Hoags in Europe - Athens

Before leaving Brussels, two of Brian's friend joined us, Justin and DJ. Both are fellow Marines with Brian and live in San Diego. Matt and DJ were groomsmen together in Brian's wedding so they knew each other but I'd never met either. And what's pretty incredible is how the six of us got along the whole time and how much fun it was to be in a group traveling. Not that I expected to fight with anyone, but traveling can be stressful and is an opportune time to get tired and cranky and be easily annoyed. And with six different personalities and six different opinions on what to do and when it could get frustrating. But I can happily report that we didn't experience any of that nonsense!

We arrived around dinner time and this little place was just down the street from our hotel. It was a great find, we scored gyros for only 2 euros each. And they were delicious and filling!

See? Don't they look delicious? And yes those are french fries in there. We ate here twice. Tasty and cheap, yes please!

Our hotel. Looks fun, hip and modern, and it was. The only downside is those colored lights shine right into your room while you're trying to sleep so you really have to make sure the blinds are shut with no openings.

We took our 2 euro gyros and enjoyed them on the hotel's rooftop bar. AND it was incredible. Looking out at the lights of the city, including the Acropolis was a memory that I will not soon forget.

When checking in we were told to forget about US times and embrace Greek times, meaning the dance clubs and partying begins at 2 am and doesn't end until dawn. I'm pretty sure these strobe lights are where the parties were at.

I wish you could tell better from our pictures what a striking view this was, but nighttime pictures are hard to get without a tripod or a steady hand (and the beers we enjoyed from the bar didn't help with that!).

The next day we had a long list of places to visit since we only had a day and a half to explore the city. We got an early start to try to beat the heat and literally walked ALL day. Jen and I went to Athens together during our year abroad as part of the school's Christmas tour  and had seen all the main attractions already, so we let the boys determine what sights to see. It was nice to be there in the summer when a coat wasn't required, but it was almost too hot. We drank a lot of water and lathered on a lot of sunscreen and embraced the sweat!

Beautiful blue skies and impressive columns still standing after all these years!

Gotta take a handful of self portraits on every trip we take.

Athens is a very sprawling city. Some guy from NYC tried to tell us it was the biggest city he'd ever seen. I'm pretty sure that isn't what he meant, maybe just seemed bigger because you can see the city go on and on compared to NYC's tall buildings that are packed in there.

Watching a performance in an old theater. Okay, so there wasn't actually a performance but it felt good to rest our legs a little!

Impressive, right?

Back again after 9 years. Can't believe it was THAT long ago that we were studying abroad. We had so much fun reflecting back on all our travels together and making new memories after all these years. How fortunate are we to have married two best friends!?

Just ignore that ugly construction back there.

There we go, that's a better angle.

Our trip was in mid-June, right around the peak of strikes and riots going on in Greece. We weren't afraid of being in danger while there, but we were nervous about potential travel difficulties like buses, trains and taxis being on strike. We were really fortunate because our time in Athens was sandwiched between two weeks that were much more "eventful." We checked out the activity around the Parliament and it was pretty quiet. Still people camping out and plenty of signs though.

 

 

The Parliament building.

DJ was our fearless leader, mapping out our tour and making sure we didn't get lost, or getting us un-lost when we did!

And here are a few more pictures to show you Athens through our eyes. It really is a gorgeous city. Hard to comprehend how old everything is and the fact that its still standing! We were blessed with such a beautiful day that the blue sky sure makes these pictures shine.

The only disappointment in Athens was that the Olympic stadium was closed to the public as they were setting up for the 2011 Special Olympics. I really wish Matt had a chance to see it. Perhaps that means we need to go back!