I am astounded that I just spent a few days in Athens, Greece, only a four days after my unbelievable trip to Barcelona, Spain. A group of 16 IES students left on Thursday morning for our Southeastern Europe Field trip to Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria. It was incredible that we were in Greece Thursday evening after a quick flight!
After we settled into out hotel that not only had a roof top terrace, but also a view of the Acropolis, a few of us wandered through the streets of Athens to find our first great Grecian meal. Throughout the entire week, we ate well: Greek salad (with an entire block of feta cheese), spicy cheese dip (tasted like pimento cheese), fried potatoes with cucumber yogurt dip, mousaka (eggplant dish), baklava (the best from Beneth Bakery!), “shredded wheats,” and yogurt with honey and walnuts!
Friday morning, the IES group began an all day affair with meetings. We met with a representative from the Institute of International Relations with the Bank of Greece to talk about the Eurozone and Greek Debt Crisis and its impact on the attitude of Greek citizens toward the EU, another two representatives from the Ministry for Foreign affairs of the Helenic Republic about the EU enlargement issues and the Eurozone crisis, and a representative from the Hellenic Foundation for European Foreign Policy on the Greek perspective on EU, more specifically about the Turkish and Greek relations. All of the meetings were very informative and the speakers were engaging. I was grateful to learn more and have the opportunity to ask questions.
To round out the day and get some fresh air, a friend and I fooled around in a playground, spinning on a Grecian merry-go-round, found the temple of the Olympian Zeus, and finally climbed the Philopappos Hill.
Being a kid again on a Grecian merry-go-round
Temple of the Olympian Zeus
View from Philopappos Hill
The slopes of Philopappos Hill are covered in pines and the maze of paths leads to the best view of Athens!
From Philopappos Hill, one could see the Agora, the Acropolis, the Greek Isles, our hotel, and other famous monuments. It was breathtaking!
That evening, we ate a wonderful meal at Restaurant Psaras that has been open since 1898. It has served Elizabeth Taylor herself, but has remained a local favorite.
As a reward for a day of meetings, Saturday and most of Sunday was free. I think it was a fair trade! We hit the Acropolis early in the morning before all the tour buses dropped off visitors, made our way through the Acropolis surrounding area, Agora, Acropolis museum, Mitropoli church, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, mini Mitropoli, and more.
Acropolis surrounding area
Sunday was also another day for us to explore Athens. We went to the Athens flee market, haggled with a vendor over an €800 pair of candelabras (my taste far exceeds my wallet sometimes), rummaged through old pocket watches, and weaved our way through the open shops.
I enjoyed antiquing and really wished that I could bring back some of the inlay furniture I saw. Too bad there is a 50 lbs. baggage weight limit. We also saw the changing of the guards in front of the Greece Parliament building. What a sight! The changing of the guards occurs every Sunday around 11:00 am.
The soldier’s shoes with balls on the toes and flowy white shirts tickled me.
It was great to see! We meandered through more of the streets, revisited the Athens flea market, bought desserts again, for the 3rd day in a row from the Beneth Bakery (baklava and “shredded wheat”), and hiked up a hillside.
I’m not exaggerating when I say it was straight up. But, the view was incredible, once again! I enjoyed overlooking the city everyday I was in Athens, especially with the water, coastline, mountains, and greenery surrounding you!
Then, we made our way back to the hotel to leave for Bucharest, Romania. But, I ended my time in Athens just perfectly—enjoying my “shredded wheat” on the roof top terrace overlooking the Acropolis.
There’s more of my Southeastern Europe fieldtrip to come!
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