Athens is the heart of Greece. Never been in this country, until 34, but the authentic marathon opened some travel doors. About the event itself I’ve wrote here, so now I am concentrating on the city, so to make a brief but concentrated guide if you want to have a nice experience while visiting the filled of history location. We land late Friday afternoon and quite quick we find the train that supposed to take us to the city center, it is a metro line, the trip is about 50 minutes and the fare costs 9 EUR. Simple as that, the only problem is that the train schedule is every 40 minutes or so and we need to wait a bit. In the end, we make it, and we get out at Monastiraki square, the core of Athens. A flamboyant place crowded and very pleasant. Luckly, our hotel, Evripides, is only 700 meters from the location. As we are walking the streets, Athens doesn’t look particularly squeaky clean, but we just want to arrive and to unpack our stuff and, perhaps, have a short walk in the neighborhood. Even though November, the capital city of Greece is warmer than Bucharest.

Preparation for the marathon

A huge surprise comes up when we discover the hotel and the room in particularly. Evripides is a two-star hotel, and its surroundings are buildings with a lot of graffiti on it and… the Marseille experience came to my mind, especially that this one is even cheaper. But… wow! Once entering the facility, the first impression was of a four-star facility. The guy from the reception welcomed us very warmly and said: “You are here for the marathon, right? Well, the breakfast is every morning from 07:00 to 10:15, but on Sunday we will open from at 05:00 AM so for you to have time!” I almost shit myself, metaphorically speaking, as it was something I was never accustomed to. The customer service, from the beginning, is outstanding! Now… to the room! Wow! What a pleasant smell! The room looks great, great! I am thrilled, but now we just want to unpack and exit for a short walk in the region, because we want to taste a bit of Athens.

Monastiraki, at the feet of Acropolis, heart of Athens

We do so, a good evening walk. We see the Acropolis by night, as it is very near Monastiraki. We plan to visit the location eventually, the most important landmark of the city, of course. Until then, we only take a taste of the surroundings and actually stop for a good Greek dinner. I choose the famous mousaka, a traditional dish made with minced meat, potatoes and, I think, some cheese: delicious! A two-person consistent meal in the city center of Athens is not more expensive than 35 EUR, which doesn’t mean too much, since this is a similar price to the local places near my apartment block, in Bucharest’s outskirts… Not to mention that we got our dinner in less than 5 minutes, while in Romania you wait for a portion of chips at least 20 minutes. Another positive thing and another excellent peace of customer service. Now, it is time to go back to our room and to prepare a Saturday of exploring.

Evripides Hotel has it all!

We wake up at around 09:00 AM and go for the breakfast, which is included in the accommodation. We discover the great view that the restaurant has, directly to Acropolis. Wow! What a great hotel. The food options are not huge, but if you eat some feta cheese and some Greek yogurt with dried fruits you will last through the day. Their diaries are outstanding. Now, I need to pick up my kit. The location is not that easy to reach. The metro trip ends at Karaiskakis stadium, the home field of Olympiacos Piraeus, and we need to switch to tram no. 7 to reach the exposition center. The big problem is that we face a lot of difficulties to find the cable car station. In the end, we reach it, make it to the destination, but the center… Well, it is like Ikea, like… Jumbo – no wonder they are from Greece! :))) – after picking up my BIB, I needed to pass through the entire center to take also my t-shirt. A very nice one, though. Blue, ideal for Greece. Now, what’s next? We have already discussed: Piraeus. The port of Athens, since I was speaking about Olympiacos, the most successful football club in Greece.

35 EUR for a ticket at Olympiacos – AEK? Neah…

Actually, after we walked through the harbor, took some picture and ate some delicious sandwiches we are thinking that we might want to go to Olympiacos – AEK Athens, that will take place in the evening of my marathon. In the end, we declined the option, because the cheapest ticket we could buy was 35 EUR. It didn’t worth it and… we were right, 0-0 at the end. Now, though, back to the story. We are getting back to the hotel and prepare for a harsh morning. Wake up early, to go to Marathon. Sure, I will not repeat myself, as I wrote this already, so I am getting directly to the finish and to the decision of going to eat after a brutal intense experience. We have identified a location from a day before and so I am ordering some grilled squid, a spinach pie and some beans. I eat it without breathing, as I am very hungry. Now, a short walk to Acropolis, but… we cannot enter. The visiting program is until 17:00 PM and we are getting outside of the schedule. No worries, outside the edifice there is a hill where we can take wonderful pictures, so we do.

Athens, filled with graffiti, but very clean and friendly!

Next? Hmmm… a big surprise! I am not necessary attracted to these kinds of places, but my beautiful girlfriend thinks we should give a shot to Athens Hall of Horrors which is… different! But you need to meet some specific criteria so to be able to visit, as it is quite spooky. The day heads to a nice end, I have achieved what I wanted, and since I am still having muscle pains, as you can imagine, after 42 kilometers, we continue the walk through the great streets near Monastiraki, at the bottom of Acropolis and enjoy Athens at its prime. The building look to be neglected and the traffic it’s a chaos, yep, but Athens is very clean and the people, all over, are almost exaggerated friendly. It seems like a great place to be and even to live in. I am pleased of Athens and now it is time for rest and to enjoy our final day, Monday, and, finally, to visit Acropolis. The ticket is 10 euros, and it is quite unexpensive for what the place has to offer. We walk through it, took pictures – found out I cannot take them with an object in front of the camera, my medal that is – but no problem.

Athens, a masterpiece from above

The view from Acropolis over Athens is huge and majestic – to be honest it looks even better than at street level. I love that! We eat once more near the Monastiraki square, this time I’ve ordered stuffed tomatoes, and make some souvenir shopping – could not leave Athens without some physical memories. Done, one more delicious ice cream from this location, heading back to pick up our luggage from Evripides hotel and off we go back to Bucharest! What can I say? The Greek experience was wonderful, and I recommend it to everybody. Maybe I didn’t put in too many hints, but at least you know about how to reach the city center from the airport, what is one of the best options for accommodation – of, Evripides cost 147 EUR for three nights, which is absolutely nothing comparing to the offer – and also tipped you about Acropolis and Hall of Horrors. Also, the walks through the core of Athens, the souvenir streets are unforgettable. Eat near Monastiraki and try the ice cream mentioned above. Go to Piraeus, it is lovely, and you can experience the town differently. So, you’re welcome! 🙂