I\u2019m obsessed with Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the moment I stepped foot in this beautiful country, it was love at first mouthful. There\u2019s something about Greece feels so healing. Being there calms my mind, soothes my worries, and leaves me feeling healthier and stronger than ever. And the food? Guys<\/em>. I\u2019ve been to over 90 countries and Greece is my number one destination for eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe Athens is one of the greatest European cities out there, and it\u2019s the perfect destination for a city break. This city is magnificent! With great street art, incredible food, colourful neighbourhoods, and so much history, there really is something for everybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think three days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Athens, so today, I\u2019m excited to share exactly how you can do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing you should do in Athens is a no-brainer: buy your combined ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s that?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it costs \u20ac35, and for that, you\u2019ll gain access to all of the main attractions in Athens, including the Acropolis. Not only will you get to explore the most famous site in the city, but you\u2019ll also<\/em> be able to enter the Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Hadrian\u2019s Library, Aristotle\u2019s School, Kerameikos, and the Olympieion \u2014 you can visit each of these once over a five-day period, and you can buy the ticket at the entrance to any of them. You\u2019ll save a whole bunch of money by doing this, so the only reason not to get the combined ticket is if you think you\u2019ll only want to see one or two of the attractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you happen to be reading this before<\/em> you get to Athens, I highly recommend buying your combined ticket online. Doing so means you get to avoid the long lines for tickets and can simply show the QR code on your phone to gain entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t bought your combined ticket online, once you arrive in Athens, head to the Ancient Agora and join the queue for one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ancient Agora was built in the 6th Century BC and was once the centre of life in ancient Athens. Used as a marketplace and gathering spot, this was where you\u2019d have found people like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato casually wandering around town. Almost all of the commercial, political, and social activity took place in the ancient Agora, so this is a hugely important area to check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve entered the Ancient Agora, head first to the Temple of Hephaestus, which is the best-preserved temple in Athens. And that sure is impressive when you consider that it was built in 415 BC \u2014 it\u2019s still in great condition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The views were pretty acceptable, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from the Temple of Hephaestus, the Ancient Agora is also home to your standard ruin remnants: collections of rocks, stumps, and fallen-down walls, hinting at the temples and stalls that would have once stood here. But, as always with ruins, you\u2019ll have to use your imagination, because it is<\/em> still a pile of rocks on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s the Stoa of Attalos here, too \u2014 built in the 2nd Century BC, although since reconstructed \u2014 which currently acts as a museum for the Ancient Agora. And the Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, which was built in 1000 AD, is one of the few structures in the Agora that\u2019s still standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before arriving in Athens, I kind of assumed it would feel like a poor man\u2019s Rome, but at this point, I was well and truly eating my words. Athens was pretty goddamn awe-inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, you\u2019ll want to make your way over to the Kerameikos Cemetery, which is another site that\u2019s included in your combined pass. This spot was one of the most important regions of ancient Athens. Once used as a neighbourhood for pottery and painters, it was the place where all of those famous Athenian vases were produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was later transformed into a cemetery: one of Athens\u2019 most important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you wander the site, you\u2019ll also be able to spot pieces of the Themistoclean Wall, which was built in 478 BC to protect the city from the Spartans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s impossible to have a bad meal in Greece: their cuisine is too delicious to mess up. I\u2019ve yet to have a meal that wasn\u2019t excellent in this country, whether I\u2019ve been sat beside a congested motorway in the middle of nowhere, snacking at a taverna on a yacht in the Ionian, or dining in the most touristy parts of Athens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latter was exactly what we opted for at lunchtime, and it should have been terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I settled on the most touristy restaurant on the most touristy of streets, with touts outside, and a menu in English with photos of the dishes. What can I say? We were starving by this point, so decided to give in and eat an overpriced, poor meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Except it was amazing! Because Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While I wouldn\u2019t necessarily recommend heading to a touristy restaurant for any of your meals in Athens, I suspect you won\u2019t be all that disappointed if you do end up there. Eat anywhere in Athens! It\u2019s always going to be delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After lunch, it\u2019s time to hit up the second Agora in Athens. The Roman Agora was built in the 1st century BC, financed by Caesar and Augustus, and like the Ancient Agora, was used as the city\u2019s marketplace. You enter the site through the Gate of Athena Archegetis, which was built by Julius Caesar and dedicated to the goddess Athena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most well-known and well-preserved building is the Tower of the Winds: a large octagonal marble tower that functions as a sundial, weathervane, and water clock. It\u2019s believed to be the first meteorological station in the world and it\u2019s well-worth having a look inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m obsessed with Greece. From the moment I stepped foot in this beautiful country, it was love at first mouthful. There\u2019s something about Greece feels so healing. Being there calms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1187,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/1187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athensprivatetours.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}DAY ONE: BEGIN DIVING INTO ATHEN\u2019S HISTORY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n