History and Gyros | Athens, Greece | Wanderlust Beauty Dreams

The journey to Athens from Corfu was a long one but nonetheless I was excited to be in the capital of Greece! Here's an Athen's Travel guide on what to get up to while visiting.

Athens, Greece.

Athens is the capital of Greece and its largest city. It’s one of the world’s oldest cities with a recorded history spanning over 3,400 years. Home to Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, it was a center for philosophy and the arts, and the place where many people start or finish their trips around Greece.

Today, Athens remains the financial, political, cultural, and economic hub capital of Greece. Piraeus Port is still one of the world’s busiest. It’s home to the Acropolis and the famed Parthenon, and it became the first city to host the modern-day Olympics in 1896. It would host it again in 2004, becoming one of just a few cities in the world to host it more than once.

We arrived in late afternoon to our hotel and the realization that some people from our tour were departing soon. If you haven't read my previous blog posts you might be confused. The tour London to Athens + 9 day Greek Adventurer (click here to read more about it) was split into sections. Some of our fellow travelers departed in Rome, some were departing in Athens, and then a bunch of new travelers were joining the remaining few for the Greek Islands part of the tour. Our farewell dinner was walking distance from our hotel, which I liked because we were able to sight see a little bit before we headed over to the restaurant. Our big group took over the restaurant, while we ate and conversed, we also had some dancers and musicians performing. After our dinner we headed back to our hotel's rooftop to say our final goodbyes to those who had flights early in the morning. Our tour didn't officially end till the next day for the others who were departing.

The next day was our morning of sightseeing and exploring the Acropolis. We had a local tour guide who told some fun facts and history bits while walking up to the Acropolis. The views from the Acropolis were breathtaking! You can see the whole city from there and it was just unreal. Being able to see the pantheon in real life was incredible! You're are just left in awe, looking at the architecture and standing in an area where history was built. We had some free time to explore the area and take photos before heading back down to the meeting spot. We then went back onto the coach bus and were shown around the city for a brief time.

It was that time that everyone was dreading, a few travelers from our tour were leaving back home or continuing their travels elsewhere. This part of the trip was the hardest!!! Words can't describe the relationships that were formed that will last a lifetime. We all started off as strangers and at the end we were all super close friends. Most of us shed some tears before saying goodbye and were left the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Since a good majority of us signed up for the Greek Islands, we kept the tradition of eating all together for dinner going. We had a chill night with the rest of the remaining crew.

The following day we all had breakfast and went off to walk around, shop, and eat. During this time there were many protests going on because of the government, so some shops were closed. But it didn't really affect tourists. We had a couple of hours to spare till we met our new tour manager and new tour group members. I was excited to meet new faces and see how this part of the tour would be like. At the meeting, we met everyone and headed to dinner right after. After dinner, most of us did some shopping at the plaza before heading back to the hotel. Keep an eye out for my next few blog posts in Greek Islands!

Farewell Dinner.