Athens

Greece was the destination of my very first international trip with my soon-to-be husband in the early 1990’s. It was every bit as entrancing on my second visit years later. Of course, for our first trip, we stayed in hostels, the second trip was a lot more luxe!

 We arrived a few days early on our small group tour to take in a few more sights in Athens that the tour was not going to visit. We arrived at the Lycabbettus St George Hotel, which was a great accommodation with a rooftop pool and bar featuring a distant view of the Acropolis. The only thing about staying at the Lycabbettus was that it was near Lycabbetus hill, which means you were walking uphill to get back to the hotel at the end of a long day unless you took a cab. Also, the hotel was a bit hard to locate, but once you found it (and took a photo of your route for memory assistance), you were set. Yes, smartphones do indeed come in handy for more than just pix and walking maps!

Our first stop in Athens was the Museum of Cycladic Art which features ancient small figurines and other rare artifacts. We always like to go to a museum or other attraction the first day we arrive so that we can adjust ourselves to the current time zone and try to sleep when the locals do. In fact, on the plane when we are on our last flight leg, I always set my watch to local destination time to start acclimatizing myself.  

Our second free day was an enjoyable morning at the Monastiraki flea market. We LOVE flea markets and remember, bargaining is expected and fun! We didn’t buy much as it was at the beginning of our trip and didn’t want to fill up our luggage right away, but it is always fun to poke around in other people’s stuff looking for treasures! Of course, watch your bags and wallets in your front pocket at any local market where there are a lot of people.

The National Archeological Museum and the Benaki museum filled the rest of our day. The Archeological Museum is the largest repository of Greek Antiquities in the world including important bronzes and kouros sculptures. It is a fascinating place to begin to understand the ancient history of Greece. The Benaki is more of a cultural museum with some interiors and clothing as well as artifacts.

We joined the tour the third day and made our way to the Acropolis, highlight of any trip to Greece and rightfully so. It was a bit more cleaned up than when I last visited. By cleaned up, I mean that where there used to be scattered artifact rocks you could wander between, now there were clear cordoned off pathways and more parts of buildings in the Acropolis had been reconstructed. Same could be said of the Ancient Agora which when I first visited you could walk freely among the stones, now you must stay on the walkways.

We also went by the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch, the Olympic stadium and Syntagma Square for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the interesting uniforms and routine of the guards there.

The fourth day was a day trip to Delphi, which I highly recommend. I had visited Delphi on my previous trip, and it was a bit more suited for tourists this time around. We visited the site of the famous Oracle and the Temple of Apollo, walking all of the way up to the racing grounds at the top of the hill (a fairly steep walk). The Delphi museum is also a very important and very well-visited museum so do make time to visit. A note on Dephi: It is a bit of a walk and a lot of it is uphill, so be prepared and bring snacks and plenty of water, I don’t recall seeing a lot of food vendors in the area.  

A whirlwind tour of Athens completed, we were ready to board the ferry and head off to explore the Greek islands the next morning.

Where we stayed: Lycabbettus St George Hotel. Nice hotel, breakfast included.

How we got there: Flight from US to Athens. This was part of a 14-day small group tour through Greece including stops at Santorini, Mykonos and Crete.

General Accessibility Information: Major tourist sights, newer hotels, transportation in most major cities are accessible. Even some beaches are accessible. Apps like accessaloo can help you find accessible bathrooms. Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements. See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.