Athens 2022

This trip had been quite a long time coming. Athens is a place we have wanted to visit for some time. After all the difficulties at airports recently, this time the journey was a breeze. No queues at all.

We stayed at Cecil Hotel, a lovely little family run place with a spiral staircase and iron gated lift. It was ideally placed on Athinas, within walking distance of all the attractions. We did buy a combo ticket which gave us entrance to the 7 major sites and we managed to see all of them as well as a few others, climbed 6 of the 7 hills of Athens and still had time for a day at the beach on the final day. The highlight had to be the Parthenon, which we saved until later in the holiday. We were at the Acropolis for 8am and so we were able to enjoy it before the hoards of tourists turned up. But we also loved the Ancient Agora and wandering the streets of Athens where we came across lots of little gems. Biggest disappointment was the Temple of Zeus being covered in scaffolding. Really wanted to see that. Another highlight was the food of course; plenty of gyros, as well as souvlaki, meatballs and Greek salad for Kathryn! Gyristroula was our favourite place. Best and cheapest gyros in Greece! The beer was cheap too which was a bonus.

Climbing Mount Lycabettus afforded the best views of Athens, despite the log trek getting there and then the climb. Kathryn regretted our decision to then climb another rocky outcrop overlooking the theatre nearby as she ended up having a nice tumble! The final day, sunbathing on Edem beach rounded off a brilliant holiday.