We had a lovely dinner at Botrini’s. This one Michelin starred restaurant is helmed by a chef who is Greek-Italian. Some of the dishes reminded me of our time just spent in Italy. The dishes were all very inventive and I enjoyed it. For a fancy meal with multiple courses, I actually did get quite full and stuffed towards the end (whereas other dinners like this has still left me hungry for food).
The following day we decided to check out some more archaeological sites before our evening appointment with the Acropolis. I had bought the Athens multi-pass which gives you access to 7 different places. This was going to be another hot day (sensing a theme for this trip?). First we stopped at Hadrian’s Library – which is really just various remnants of buildings.
Then we moved over to the Ancient Agora, which is a much larger plot of land that has various things to check out. There was the Ancient Agora Museum, which gave a slight reprieve from the heat.
Across the way from the museum is the Temple of Hephaestus. D did not want to climb up the incline to get up there so I went up and took some pictures and then came back down.
Rather than continue to walk around in the heat to see more of the Ancient Agora, we decided to go to a local cafe for lunch. Here I tried freddo espresso.
Our reservation for the Acropolis was scheduled for 7 pm. During the summer months it is recommended either you go first thing in the morning or towards the end of day due to the significant heat. A few weeks before we visited, they actually shut down the Acropolis to visitors during the mid-day due to extreme heat. At the start of our walk up to the Acropolis it was quite warm. Midway up is the amphitheater Odeon of Herodes Atticus. We were lucky enough to catch a musical act warming up for a show. Once we made it up top it was super crowded and lots of people were doing posed shots (the yay social media). There was a nice breeze at least so even though the sun was still up (it was starting to set) it was much more bearable. We checked out the Parthenon, Monument of Agrippa, Erectheion, Temple of Athena Nike.
I enjoyed seeing lots of cats living the good life on the streets of Athens.
The following day we hung out with my sister’s family. We walked through the Athens National Garden and passed by the Presidential Palace, where they also had the guard change ceremony (but this is much less watched unlike the other day). We made our way to the Panathenaic Stadium, which is the site of the first modern day Olympics. This was fitting as the 2024 Paris Olympics were only weeks away.
D and I were planning to check out the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation nearby on Eratosthenous. We wandered near this area with my sister’s family looking for a lunch spot before we split up. We found this cute little cafe called Plegma Coffee and Living. On this trip I learned about these mixed use shops that combine a coffee shop/food place with a store where you can buy various things (bags, clothes, etc).
Afterwards D and I split up from my sister’s family and we perused through the Basil & Elise Goulndris Foundation – a private museum that houses some very famous artists (Cezanne, Chagall, Degas, Matisse, Kandinksy, Monet, Picasso, Pollack, etc). On some of the higher floors they also featured Greek artists which I thought was neat to see. The building itself was designed by I.M. Pei.
For dinner we met back up with my sister and had family dinner at a place near their AirBnB (recommended by their host, they had already eaten there once before). The restaurant, Eugenia Restaurant, focuses on seafood and everything was so tasty.
We finished with a night cap at a local bar and then the next morning was our flight back to Italy (Venice and Bologna). We had some lunch at the Athens airport and I will say that the gyro dish was quite tasty.
Venice and Bologna next…
-StewsCat
StewsCat 