Athens

After our rough day in Ephesus the previously day we were pretty nervous to attempt our next port of Athens. We talked about lessons learned from the day before, worked out a plan for the day and then said a prayer before heading out that it would all work together. 

We got off the boat pretty early so we could take in at least one sight before nap time for Graham. We had to take a taxi into the city of Athens which was about 30 minutes or so away from the port. We arrived at the Acropolis, found the entrance, dropped off the stroller at the cloak room, got Graham in the baby carrier and started the ascent up to the Acropolis. 

We passed by a theatre on the way....Peyton wanted a rock that I believe made it back to Saudi and is around the house somewhere.  

We kept climbing and finally were on the top with some awesome views. They were doing a bunch of work on the monoments and so there was scaffolding over many of the faces which was disapointing. 

Loved the views and seeing so many temples and ruins scattered around the city and finding them intermixed with the modern development.

After we walked down from the Acropolis we found Mars Hill. This is where Paul preached Acts 17:24, ""Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands." 

I had brought excerpts of Acts and we read them on the hill and it was one of our favorite moments as a family. Seeing the temples made by hands and seeing what Paul must of seen was pretty awesome and brought so much life to the scripture and what was being conveyed.


We then got our one and only (minus one from the cruise ship photographers) family picture. I didn't feel comfortable asking people to use my new camera but we figured we were on a rocky hill, the man was with his wife and couldn't go far so when he offered we took him up on it. Not the best picture with Graham shoved in a carrier, Peyton and her hood on but I will take it and am thankful to have it.

Following this we went and got the stroller, got Graham down for a nap and started heading towards the parliament area. We stopped for fresh strawberries and bread as a snack. Wandered down an amazing shopping street that I would have loved to stop at. Found McDonald's which we ended up eating at instead of the restaurant I was planning on but was worth it due to the ease of it. I am proud to say that we only ate at McDonald's twice the whole trip. Even if it is easy, the kids will eat the food....I wanted to experience different food. I will say that although I had researched restaurants to eat at, our plans never seemed to work out exactly and we didn't eat at any of them. Probably still good to have an idea of a good kid friendly place in case you can't find something appropriate but we ended up winging it every time and it worked out. 

After lunch we walked to the Parliament building and watched the changing of the guards. I picked this because I thought Peyton would enjoy it...she could have cared less. John and I enjoyed it though.

Following the changing of the guards there was man selling food for the pigeons. Peyton did enjoy this and had a blast. 

We then walked to the Plaka area of Athens and walked around the shops and then found a cafe for some ice cream, drinks and more lunch since John and I didn't each much at Mc Donald's. I liked the Plaka area, more of what I imagined Athens to be like with cute streets and nice cafes. 

Our opinion of Athens....we were really disappointed in the amount of graffiti and how dirty it was. It was the dirtiest city we visited by far. There was also so much to chose from and you could easily wander to other sites that you weren't planning on seeing which is awesome and fun if you have all the time in the world but when you are there for the day you have to pretend like those places don't exist. The Acropolis was pretty awesome and very impressive to both of us. Overall...it was alright, a place we are glad we went to but don't see us going back. Maybe if we were heading to one of the islands we would add an extra day or so in Athens to see the museums and other sites we missed but that is about it.


Next stop....Naples and Pompeii!