{EUROPE} Day Seventeen - Athens, Greece + HOME!

We docked in Athens on Saturday and disembarked the ship. As sad as it was to see our trip come to an end, we were excited to get off and see a little bit of Athens before heading home...

We met our driver, got checked into our hotel, and grabbed something to snack on, as some of us hadn't eaten breakfast before leaving the ship.

We found a cute place across the street from our hotel and enjoyed people watching on the street...

before leaving Grandma behind to rest at the hotel and heading over to meet up with a guide for our walking tour of the Acropolis...

We met outside of a gelato place, which was super convenient...

From there, we set off to conquer the Acropolis. As we made our way in that direction, I was shocked to see a huge - no, ginormous, I mean, it was sooo imposing - rock. I looked waaay up and saw the remains of some temples, but they were seriously waaay up there!

I don't know what I was expecting, but I guess I envisioned it to be more like the Forum in Rome...kind just some ruins, at street level, in the middle of the city...

Oh, no, no, no, that was not it at all...

So the word, acropolis, comes from the words akron, meaning highest point, and polis, meaning city-state... Highest city...  Yep, that's about right!

We obviously started our tour at the bottom and made our way up!

First, we saw the Theatre of Dionysus...

I loved the marble chairs for the fancy patrons that sat on the front row!

As we continued up, we saw the remains of the Temple of Asklepios that served as the medical center and hospital...

From there, we continued up, up, up...

What a pretty view!

We passed by another theatre, the Herodion...

before continuing up, up, up some more...

After climbing several sets of marble steps, we finally approached the Propylaia, or entrance/gateway...

and caught our first glance of the Parthenon, arguably the most famous temple up on top...

Even covered in scaffolding, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, was something to see...

Another thing I didn't realize, was that the Parthenon, while most famous, is just one of three temples that are up there, and all are dedicated to Athena!

We walked along the side...

and around to the other end with no scaffolding...

We enjoyed the view from over there, too!

We left passing by the back of the Erechtheion, that was built to house a large, wooden statue of Athena...

and enjoyed some more beautiful views from up above...

This olive tree was supposedly a gift from Athena, but the current one is only about 70 years old... Ha!

We still had to take a picture with it, though...

I meant, a few pictures with it...

We circled back around to the Parthenon for one last look at both the temple...

and the views...

because, after all, we worked hard to get up there!

On our way back down to the city...

we stumbled upon a long set of descending steps...

{at the top of the steps}

and later learned that they are called the Mnisikleous Street Steps and are a part of the Plaka neighborhood. They continue down straight through a cluster of quaint cafes. It looked like the place to be, and I'd love to spend some more time exploring the area, if we ever get the chance to go back someday...

We headed back to our hotel to check in on Grandma and then went to a restaurant close by to grab lunch...

where everything was just yummy!

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with someone really, really special. About 35(!) years ago, my middle-school-aged husband was matched with a pen pal in Greece.

Now, I remember pen pal programs being a "thing" when we were in older elementary school/middle school in the late 1980s, and I vaguely remember even having one, but I'm not really sure. I would venture to guess that there are a good many people, like me, that may have written a letter or two to someone, about the same age, in another city or country, but not many of us kept it up...and certainly not for very long!

The amazing story here is that Hubby and D kept in touch...for 35 years! Though they lost touch for a few years in college, they reconnected afterwards and now keep in touch mainly through social media.

And, yesterday, they were able to meet in person for the very first time!

We headed up to the top of our hotel to grab a picture of the "pen pals" of 35 years!

and of Grandma with the Acropolis, too!

The (now) SEVEN of us set out in search of some more gelato. After all, our morning fill was long since depleted...

We enjoyed a good, long visit and then parted ways...

 Grandma retired for the evening, and the kids and I headed up to our hotel's rooftop restaurant to grab diner, while Hubby & D set off to find somewhere to visit...

What a special day!

The next morning, Hubby and the kids got up early, grabbed breakfast, and set off on an adventure...

Grandma and I got all the bags sorted and packed, and then headed up for a later breakfast, with a view, of course...

Spanakopita has long been a favorite of mine. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had some as part of my last meal on the night I went into the hospital to be induced with B...

BUT, as expected, spanakopita in Greece is a whole 'nother level!

While Grandma and I were enjoying our breakfast, Hubby and the kids went out exploring, wandering through the National Garden...

and visiting the Panathenaic Stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896...

The kids ran a lap around the track...

{M wasn't quite as prepared in her flops!}

took a rest in the stands...

hightailed it up the steps...

{See those tiny dots up near the top???}

and got a feel for the medal podiums...

giving everyone the chance to try out...

that gold medal spot!

Which one might be most accurate for today's events???

After playing around in the stadium, they followed the old athlete tunnel to the attached museum...

which holds various memorabilia...

including posters and torches from previous games...

Still mid-morning, we reunited to meet up with our driver and headed out to the airport...

Until next time, Athens!

When we finally landed in Atlanta, after our 11.5 hour flight...

it felt sooo good to be almost home (after that 11.5 hour flight). In fact, it kind of felt like we were already home. At this point, we could rent a car and get home if needed, so that felt really good...you know, in case we didn't want to get back on a plane (after that 11.5 hour flight)!

All kidding aside, we caught our connecting flight up to Charlotte, collected the car, and drove the rest of the way home.

HOME...

It was an absolutely incredible adventure, but it's also so good to be back home...

More {EUROPE} 2022 Fun

Day One - Barcelona Day 1
Day Two – Barcelona Day 2
Days Three & Four – Barcelona Day 3 + AT SEA
Days Five & Six – Gibraltar + AT SEA
Day Seven – Marseille, France
Day Eight – Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure & Portofino (Genoa), Italy
Day Nine – Pisa (Livorno), Italy
Day Ten – Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Days Eleven & Twelve – Pompeii (Naples), Italy + AT SEA
Day Thirteen – Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Day Fourteen – Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey
Day Fifteen – Istanbul, Turkey
Day Sixteen – Mykonos, Greece