Feel like shit, just want the Acropolis back.
I think I said the above in Athens airport as our Ryanair flight had been delayed whilst coming home. Emily sadly nodded and gave me a little smile. We were having to come home from our lovely week away in Athens. And the below pictures tell you why I felt like shit. This was the view from our hotel rooftop restaurant and swimming pool. And then a zoomed in picture of the Acropolis and Parthenon. Quick lesson, the Acropolis is the hill and the Parthenon is the biggest building on that hill. It is always lit at night and everything in the Athens that we witnessed is directed towards this hill. It is central to the life, culture and history. Of course Athens is a city of 4 million people and is the capital of Greece so there’s a lot of business there which is not tourism, but tourism plays a huge roll and with the culture and history as rich and as mesmerising as this you can see why.
Greece as a country has a population of just over 10 million people and in comparison London is just under 10 million people. One of our tour guides mentioned that he believed Greece was a poor country so I compared the GDPs of Greece in 2024 = £191 billion and London’s GDP in 2024 = £618 billion. The hotel we stayed in was five stars and was beautiful, lovely room, good breakfasts and cracking views of the port and of the Acropolis and the staff were excellent. But it was in a seedy part of town. The main six lane thoroughfare was right next to it. There were at least three strip clubs in view from the infinity pool and lots of run down buildings. But every third building was new and shiny. And thank fuck I didn’t have to do any driving in Athens. Not the worst I’ve witnessed, but that city needs to do something about the amount of cars on the road.
Every Athenian we met was lovely, including the taxi drivers. Our first full day was the bike tour of some of the historical places around Athens. It was a great way to see the city and learn about its history. Now all the ladies on our tour who were of a certain age loved Giannis our tour guide as he was 35 to 40 and a little playful, flirty and very good looking. We had electric bikes so it wasn’t too taxing on the legs. Over the course of the holiday, we spent a lot of time in Plaka and the surrounding areas. It’s the old town and very touristy, lots of souvenir shops (of which we frequented) and lots of tasty restaurants (of which we frequented). I can’t remember having a bad meal. Don’t we look cute all dressed up and out a-cycling.
Check in next week for part 2 of My Little Greek Odyssey.
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.