What to see in Athens besides the Acropolis (and shopping)

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Tin and I arrived in Athens around 1 PM after 18 hours of flying. We had no plans of giving in to sleepiness. We freshened up, asked our favorite receptionist for recommendations of what to see and headed on out.
 

You see, Tin and I are not strangers to getting lost. Our first major experience in Kuala Lumpur had us lost for at least an hour. I think situations like this are a true test of friendship and Tin and I overcame it easily. We weren’t bickering or being negative; we were enjoying the sites and taking photos.  

 
We kinda got lost in Athens again. We missed our stop and got off 3 or 4 stops after. With our trusty map, we walked our way to our original stop and this is how we were able to check out some of Athens’ other sites besides the Acropolis and the ones covered in our Free Athens Walking tour.
 

We had no idea what some of the buildings were at first but we gamely took photos and posed. They were closed thus we weren’t able to explore inside. It was astonishing to be surrounded by so much history and architecture. I kidded from time to time that I felt like I was in a larger DLSU since my alma mater had the same architectural style. 

National Library
It’s too bad we weren’t able to go inside, I googled and it looks rather nice.
 
Don’t you feel like you’re living history with all these details?!?!
 
Can you spot where we are?
 
Gossip Girl lang ang peg, hanging out by the steps. Haha
 
Erhm, someone forgot something.
 
University of Athens during the day
 
University of Athens at night
 
What is the Academy of Athens? It is Greece’s highest research organization. 

 
 
 
These buildings are just next to each other and each building has so much detail. I loooooove.
 
Academy of Athens during the day
 
 
Academy of Athens at night
 
National Gardens
The garden was simple and didn’t have much activity inside. The sun was setting so I wasn’t inspired to take photos of the garden because it was getting dark. Bad blogger. We only spent a few minutes inside the garden.
 
We did however spot this Koulouri vendor by the entrance.
 
 
The vendor had different pastries for sale.
 
Kouluri is similar to a pretzel and what made us buy was the Koulouri filled with Nutella. Magic words, NUTELLA! For €2, we would later find out it was pricey. Nonetheless it was one of the best pastries we tried during the trip. The inside was flaky while the outside was crispy. They don’t scrimp on the Nutella.

You know what else was awesome for me? We arrived on a Sunday and I wanted to attend mass. When we asked Natascha about a Catholic Church, she showed us where it was on the map and it was far from where we were headed. Lo and behold, we missed our stop so badly we came across the Saint Dionysius Cathedral! We were that far away. Luckily someone was inside and we were able to inquire about Mass times. The next mass was in an hour and we had enough time to go back and attend it.

I don’t have photos of the Cathedral but I must say – I got emotional during mass. 70% of the attendees were Filipino and so were the mass readers. I felt the positive energy of the Filipinos around me and it reminded me of home. At the same time, it was surreal to be living the dream and be surrounded by that energy.

Things happen for a reason. It is because of our “misfortune” that allowed us to merrily sight see and more importantly attend mass. Thank you for this special gift universe, and God!



* Additional photos from Tin Samson.


The Athens leg is part of the 2013 Birthday Trip. Check out the itinerary here. The rest of my Athens posts are here:
Part 1: Ilissos Hotel
Part 3: Athens Free Walking Tour
Part 4: The Acropolis
 
Part 5: Psistaria Ambrosia
Part 6: Shopping in Athens

For other hotel options in Athens, click here.


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All the sites mentioned above are located on the same street and walking distance from each other. Visit them all on Panepistimiou Street in Athens.

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Past Photo Walks:
2011
2012

January - Free Luneta Park Tour
February - Humanity Fair 
March - Hotel Kimberly Tagaytay
April - The Full Monty
May - White Knight Intramuros Tour
June - The Mind Museum
July - Makati Walkway
August - Pico de Loro






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