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So this is not a particularly long post as my Athens trip was cut short due to Easyjet cancelling my original flight on the day and leaving us stranded at the airport for 10 very long hours. Fortunately, I salvaged our plans and managed to amend some of our other bookings to fit schedule!
The capital and largest city of Greece, Athens is also regarded as one of the world's oldest cities, with a plethora of ancient historical landmarks. I find Greece to be a quite expensive country in general in terms of food and expenditure, but had always wanted to visit these remarkable ruins. Here are my top Instagram spots with Google Maps links.
Temple of Poseidon
We took a half day tour to Cape Sounion and Temple of Poseidon. Would recommend a tour to get here as a private car can get here much quicker than public transport. We had hotel pick-up and a scenic drive along the Saronic Gulf, and also stopped at Sounio Beach. There's not actually much left of the temple, as it was built around 440 BC and it was partially destroyed at some pointfrom invasions, but as it sits overlooking the sea, you can capture the most beautiful sunset photos. The whole area is very scenic and as touristy places go, there wasn't an insanely huge crowd which was nice, and makes it easier to get good shots. The tour group were very accommodating and let us rebook our tour after our flight got cancelled and we couldn't make it.
The temple sits right next to the sea, and the whole surrounding area looks so beautiful, calming and photogenic during sunset.
Cape Sounio, Sounio 195 00, Greece
Google Maps
Acropolis of Athens
Get to the Acropolis at least half hour before it opens, and even then there probably will be a queue. Queue from the side entrance and if there's going to be a major heatwave (it was mid 30s when we went), then bring a UV umbrella because when you get up to the Acropolis there is literally NO shade. We got there for opening, but the queue was so long that by the time we got in, the sun was well and truly blazin'.
The Acropolis overlooks the city of Athens, and is the landmark of Greece. It is made up of many different ancient buildings such as the Parthenon which is probably the most famous, the smaller Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erectheion which you can distinguish by the 6 columns sculpted into female figures.
Athens 105 58, Greece
Google Maps
Pittaki Street
This is a cute little street renovated to display a myriad of old and antique lampshades. We came to this area because we had dinner at the Oineas Restaurant which is only about a minute's walk down the road, and it happened to also be my favourite meal that we had in Athens - 'Where To Eat' guide to come soon.
4, Pittaki 14, Athina 105 54, Greece
Google Maps
Aegina Island
One of the closest islands to Athens is Aegina, famous for harvesting pistachios. We were very close to wanting to get a ferry to Mykonos instead, but then decided that we couldn't hack the 5 hour one-way journey. Aegina is less than an hour's ride away and you can just buy it at Piraeus Port from one of the ticketing offices. You don't need to buy it in advanced online as apparently a lot of ferries get cancelled all the time. Unfortunately, we didn't actually explore too much because I literally was melting in the 36 degrees heat aka outdoor sauna. We stayed close to the port of Aegina, had lunch overlooking the sea and went down a few back alleys of small cafes and souvenir shops.
Port of Aegina, 31, Leof. Dimokratias, Egina 180 10, Greece
Google Maps
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