A Walk Through History: Part 2

In hindsight, we are really glad we didn’t have the low-key first day we had planned. We definitely wouldn’t have been able to see all the sites if we had!

*Disclaimer: This post is NOT shorter than the last one, as promised. I guess I didn’t realize just how much we covered in one day!

Our second day in Athens started a bit earlier than the first because we had a better idea of how long it was going to take us to walk to each of the remaining sites on our archaeological site pass. (We highly recommend buying the pass. It was definitely worth the 30€/person because it included almost every site we wanted to see.) We grabbed pastries and coffee at a small bakery in Omonia Square, then made our way down toward Syntagma Square again, this time to see the National Garden. On the way, we passed the University of Athens, which boasts some seriously beautiful marble statues at the entrance.

As we got closer to Syntagma Square, we noticed a crowd outside the Parliament building, so we stopped to see what we happening. On the sidewalk level of the building is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This one is a little different than the one in Arlington. Rather than a free-standing tomb, this memorial is a wall relief of a Greek soldier surrounded with text. But, just as in Arlington, it is guarded 24/7 by the Evzones (presidential guards). The crowd was forming to watch the changing of the guard, so we decided to take a quick stroll through the gardens and come back 15 minutes later to watch the ceremony.

The National Garden is located just behind Parliament building and is like a botanical paradise in the middle of the city. We wished we had more time to wander every pathway and explore every lush corner, but what we saw of it was nothing short of magical.

The next time we’re in Athens, we will carve out half a day to sit and soak up all the inspiration this garden has to offer. For now, a glimpse into this little slice of paradise was just what we needed to start our day on the right foot! We circled our way back to the front of the Parliament building to find that the crowd had grown substantially larger and we had made it just in time to see the guards change.

It’s always an emotional experience to see the reverence and the respect that is paid to fallen soldiers. It was one of those moments when we felt our humanity and our connection to all the people around us.

Once the ceremony ended, we made our way back up and around the Parliament building to our first archaeological site of the day: the Lyceum of Aristotle. This was once a temple at which Aristotle and other famous philosophers taught. Honestly, there wasn’t much to look at, so this was one of the least interesting sites to look at – but still very neat to visit.

After a quick walk around the grounds, it was time for the main attraction of the day: The Panathenaic Stadium! *happy dance*

Yep. My trip to Athens was made with that visit! 🙂

But we still had a few of more places to visit. The first was the Temple of Olympion Zeus.

Then it was time for a long walk to Philopappou Hill (also known as the Hill of the Muses). On the way, we strolled through more street markets and took some time to shop. The key take-away from this little shopping trip was that my large head is definitely not “lady size” according to Greek (European?) standards! 🙁 ugh.

We eventually made it to Philopappou Hill and climbed to the top, during which we were both extremely happy we had gotten back into decent physical shape before the trip! Otherwise, this probably would have been our last stop of the day.

The sun was particularly hot, so we only stayed on top of the hill for a little while before making our way down, finding some iced coffee, and making our way to our final stop of the day: the National Archaeological Museum. Because walking around the entirety of ancient Athens wasn’t quite enough.

We did take the subway up to the museum because it is located even more north than our hotel. Once we got off the subway, we immediately got lost and walked up and down the same street at least 3 times before finding our way. With the heat beating down and the promise of our hotel pool in the back of our minds, we seriously considered skipping the museum and calling it a day. Thankfully, we came to our senses and realized this was something we couldn’t miss.

The museum definitely lived up to the hype, and we are so glad we decided to go in. We would have regretted it for sure.

By this point, we had made a gigantic circle around Athens (most of which we walked), so it was time to head back to the hotel where we took a very quick dip in the very cold pool, drank mojitos, and played cards. Because it was our last night in Athens, though, we did make one more trip down to Syntagma Square for dinner and some shopping. We even ended up getting a sweet anniversary gift (a blue stone key chain) from one of the shop owners.

The last two days were some of the longest, most uncomfortable (physically), and most exciting we’d had in a long time. What a way to start this journey!

Next up: Santorini 🙂

Much love from Greece,
Juliette