera.
20:41
So this is really the communal city center that isn’t part of the temple complex on the Acropolis Hill.
It is quite a large site and there is a temple there that is pretty well preserved that reminded us of the Parthenon, and you can actually see the the Acropolis from the Agora while you’re standing down there.
20:59
I did not go to this when I went to Athens.
It’s one of my regrets from being there.
I did see it.
We had done a sunset little experience up on the hill by the Acropolis and you could see it poking out in the trees down below and it’s really cool.
It does look really big, but I wish I would have got to walk amongst it.
21:16
Honestly, I feel like that temple that they have here in the Agora is better preserved in the Parthenon.
Obviously they’re doing reconstruction work, so to speak, and putting pieces back together.
And unfortunately when we were here, they did have like scaffolding and a crane up.
So it wasn’t just the the temple, right obstructed down here in the agora.
21:36
I would say that was the best thing about it.
It’s better preserved, still more intact.
But honestly, other than that temple, I’m just having really good photo spots of the hill.
Yes they do have some ancient sites and artifacts and a couple statues to see, but for the most part it’s not as well preserved as the Roman Forum.
21:55
Again, if you’ve ever been to roam and walk that area so worth doing.
But honestly I’m going to say like you could do it once and be done real quick and there’s only really like 2 highlights of this area I think personally.
A lot of these historical sites actually have audio that you can get on your phone and you’ll see little postings with numbers on them so you can walk through and get more of that history if you didn’t hire a guide or go on a tour.
22:21
So for parts of this, we did use the audio guide that you could download, and that was nice.
It gave us some context.
But we probably spent about an hour or two here walking through and it is nice to see, but if you’ve seen it once, you probably won’t go back and see it again.
22:39
So when we were done just seeing really the historical and main things that there is to see in Athens temples.
History wise, one of my favorite things to do now when we go places is to go on food tours.
I love Greek Mediterranean style food.
I was like Brittany, we have to do an Athens food tour, and that’s exactly what we did.
22:56
We’ll.
Link this tour in the show notes because it was so good.
It was a small group Greek traditional food tour with 20 plus tastings.
Our guide, his name was Mike.
He was from Athens, and he did a really great job with this tour.
So he took us away from the main touristy area into another neighborhood, a neighborhood that he actually shops in that that he goes and visits the markets.
23:20
And he knew a lot of the vendors.
He was very friendly, waving at everyone.
Yeah.
The food tour took us through 2 main neighborhoods of Athens, the Monistraki and Siri neighborhoods.
And like you said, Brittany, like it was out of the touristy areas, but a lot of tours still come here.
23:36
But it’s still also very frequent by locals.
And that’s what he was telling us is like, even though you’ll see tourists here, this is still very much a local spot, the heart of Athenian life, so to speak, where lots of tour, where lots of locals still come and do their everyday shopping and eating food.
23:53
When I had gone to Athens, we went out the first night in this area and then we also had brunch there the next morning.
And I think that’s why I got to appreciate the modern culture of Athens so much, because we’ve spent some time here.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I, I love of of course, like going to markets.
24:10
And when we were here, the markets were still open.
They had a fish market, a meat market, they have olive markets, fruit markets, You could see all of that, all the other types of shops.
But then there is also a really good restaurant and Cafe seen here where all the locals do come.
24:25
So our tour was a mix of going to restaurants, trying food, but also going into shops because a lot of Greek cuisine uses olive oil and olives, fruits, spices, other things.
So he took us into a spice market and yes, there was no food, but he would explain the spices.
24:42
Maybe we got to taste and smell them a little bit.
When we went to some of the food stalls that were like fruit and olives, we got to do like little olive tastings as well.
So this one, lots of things.
The first spot that we went to was just a pastry shop to get one of the most famous Greek dishes that there is, which was panacopita, which if you’re unfamiliar with what that is, it’s a flaky phylo dough that’s stuffed with spinach, Fettucci, peas, onions and herbs.
25:09
And it was just delicious.
And two people did not show up, So there was a little bit extra for us to snack on to start.
So I was actually pretty pleased about that.
Was a good first stop.
We then went to do some like olive oil tasting olive oil paste.
We did go to another restaurant and had some kalamaki which is like the roasted meat on the sticks.
25:30
Think of it as like the Greek versions of the kebabs.
We went to the spice shop like Jamal said.
We ended up picking up some tziki seasoning and then we went and tried some olives at the local market and some different types of feta cheeses while we were there as well.
25:45
You.
Like feta cheese, right, Kim?
I know sometimes you’re at burst to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It’s one of those things, too, where I know your palate has evolved.
But for the most part, I still consider you to be a picky eater.
But you surprise me sometimes with some of the pungent things that you like.
Like, you like blue cheese, correct, Which is pungent.
26:03
And feta, of course, can be very soft and mild, but some of it can also be pungent.
Greek feta, for the most part, is actually pretty mild, a lot of it a little bit more soft and creamy.
So we just got to try different cheeses of feta and olives tasting together, which I think was really, really good.
26:20
And then he took us back to a different restaurant.
You wouldn’t like the first dish.
They had anchovies.
It was OK.
I’m not a big anchovy fan, but I didn’t necessarily hate on it.
And then they had fava, which is a yellow lentil with onions and herbs on top.
26:37
It’s kind of like mashed in a paste.
That was pretty good.
They eat a lot of beans and grease, so they had their giant beans, Calabari pork sausage, some orzo zucchini, and bread balls with tzatziki and the famous stuffed red Peppers with feta.
So we really had like a meza spread at this restaurant with a lot of stuff and everything was absolutely delicious.
26:58
Yes.
And then we went to a honey shop, got to try a whole bunch of different honeys, went across the street, then to a deli and got to try some different meats.
And then we ended at a different restaurant where we got to try some Greek yogurt topped with honey and strawberries and a delicious coffee and pastry dish.
27:17
Yeah, the pastry was called bugatsa, which is another Philo dough dish.
So it’s Philo dough, but this time it’s wrapped with a creamy vanilla custard and it’s topped with cinnamon, so really, really delicious.
So this one is a little bit more sweet version of course using Philo dough versus the first one that we had which was the panacopita, which is the more savory with the spinach, feta and onion I.
27:40
Feel like the Greek yogurt in the US is a bit more tart but I didn’t find that in Greece.
I felt like it was pretty mild flavored in Greece and I really liked it.
So All in all, if you are in Athens, you should definitely do a food tour, let alone this one.
Again, we will link it in the show notes, but this was probably one of my favorite things that we actually did.
28:00
I mean, seeing the history and everything was really cool.
But again, in fairness, and I’m not necessarily knocking on Greece or Athens, they they don’t have a lot of well preserved ruins like you would find in Italy or like other places if you’re looking at Roman.
So yes, there’s still like good stuff and whatnot too.
28:17
But this is really up here is probably maybe my favorite thing that we did while we were in Athens.
I like the random ruins that are just around the city I.
Agree with you because it’s mixed into the everyday life versus the bigger tourist attractions and things like that.
Like don’t get me wrong, they’re still for being thousands of years old, well preserved and the fact that they’re still standing is amazing.
28:38
But just going I thought there were going to be more but I’m basing it off of a previous experience to another place with ancient ruins.
Yeah, it’s not the cream of the crop.
It still gets me going, but not as much as some others.
Yes, that’s a lot for your first day and so can’t imagine you have anything left to do on day 2.
28:56
But you do.
So what did you do?
So day 2, this was a holiday, it’s a national holiday, not only through Greece, it’s also through Europe.
It’s Proto Magia.
It’s the 1st of May and they basically it’s kind of like their Labor Day, but instead they do a lot of city demonstrations and strikes and it’s kind of like they’re.
29:17
Protesting.
Yeah protest and making sure that workers are getting paid fairly and and it’s also like a celebration of spring and people go out and pick wildflowers, make wreaths they go and travel their own country so there’s a lot going on this day and the metros were closed the buses were delayed if we’re.
29:37
Not all operational.
Right.
And all of the historic sites were closed down this day and that’s why we crammed them all in on the first day was because we knew that this was happening.
So we decided to use this as a leisure day.
We slept in until 8:30, which is very unheard of while we’re on vacation.
29:54
We got like 8 1/2 hours of sleep.
We went down to the breakfast buffet.
The metro was closed so we did have to walk or take the bus, and I think we were going to originally take a bus, but we couldn’t get on one and it wasn’t running at the time that it said it was.
So we decided to walk to the stadium, yes.
30:11
We went to the Kali Maramo Stadium, or you may know it as the Pan Athanic Stadium.
And this was actually originally built in 330 BC for the Pan Scenic Games, which are really the original Olympics.
30:26
And they used it all the way up until the 3rd century AD.
So it had a good life of about 600 years and it’s actually the first stadium in the world’s to be entirely made out of marble.
But of course with everything that’s ancient, it gets covered up in disrespair.
30:44
So this was actually excavated in the year 1869 and after it was refurbished, this was the home of the first modern Olympics as we we know it today that were held in Athens in the year 1896.
So it’s just another historical site.
31:01
You can pay money to go inside, be in the stadium.
We did not do that from the outside because it’s kind of like 1/2 stadium that you can look into.
And so we just saw it from the outside, which I think was enough.
But you could pay money to go inside.
And this was actually one of the sites on the holiday that was ironically open.
31:20
From here we went across the street to the National Garden of Athens.
It’s located in the heart of Athens near the Greek Parliament and it’s just a nice area that shaded with walking paths, palm trees, ponds and hidden archaeological ruins.
It actually is just a nice quiet escape and we saw some turtles, ducks, koi, fish, goats and other animals in the garden.
31:40
So it was just a nice little stroll through before we went and made our way into the Placa neighborhood.
Yeah.
And Brittany, you said if you would want to stay in the Placa neighborhood if we went back to Athens.
And this is one of the more famous neighborhood.
It’s known as the neighborhood of the gods, and it’s the oldest and most charming district pretty much in the heart of Athens.
31:58
And it’s sitting at the base of the Acropolis.
So it has its narrow cobblestone streets, and it’s lined with colorful homes, family run Taverns, cafes, boutique shops.
So when we were walking through this neighborhood, even though it was kind of early in the day when you’re on vacation, it’s never too early in the day to have a drink.
32:15
So Brittany and I just decided to sit down, have a drink at a cafe.
I had a beer, Brittany had a wine.
So it was a nice little reprieve after having to walk to the stadium then strolling the gardens.
Just wanted to enjoy this neighborhood and sit and have a drink at a cafe.
32:30
It was only €5 total for one beer and wine.
Like so affordable, so cheap.
The food in this area is marked up a little bit because it is a tourist area, but I feel like the drinks were so reasonably priced I.
Think it’s just because they have such a big drinking culture out there, right?
32:46
And it’s not like party drinking, right?
But everyone just has a casual beer or wine.
And again, a lot of locals go here, so I’m sure locals are probably more so stopping in this area for drinks than food, and maybe that’s why it’s priced accordingly.
But even though the food is marked up, it’s still relatively inexpensive, especially if you’re comparing it to American prices at restaurants.
33:05
Were you having white wine?
Yes.
Greek white wine, yes.
I feel like the Greek white wine was really good and I am a white wine drinker in general so that that’s my go to.
I also sat down at a cafe here when I had gone after the Acropolis just to cool off and had a nice after all spritz.
33:22
I also had a really great euro in this area, yeah.
It’s a cute little neighborhood.
There’s so many different cafes and little restaurants to go to.
We kind of just wandered around the cobblestone streets.
And then we went back to the neighborhood we were in for the food tour.
Because while we were doing the food tour, we saw some other restaurants that looked really good.
33:40
And we made sure to kind of just think of them for when we got hungry.
And we went and got a Greek salad and some EUR while we were in that area.
And then the weather started to change quite a bit.
Like the day before, it was really hot.
Like we had mentioned at the Acropolis, it’s the.
Only warm day our entire time in Greece.
33:57
This day started to storm, so we went back to the hotel and we ended up having cheesecake and coffee at the little bar restaurant area in the hotel.
And we were planning to go back out to the rooftop and see the Acropolis lit up at night, but it was so cold and windy that we were just like, Nope, not tonight.
34:15
We decided to call it early and stay in.
Yeah.
So today was a really good leisure day to just stroll, which is sometimes something that we don’t really get the opportunity to do on trips because we’re usually go, go, go.
So I like this aspect, would have liked for the weather to be better, but nevertheless, here we were with weather kind of turning and on a holiday.
34:35
So a great leisure day.
So Saturday we decided to make it out to an island.
I know you said you were surprised we didn’t incorporate more islands into our trip.
So I was like, let’s go to at least one.
And we picked one that was super easy to get to from Athens.
We actually booked this tour on by a tour and it was called Aegina Island was a small group tour.
34:54
I think there was about 10 of us on the tour.
The Agena Island is just a short ferry ride from Athens.
So we actually took an Uber to our port and then we took the ferry over after we met our guide.
The ferry took a little over an hour to get there, but Aegina Island is known for its waterfront villages, pistachio Groves.
35:15
It’s really known for its pistachios and beautiful coastal scenery, and it’s a very popular easy day trip from the mainland.
Yeah, so once we got to Aegina Island and we’re at the port, we met back up with our tour guide because we didn’t necessarily sit with everyone who was on her tour on the boat.
35:31
She told us where to meet once we got off on Aegina Island.
Then we had our van and driver ready to pick us up and they took us to a lot of scenes spots along the way.
And the first stop that we ended up going to where we actually got out of the van was the Monastery of Saint Nectarios.
35:49
And it is the most important religious site in all of Agena Island and one of the largest Orthodox monasteries in Greece, so.
The monastery is on this hill and you can go and see the tomb relics of the St.
And then there’s actually a church down below and it’s the grand Church of Saint Nectario’s.
36:11
But this massive church is actually modeled off of the Hyah Sophia in Istanbul, which I thought was very interesting because we had just come from Turkey and Istanbul.
So we got to see kind of like a mini replica of it you.
Know I don’t want to say this necessarily surprised me, but it was very interesting to see how many people were here.
36:32
Yes, tours come here, especially if you’re going to Regina Island on a tour, but lots of local schools were here.
And our tour guide on the food tour a couple days before said like Greece is a very religious country.
Said maybe a lot of people still don’t go to church, but everyone’s really still religious at heart.
36:48
There were so many Greek people because this is a very famous monastery and church that were actually like here as worshippers and they do have the body of Saint Necrotarios still here.
And so many people were coming here to pray and there were such long lines to get in, see and do things because you really had a lot of local worshippers that were here.
37:10
And this was actually a place too, where even most people think, oh, when you go to religious sites, a lot of times people think, oh, if you’re going to an Islamic country, you have to cover up, especially if you’re a woman here.
They made them pretty much do the same thing for girls here.
They didn’t make them cover their heads, but they made them even if they were wearing pants put on like a long skirt dress that kind of covered all the way down.
37:31
So that do keep that in mind.
You don’t need to bring anything.
They have something here for you to use.
But it is.
Required Syrian church.
We got back in the van and we were taken to another archaeological site.
This was the Temple of Aphaea, and it’s perched on this beautiful pine cover hill overlooking the Saronic Gulf.
37:51
It’s one of Greece’s, the best preserved ancient temples.
And it dates back to around 500 BC.
Yeah.
It’s dedicated to the goddess Athena, of course, that’s what it’s named after.
But what’s really cool about it is here it is just on the water.
So our tour stopped here.
38:07
The ticket inside wasn’t included.
You don’t necessarily have to purchase the ticket, you could see it from the outside, but for the cost of what it was to get in and the amount of time they were giving us here, Brittany and I bought the ticket to go in see it.
It was really cool to see it on the hill overlooking the water.
38:23
Would have been better of course, if it wasn’t as overcast and a little bit windy because it was starting to get a little cold, but nevertheless a cool experience all around.
They had a little museum on site, so we went into there.
And then we went to the Marina area on the island for lunch.
38:39
This island is known for its seafood, so we did decide to get a seafood lunch overlooking the water.
And this was probably the best part of the day because the sun started to peek out and the water was just so blue and clear and the weather was so much nicer.
And this gave us like Euro summer vibes, like Greek summer vibes.
38:57
You didn’t.
Necessarily have to eat the seafood.
Kim, I know if you were here you wouldn’t eat it, but they did have other restaurants around in this main area.
So there was a drag that you could go on, check out shops and do things.
And our tour guide was telling us, of course, later in the season this place will be a lot busier.
39:13
But just the weather that day and other stuff, it was kind of sleepy, but which was OK because I appreciated almost feeling like we had it to ourselves.
On hot days, if the weather was better, they would actually allow you to swim in this area.
It was too cold to get in the water, but we did see some local swimming, so there’s that.
39:30
And after lunch we went to a pistachio field because this island is known for its pistachios.
And after we went to the field, we ended up going to a pistachio tasting.
We ended up bringing some goodies back.
We end up getting like pistachio ice cream.
While we were there, we tried a whole bunch of different pistachio nuts, but then we got a pistachio cream to bring back and it’s kind of like Nutella but with pistachio instead.
39:51
Yes, I’ve had that so good I’m.
Just waiting to put that on our pancakes one day in the morning.
We have the jar.
We’re just kind of fresh off this trip, so we really haven’t had time to make pancakes in the morning, but that’s going to be so good as like a sweet breakfast.
It’s still good on croissants.
Going to have to try that.
40:08
Brittany loves croissants more than me, so that might be something that we have to try.
And the pistachio tasting that we did was back along the harbor.
So we just walked the harborfront and just checked out some of the souvenir shops and other restaurants that they had in this area.
Our tour guide gave us the option of going back on the next ferry, or there was a ferry about an hour, hour and a half later in the evening.
40:31
So she said, you know, you can pick which ferry you’d like to go back on.
We felt like we had gotten everything we wanted out of this day, so we took the ferry back to Athens and from there, once we got to port, we decided to take a cab directly to the Ms. Rooftop Garden bar so that we could finally see the Acropolis lit up at night.
40:50
Yes.
So, Kim, when you were talking about your time in Athens, you really highlighted this again.
It did not bring a tear to my eye.
But we got back to Port and Athens with enough time to be able to catch sunset, so the sun was still up, that kind of orange glow in the sky.
41:07
The Acropolis was not lit up yet.
But at Ms. Rooftop Garden Bar, of course you can order food.
We didn’t order food, we wanted to go there for drinks.
Drinks here of course because there’s maybe like 3 main rooftop bars in this area that give you really good views of the Acropolis in general, but of course lit up at night.
41:26
So here, here’s really where you going to find the most overpriced drinks in the city I would say.
But we got 2 glasses of wine, 2 beers and a water and it came to €28.
So if you break it down cost per drink, it wasn’t exorbitantly expensive.
But a really great atmosphere to just be up here, see the sun start to set and then finally the Acropolis lit up at night.
41:48
Kim, when you went, you mentioned you went to like 360 cocktail bar.
When you went, did you have to make reservations or were they charging more for the tables that were like closer to the railing?
The railing did.
Not have a reservation.
That was not our plan.
42:04
We walked up, we waited just a little bit, and then we sat.
We weren’t at the edge.
There was plenty of people in the restaurant as we were looking up to the Acropolis, but it didn’t obstruct our view at all.
So when we had gone off of our food tour, we were originally going to try to do a rooftop that night, but both Attic and 360 were saying that they didn’t have any other space for the night and they were kept saying like make a reservation.
42:31
I tried to make a reservation at 360 cocktail bar online to make a reservation.
It was like 140 euro minimum spend for the table and champagne.
So I don’t know if they’ve changed things or if that’s just how it presents online, but that’s why we went here to the Ms. rooftop garden bar.
42:48
I was able to make reservations.
They didn’t have a minimum spend you.
Were there, it looks like a Saturday night, right?
So maybe that has something to do with it.
I don’t remember what day of the week I was there.
Well.
We went Saturday to Ms. Rooftop Garden, but she’s talking two days before, so that would have been a Thursday at 360.
43:05
So they may have changed their policy from when you were there because on top of that minimum spend for a reservation because they made you put a credit card down in the reservation system and then they would even charge you more to put you at a table that’s closer so you have less obstructed of views like well, so.
43:23
Double fist there I.
Know so that one is a really popular spot.
We didn’t end up going to where you had gone Kim, but honestly I really love the vibes at Ms. Rooftop Garden bar so I would highly recommend the spot.
Drinks were affordable, there is no minimum spend.
We did have a reservation, but quite honestly, yes, there were people waiting in line who didn’t, but it didn’t seem like it was that crowded and even on a Saturday night.
43:47
But had a really great vibe, really great views.
So on Sunday we actually had plans originally and our original plan was to take private transportation from Viator and go to a thermal lake and then also from there go to Temple of Poseidon.
44:03
But we decided to actually cancel it the day before for a few different reasons.
The price alone for the private transportation to both places was about $330 for the both of us.
But the the other was cold and we didn’t know if we would actually be able to swim at the thermal lake.
44:20
And we also saw that it was going to be very, very cold at the Temple of Poseidon because it’s right on the ocean.
And so we’re like, are we going to be miserable?
So we decided, you know what, let’s take our chances, cancel it.
And I did some research and I was like, we could actually get to these places by ourselves if we wanted to.
44:37
And so that’s what we decided to do for the most part.
Yeah.
So the lake that you’re talking about, Brittany is Lake Vulagmani.
And again, it is a thermal lake.
So we were able to take mass transportation, which was a metro line to a bus and then the bus was the longer portion of it.
44:54
But the bus drops you off right in front of this thermal lake and it costs about €19 for general admission to get in.
They had a higher price if you wanted specific tables or lounge chairs, but we were able to get on lounge chairs as well.
I guess just not as nice of ones, but you were just.
45:12
The general lounge chairs but you could upgrade to a caban or a bed or a different type of like plush lounge chair if you wanted.
But it’s in a really nice scenic area.
It’s again, Thermal Lake.
You have some sort of cliffs on your side, so it’s kind of like you’re sunken down into there.
45:30
And I was going to get in.
It’s a thermal 1.
So I was like, OK, even though the weather is cold, it’s thermal.
I brought my bathing suit and everything, but I just put my foot in.
I was like, there’s no way that this is actually thermal and warm.
It didn’t feel like it to me.
And I really don’t like like cold water very much, let alone on a cold day.
45:48
So I didn’t get in.
I just enjoyed the vibes and just sat back.
Brittany eventually did end up getting in.
She said it got warmer when you got to the middle of the lake.
And I kept hearing everybody say, oh, it’s warmer in here than it is outside.
It was.
I just didn’t have the.
46:03
Heart to get in.
I enjoyed just vibing on the chair it.
Was like 60° outside and in the lake it stays 70 to 84°F.
It was fantastic in the lake, you just didn’t get in it.
Didn’t look like it was 70 to 80° inside the waters.
46:18
You know what, I did not get in.
But nevertheless, like I said, I really did enjoy my time.
I did 2 laps around the lake.
You do have to bring your own towels.
They don’t provide towels there, but it’s a good place to lounge.
They have a restaurant on site, they have a spa, they have bathrooms, changing rooms.
46:35
And even as you’re making your way down the coast on the bus, this is in the Athens Riviera region.
So you could actually get ocean views while you’re taking the bus down.
So it’s just a ice excursion and half a day trip down to this lake.
I think, Kim, you would like it.
46:50
It feels kind of like a beach club.
Yeah.
I just looked up a picture of it it it does look nice.
It’s it’s not quite a beach club.
I don’t know if I would go that far with it but it does look nice.
Way better than your average lake.
Exactly.
Yeah, I was happy with what we got from here.
47:06
We could have gone to the temple, Poseidon, we could have taken, I think, a bus further down and then caught in an Uber.
But the weather wasn’t getting any better, so we decided to go back to Athens and eat in the Placa neighborhood.
Yeah.
And if you’re going to go to Athens and want to go to the Temple of Poseidon, it is located close or actually on the water, right?
47:28
So it’s a cool temple that’s on the water.
But because of what the weather was.
And I think we even talked to a couple people who had gone to the Temple of Poseidon day before and they said like, oh, it was cool, but not anything great, especially if you’ve seen other stuff because we saw a temple on the water when we did.
47:44
Our island didn’t tour that day to Aegina.
We felt like we’re going to see kind of the same thing.
So we didn’t make the effort to go further down to the Temple of Poseidon that day.
So All in all, it was nice relaxing day.
We did save the 330 that they were going to charge us to Viator for the transportation and we were able to get to the lake for only €120 and not 120 like 1.2 per.
48:07
Person and that those were your only cost, like there was no entry fee or anything.
No, the entry fee was €19 like I said, but to the lake could charge more if you utilize the cabanas or different type of lounge chairs than the standard the. $330 that we would have paid didn’t include entrance into the lake anyways, so we.
48:26
Or to temple beside and it was just your private.
Transportation.
Which somebody may want to pay that for the convenience, no doubt, but you can go to both those places, even though we did the one on public transportation, if you’re willing to do that at literally a fraction of the cost.
48:42
But once we made it back to the Placa neighborhood, we had some dinner, and one thing I really wanted to do was watch sunset at Arapagus Hill, which is located just below the Acropolis.
You did this, Kim, right?
Yes.
Saw someone get engaged right here at sunset.
48:58
That’s so nice.
It is a really beautiful lookout.
You do see the sun go behind the mountains.
I was actually expecting it.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting sunset to look like, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.
Were there people out there like drinking and stuff too of.
49:13
Course, everyone want their open containers and everything.
And I was even thinking, oh, I should bring a beer or something to have while we’re up here.
But I did not do that.
I was just in the moment and join the sunset.
But I think Brittany, when you’re saying you don’t know what you thought, obviously like Athens is on the water to some degree, but where it’s angled facing West, the sun does not set over the water.
49:36
So from here, you see it go behind the backdrop of the actual mountains, but it’s still really beautiful the way it lights up in the sky.
You’re at the foot of the Acropolis and just all that history that’s there.
So a really unique spot.
And pretty much everybody goes here to watch sunset.
49:52
It was quite crowded.
In ancient times, this hill actually served as a court and a meeting place, so it is a famous destination.
And then from the hill, we were able to walk down the backside of it and go back to the area where 360 Cocktail Bar is and Ms. Roof is.
50:09
And we decided to choose a different rooftop bar.
We went to Hyper, which also had Acropolis views.
Yeah.
Kim, aren’t you proud of us?
2 rooftop bars back-to-back in the nights to just see the Acropolis views.
We were channelling our inner Kim and we even had a drink in your honor while we were.
50:26
You drank a lot on this trip.
We.
Did so.
Jamal preferred the Ms. Rooftop Bar.
I preferred Hyper.
I thought it was a little bit more upscale.
We didn’t make reservations, but you could make reservations, but I feel like it was a little bit more spread out than Ms. was.
50:41
Ms. was a little bit more packed and crowded, and this felt like we had a little bit more space.
Either way, there’s no bad views from any of the rooftop bars.
Everyone we went to had unobstructed views to the Acropolis.
So our last full day was a Monday and another day trip that we really wanted to take from Athens was going to Delphi.
51:02
And our honorary squad member, Kasha, who we’ve talked about going on multiple trips with us when she was in Greece, she really recommended this as a day trip.
And obviously we wanted to go, but I think that really further excited Brittany to go on this one.
Yes, I did want to go to Delphi.
51:19
I’ve read a lot about it.
It’s one of the most sacred and influential religious sites in ancient Greece.
Our tour guide said that it is the second most visited historic site and temple in Greece, actually second to the Acropolis.
51:35
But what made this area really special was you’re in the mountains.
You’re on the slopes of Mount Parnassus and you’re basically going up part of this mountainside and then you’re overlooking this beautiful dramatic valley of these olive Groves and it is such a beautiful view.
51:53
Yeah, and Delphi was believed by the ancient Greeks to be the center of the world at one point in time.
And it’s home to the legendary Oracle of Apollo, where rulers, generals and citizens traveled from all across the ancient world to seek prophecies and guidance from priestesses known as Pythias.
52:10
So our tour guide was giving us all this information about it.
It is on a hill, so it does require climbing.
Once you finally get there, the actual temple, of course, there’s are a few columns that are left but not very much intact.
But they did have an Amphitheatre type stadium that was still there and of course some other sites that you can see.
52:31
But what I think really made this actually special and enjoyable was like Brittany said, the fact that you’re now in the mountains, you’re nowhere near the coast.
You have this lush greenery of different trees, just the shapes of the mountains, and here you have these ancient temples.
It made for a really enjoyable experience.
52:49
Did you know, Kim, that there are ski destinations in Greece and ski resorts I.
Did not know that.
They have like 20-3 different ski resorts in northern Greece and they’re near this area actually in the mountains.
I didn’t know Greece was a ski destination.
53:06
More close to the bordering countries to the north, of course, once you get to the mountains.
But funny enough that you mentioned that in the ski area, like we said, the weather this time had really taken a turn and was a little bit cooler than normal, they were saying.
And it had actually snowed in this area.
53:22
So when we were on our drive up, we did see some areas just with a little bit of snow.
It’s not like it was a lot and a Blizzard came through, but there was some snow, not on the ground here in Delphi by these ruins, but some of the mountains that we drove by.
You can actually see some snow here in May.
53:38
Yeah, crazy.
But Delphi is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so that was nice to see.
We also went into the archaeological museum, our guide wooden and just kind of pointed out and gave us some history of the highlights.
The tour to Delphi is an all day tour.
53:54
We’ll link in the show notes.
It does take about 3 hours to drive here.
Then you visit the historical site, you go to the museum.
Then we had lunch before heading back to Athens.
The lunch that they took us to at the restaurant was actually really good.
54:09
I feel like, of course, you could probably get here on a tour.
Maybe that just does transportation, and maybe you don’t get the guide when you’re at the temple site or even into the museum.
And if that’s something you want to do to just get here, great.
But I would really recommend doing and making sure you book a tour where your tour guide will give you information in the temple complex and even in the museum.
54:31
Because a lot of times places like this, of course, they then do have the museums.
Like for example, when we went to the Acropolis Museum, we went and we were looking, yes, they have some stuff and you’re doing the reading.
But I didn’t enjoy it as much as this much smaller museum that was here simply because our guide was able to point out stuff and actually give us some context, tell it what it was.
54:51
So again, if you do book a tour, yes, we are going to link it, but make sure that you are booking one that you will get the guide with you in both places to tell you what’s going on.
I.
Always feel that way about museums.
It’s like they’re so boring unless you have someone there who explains the significance of what you’re looking at.
55:09
Agreed, sometimes it’s like you want to read some stuff on something that maybe intrigues you, but then after a while you get tired of reading.
But when someone’s telling it to you, it’s almost like it’s more captivating that way.
And obviously you do get the history, so it makes it to be a really great experience all around.
55:24
But that was our last full day that we had in Greece.
The very next day we were flying home.
And so we woke up in the morning because we had an earlyish flight out of Athens at 10:25 AM.
We didn’t utilize Uber.
55:40
Brittany saw an app that’s called Free Now, which is, again, is basically like their version of Uber, even though they do have Uber there.
But again, they don’t really connect you with normal rideshare drivers.
It just links you with taxis.
But they were advertising something where they were going to give you a discount for your first ride.
55:56
Apparently that promo code didn’t stick in and we just barely found out now that they didn’t apply it and we paid the full price.
But like I said, the price from city center to the airport is actually at a standardized cap.
So it’s not going to go over much and we’re going to pay that anyway.
But if you download the Free Now app, if they’re still running that promo, they give it to you at a discount.
56:16
Just make sure that that promo sticks in there and that you actually get it.
So Jamal, squaddies want to know, are you still a grease hater?
I’m not a grease hater.
I liked it, but would I go back to the islands?
Sure.
Again, it was never really high on my list as a place to go.
56:31
It was a pivot.
I enjoyed my time.
If I went back to Athens, I feel like I’ve done it all.
I would really more enjoy just like roaming around and eating food because I think that’s one of the more enjoyable things to do.
I liked it.
But did I love it like you did, Kim?
No, but you’ve been to different places that we have not been to, so I need to experience that.
56:50
Brittany liked it a lot.
And as she alluded and said earlier, if you squat his coffee about that, is that she wants to maybe go back and do a Greek island cruise.
So, of course, leave out of Athens, but the cruise takes us to the Greek islands.
And I think that would be good because of course, yes, you spend a lot of time in Mykonos Santorini, yes, you could spend some time there, but it really is touristy crowded, so to speak.
57:13
And it’s on hills.
And once you roam and see the blue colored tops of the buildings and all the streets, since it’s a tiny little island, how much time do you need?
So I do think it would be very conducive to do a Greek island cruise on maybe a major cruise line and just get the cruise aspect with it and do that.
57:29
So I am not a hater on Greece.
Kim, to answer your question all.
Right, we’ll hold you to that when we want to plan a Greek island trip.
Let’s do it.
I’m ready.
If you want to get me on a cruise, Brittany, I will do a Greek Island cruise because I want to go on a cruise and I think that would be a good one.
57:45
So amazing, Yes, and it should be a squad trip, Kim, because that way you can come out too, because I know you love Greece.
You know, I was trying to figure out where to go to add on to Kazakhstan in August, and I really did consider Greece for a minute there again time. #3 for Greece.
58:01
Three third time.
Well, squaddies, thank you so much for tuning into our Athens episode.
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58:19
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