Planning this trip (or lack of planning for this trip) was nerve wrecking this time. I was so focused on preparing for the race that I didn't start flipping through my guidebooks until three days prior to leaving! We ended up seeing a lot more than we thought we would be able to though, but we also spent more money than we usually do (I always have an itinerary/budget planned before we leave, I use a custom template from http://www.budgetworksheets.org/, which I would recommend to anyone).
The first major cost was airfare. Normally we drive or fly RyanAir but this wasn't logistically possible this time. RyanAir could get us to Greece for under 300 EUR (total for the whole family) but we would have to take a 5 hr + bus ride in an unpredictable economy to get to Athens and the cost of that was ridiculously expensive. We sucked it up and flew Lufthansa out of Frankfurt, it was a quick, nonstop flight directly into Athens. Easy peasy.
The hard part was trying to read the map and navigate the city with two small children and suitcases in a foreign country in which we underestimated the language barrier!
We stayed at the Athens Atrium Hotel and were so happy once we found it! It was a really nice hotel (we scored a Jacuzzi suite) and had one of the better breakfast buffets we've had in Europe. We made friends with the concierge who hooked us up with an awesome cab driver named Peter. (When we had to leave our daughter told us she wanted to stay in Athens forever and live with Mr. Peter!).
Normally we don't use cabs or taxis (I have a fear of being ripped off and we usually enjoy exploring or using local transportation systems) but we found it easy and worth the money this time around. Actually we bought a bus pass, but after one never-ending bus ride and waiting for one bus that never came we said screw it and either walked or called Peter.
We went down to the water for dinner one night at a really nice seafood restaurant (you can read about that and our first day in Athens HERE). We also went downtown for dinner one night but we were quickly sidetracked by a small protest and street concert! Luckily, our hotel had awesome room service!
.JPG)
We only had one day of major sightseeing due to the race so we were determined to make the most of it! We took the metro to the Acropolis early that morning (before the crowds and heat could set in). We spent several hours exploring the Acropolis and walking around that general area.
We ate lunch at the Smile Cafe in the Makrigianni area near Hadrian's Arch. It was an awesome, family-friendly restaurant with great food at good prices. The kids were even able to decorate their own rocks to add to the restaurant's collection! We highly recommend it!
After lunch we went through the National Gardens and ended up in front of the Parliament Building to see the Changing of the Guard.
Where is YOUR favorite place to go in Greece?
No comments:
Post a Comment