HAPPY DAY!
Here’s the unfortunate truth… Athens is pretty disappointing. When we went to Athens for the day on our Adriatic Sea cruise in 2011, I had built up Athens to be the beautiful white buildings with blue domes over the mountainside and the ancient monuments. However, that is not Athens! That is the Greek Isles; Santorini, etc. Athens does have the Acropolis and the Parthenon and that’s about it. I’m glad we were only there for a day.
The best thing to do is to pay the fee for a hop on hop off bus pass (I want to say $20pp). It comes with an automatic audio tour as you’re moving around the 15+ spots. There’s a red line and a blue line and I think if you have a full day and you’re going to pay for the bus anyway that it’s worth it to do a full loop of each. It’s fun to get off at the Acropolis and walk up to see everything closer up but we did not spend another dime on getting closer to the monuments. When you walk up the hill, keep in mind that the food and drinks up there will be stupid expensive. Just like water bottles by the Colosseum or drinks at a Broadway show, this is not worth it! Make sure you are not hungry or thirsty before arriving at the Acropolis stop.
We did not eat or drink out in Athens except to try ice cream since that was my little tradition and it was by no means memorable. We were not appetized by anything we saw. The whole city just seemed dirty and overwhelmed with tourism. The ruins were really cool to see but I am so glad this was a cruise port and that we did not fly all the way to see the city of Athens. The Greek Isles, on the other hand, that would be worth a trip in itself! Mykonos & Santorini are up on our list. Athens is not worth a detour if you’re debating one. Regardless, we had a fun day together!! And it was good to know what some of Greece actually looks like. I had the wrong images in my head!!
Thrifty& 