One of the most wonderful places that you’ll ever visit, if
only for the temples is Athens. I’d always wanted to go, since I was little and
they held the Olympic games here, plus Iam a little bit obsessed with the Greek
Mythology. Of course when the
opportunity of visiting Athens presented itself, along with my first time on a
Mediterranean Cruise, I jumped on it.
Now, its not perfect, and there might be things that you
don’t enjoy. But over all, it was a great visit worth of writing home – or in
this blog, about. Keep reading for things to do in Athens, prices and overall
reviews!
This are the places we went to, and the prices as well as
the order in which I’d advise you to visit them, because that way you can see
the evolution of the Temples from the most dilapidated one, to the best
preserved.
Temple of Hercules – 8.0 per person.
Acropolis – 12.0 per person.
Temple of Hephaestus – 8.0 per person This also includes the
park with excavasion sites that houses the temple and its gardens, but not the
Museum.
Acropolis Museum – About 5. Per person.
Hop-on Hop-off Buss – 17 per person.
* All this prices are in Euro.
It was an incredible adventure to be able to visit the
Parthenon and all the other magnificent ruins and paths around it. For me, the
fact that some of them have lasted this long after all the climate changes, and
the tremors that that part of the world is sometimes subject to, is beyond
outstanding, a real proof that they don’t built them like that anymore….
Now
fro the pro’s and con’s.
Pro’s:
1-You get to visit an amazing city and its landmarks.
2-The views from the Acropolis are amazing and you can see
the whole city all from different angles TIP: Here is where a good camera, or
a zoom camera lens comes in handy.
3- The city has wonderful food that you can enjoy that is
indigenous to that part of the country.
TIP: The Vegetarian Gyro’s is amazing.
4- If you are dropped off in a cab from your hotel, or even
from the port, everything else is within walking distance, roughly a mile
counting the last Olympic stadium.
TIP: Use shoes that provide you with traction,
especially to go up the steps to the Acropolis. Those stones have been polish
to smoothness by thousands of feet that visit every day and are very slippery
in some places. If you don’t have shoes like that, just hold on to the banister
at all times while its there. Trust me,
it will save you a scare, and your bottom from coming into sudden contact with
said stones. Ouch.
5-If you get the Hop on Hop off busses, not only do you get
to see the whole city, the landmarks that maybe you didn’t know where there, and the
small city markets that it has to offer, but you also get the commentary, and
have the ability to get off in places that you think will be particularly
interesting to your tastes, and once you are finished, grab another buss at the
same stop and continue where you left off.
TIP: This busses have Free WiFi
while on board. Comes in handy if you are traveling to this wonderful places on
a cruise and don’t want to pay for the overpriced, and slow navigating ones on
board. Or even if you are staying in the city and don’t want to pay extra for
Rooming.
Con’s:
11- Athens is Very Expensive, of all the
Mediterranean cities that we visited (10 in total) this and Portofino, Italy:
where the most expensive ones, in the sense that you get the least for your
money here, especially if you are traveling with your significant other,
because all the prices that I’ve put above, double up.
22- This was not my case personally, but depends on
how much you built this place in your mind, you might get disappointed, since a
friend of mine who also went there, thought this places where a little bit over
rated in her opinion. I guess the lower your expectations for this one the better...?
33- If it’s a rainy day, this all might be spoiled
for you. Because everything is in the open air, and going on the bus is great
when you travel on the upper most level and can see everything from above.
44- If you are going on a cruise, then you need to
know that the trip from port to the city center is about 30 to 45 minutes
depending on traffic. So you will be on a time crunch depending on how many
hours your cruise has to stay on port, and the time you where able to actually
get down from the ship. Just keep in mind that you will most likely have to
rush.
55- Everything will be full of people, so if this is
something that bothers you, I would say to bypass it completely, because it’s
the most crowded place I’ve ever seen in my life.
Also, this Mediterranean cities are very hot and humid in
the summer months, so keep in mind that you will need to bring with you, water,
sunscreen and a cap and/or sunglasses. Everything is up a hill so you will need
to be protected from the UVV and UVA rays as much as possible.
Now with all of the above, I can tell you, my family and I
had a great time. Our baby as well. We had a babybackpack that he loved, and a
camel pack to bring water for the three of us, and it all worked out
great. Doing this trip with Children is
actyally not bad, and it should not dissuade you from traveling anwhere you
want. See my Traveling with Children 101 Post, for Tips, Tricks and everythingYou Need To Know if your traveling with your children by yourself.
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