Why Athens?

This year we had a unique opportunity to visit North Macedonia. For those of you don’t know, North Macedonia is just north of Greece. Because our brother-in-law signed on to play professional basketball in North Macedonia for the remainder of the season, we decided to make a trip to visit him and my sister. We thought it would be a great chance to visit a few nearby European destination as well. After some discussion, we decided to visit Athens, Skopje, and Rome.

Travel to Athens

Flying from SLC to Paris took about 10 hours. Our children (8 & 11) only had a few hours of sleep the night before the trip. We had hoped they would sleep a little on the plan to reduce the effects of jetlag. Unfortunately, one slept very little and the other did not sleep. In our case, letting our kids get normal sleep is the best option for us.

After arriving in Paris early, we still had to rush through border control and another security check to make it to our next gate. Because of our short layover, we had very little time to get to the next gate. We almost missed our connecting flight as we found ourselves at the wrong gate, but fortunately, our correct gate was nearby. After making our connecting flight, we spent another 3 hours flying to Athens, Greece. *Friendly reminder to make sure to double check you are at the correct gate*

BONUS: During our flight from SLC to Paris, while flying over Iceland, we saw the Norther Lights!!!

Accommodations in Athens

We booked all of our accommodations through booking.com, because booking.com had the best prices that we could find for vacation rentals. My level 2 genius discount cut off an extra 10 to 15% of the price, and If you are able to book directly with the vacation rental, you will likely find additional discounts.

Our vacation rental owner offered shuttle services for 70 euros for our group of 8, which allowed us to get from the Athens airport to the city center. Booking transportation beforehand helped us to reduce stress and potentially save money. Because our group was so large and I was leading the group, it was easier and cheaper to stick together in one vehicle. From the airport, it took about 40 minutes to get to our accommodations in the city center. After arriving at our rental, we unpacked, and rested for a few hours.

Acropolis

One of the first things we did in Athens is visited the Acropolis. Because our accommodations were in the city center, the Acropolis was only about a 20-minute uphill walk. The Acropolis sits atop a hill and it’s exposure to the elements, war, and other destructive events accelrated it’s decay. Because of the decay, Greece is actively working to restore and preserve its history. The newer white portions of the buildings are stabilizing the structures.

Temple of Zeus

Sitting atop the hill of the Acropolis, you can look down and see the Temple of Zeus below. We noticed while visiting during the off season, places are less crowded, but many of the places close early. On the day we visited, the ground to the Temple of Zues had already closed. You can see the widespread efforts to better preserve Greek history at most of the ancient sites.

Temple of Hephaestus

We spent our second full day in Greece visiting the Temple of Hephaestus, which is one of the best preserved and intact sites we saw. The temple still has a roof and many of the columns are in good shape. One of the nearby buildings (an Agora) has been restored to show what it would have looked like hundreds of years ago. An Agora was a public hub in each city, and was a gathering place for the local economy. Like most of the ancient sites in Greece, most of the building in the area are just stone foundations and remnants.

Modern Olympics

We visited the Panathenaic Stadium which in 1896, hosted the earliest edition of the modern Olympics. The “modern” Olympic stadium is capable of holding about 60 thousand people and is made entirely or marble. When visiting, you are able to enter the stadium for a small fee, but it didn’t seem worth the cost.

Food

The food in Greece was amazing. Each night, we spent eating at a new place and often ended up trying the same things over and over. For me, anything with kebab and pita was at the top of my list. The Chicken souvlaki was my kids’ and wife’s favorite thing to order. I tried a bite of veal kidney as it was a local delicacy and it was good, but the texture was a little much. Comparing to American hamburgers, the meat is different in Greece and was simialr to a kebab on a bun.