My Three Perfect Days in Athens
Growing up, I would always browse the glossy pages of Hemispheres magazine when on a United flight with my parents. Each issue was proudly emblazoned with “Three Perfect Days in…,” a recurring feature that took the reader to global places. Even destinations as seemingly plain as Omaha, Nebraska (no offense to any Nebraskans out there…I’m sure it’s lovely place!) seemed cool and worthy enough to hop on a flight for.
I always wondered how you could see a whole destination just within the span of three days. Surely it’s not enough time, I would question to myself. However, after spending three perfect days in Athens, Greece, I feel that three days is a lovely way to get a taste for the life in some lovely places.
Day 1
In all honesty, Day 1 did not go according to plan. What meant to be an afternoon arrival into Greece became a late evening arrival. After missing my early morning Ryanair flight to Athens due to a slew of travel hiccups, I had to switch London airports to make an afternoon flight with Sky Express – a Greek airline I had never flown with before.
Nevertheless, I finally made it into the city around 9:30 pm. I met up with my two friends from university, Sam and Jacob, at our hotel – Hotel Attalos. The hotel was lovely and within a close distance to all the Greek attractions we planned to see over the next couple of days.
We had a late dinner and drinks at Ciel, a breakfast bar with an incredible view of the Acropolis at night. The night flew by as I spent my time catching up with friends I hadn’t seen in over five months due to my previous internship abroad.
The Acropolis at night. Photo: Chelsea Henderson
Day 2
The next day we had an early start, planning to see the ancient city in all its glory. We opted for coffee and pastries at Café Veneti, where I bought myself a cheese pie, pain au chocolat, and cappuccino. We ate our delicious meal while sitting down near the Roman Agora with views of the next destination of the day in our sights – the Acropolis.
After finishing our food, we started our ascent to the ancient city. The weather was stunning as we made the steep climb, stopping every so often for photos of the Parthenon from afar. It was all of our first times at the Acropolis, and we couldn’t help but stare in awe at the ancient marble left standing from centuries ago. I guess my years of obsessing over Greek mythology and the Percy Jackson books really paid off!
At the Acropolis! Photo: Chelsea Henderson
We slowly walked around the hilltop looking at the different temples and buildings, as well as admiring the view of the sprawling city of Athens on the clear day. When we’d had our fill of the ancient site, we started our descent. With a few hours to kill before our entry time for the Acropolis Museum, we made our way to the Panathenaic Stadium, which was a short 15-minute walk from the base of the Acropolis. If you visit, make sure to see all the Olympic torches in the small exhibition room! They even already had the torch from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
At the Acropolis Museum, we browsed the items recovered from the Acropolis – statues, pottery, and more that were once located at the ancient city. Photography wasn’t allowed at the museum, which was beautifully curated, but we had coffee afterwards at the museum café. I had a traditional Greek coffee, which is similar to Turkish coffee in the way that it is boiled, not brewed, and has coffee grounds at the bottom of the small mug.
It soon started to rain a bit, and we headed back to our hotel for a brief break to charge our phones. We continued to chat and catch up before getting dinner at Klimataria – a cute little tavern that has great vegetarian mussaka.
We ended the night with another rooftop-view of the Acropolis, but this time at 360 Cocktail Bar just off of Monastiraki Square. If you’re in the mood for something fruity, the “Golden Hour” cocktail is a lovely strawberry-flavoured drink!
Day 3
Our third and final day began at Café Veneti again, where I changed it up a bit by getting a spinach pie alongside a pain au chocolat and cappuccino. We ate our breakfast quickly to get to the Ancient Agora, a beautiful site at the base of the Acropolis with numerous remains of temples, altars, and buildings. My favourite part was the Temple of Hephaestus, which stood on a hill overlooking the Agora. I also managed to become best friends with a kitten that followed us around the site!
The Temple of Hephaestus at the Ancient Agora. Photo: Chelsea Henderson
Once we left the Agora, we made our way to the tram where we would catch the public transportation to Glyfada to see our friend’s workplace. After a brief foray into American Eagle (which I’m almost ashamed to admit, but London doesn’t seem to have this marvellous store), we hopped on the tram to Glyfada to get a tour of Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society. Our tour was very insightful and showed us the turtles in recovery at the centre. We soon said goodbye to our friend Jacob and started the one-hour commute back into town.
The beach in Glyfada. Photo: Chelsea Henderson
Lunch was a quick visit to Falafel House, where I had their original falafel sandwich made with falafel that you could see being made from the store’s front window. We ate our meal in the hotel lounge, and I had a quick internship interview before heading to the airport and leaving this wonderful city behind us.
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Now, I’m off to Vienna, where I’ll finish the rest of week before returning to the real world. My three days in Athens may not have been perfect in the traditional, Hemispheres sense. I didn’t maximize every minute of every day to see every possible attraction in Athens. But it was perfect for me. I saw what – and more importantly, who – I cared about. It was a great introduction to a beautiful country – one that I hope to visit again as soon as possible.
