Greece

I flew to Greece November 7th-10th of 2019. My journey to Greece started when I met up with three other lady companions and to say the least we were very excited! We arrived in Athens at 10 pm and journeyed to our Airbnb in the center of the city. After we checked in, we ventured out to find some food around midnight and found a nice and cheap restaurant. It had great Greek food and our server was so sweet and nice. The man that was encouraging people to come in was so nice and certainly took a liking to us girls. At the end of our meal, the gentleman who greeted us, brought us free shots, and taught us the Greek word for cheers which is “yamas.” All 5 of us, clinged our glasses together shouting “yamas.” Ahh, the shots were very good!

Then Gabbie and I went back to the Airbnb to go to sleep and Tylia and Nicole went out to enjoy the nightlife in Athens, Greece.

Friday 8th, 2019

On Friday, November 8th, 2019, we had a late start on our day because Tylia and Nicole slept in. We went to a coffee shop to grab something to eat. I tried Greek coffee, which is good but hard to describe the taste of it. We went to the Acropolis where there’s so much history and I where I fell in love with the sprawling views of Athens.

Around 4 pm, we ate a late lunch at a restaurant by the Acropolis. We were very excited to have some more Greek food and I was excited to try something that was a traditional Greek meal. Normally, I don’t like olives but I found that I really liked the olives in Greece. They were so good!

We decided to join the hop on and off bus to see more of Athens but we ended up not staying on very long and jumped off at the Parliament House. We walked around the area and saw the temple of Zeus. It was now a little bit past sunset and with a little encouragement from me, I persuaded the others to go up to the roof top bar on the top of the hill called Mount Lycabettus. We got some drinks and had some great conversation over looking the city of Athens at night. They were glad that I pushed them to come to Mount Lycabettus.

Next, we left and decided to find some place to eat. We ate at EyxapiE, and it had really good Greek food! We all got some drinks. Nicole and I shared our dishes. We decided to shared a Greek salad, Metilzanato, and Fava.

As the night set in, we walked back to our Airbnb and Gabbie went to bed. Nicole, Tylia and I decided to go out and get some drinks and enjoy the evening in Athens. We had some great conversations and I enjoyed getting to know them more.

Saturday 9th, 2019

We got an early start on Saturday when we grabbed a hop on and off bus to see more of the city. We decided to stay on the line until it was towards the end of it. We got off where there were some shops and some great restaurants. We shopped around in the market, and then decided to eat lunch. We had some fried zucchini and lamb with lots of cheese and “spicy” sauce on top. The yummy part is that every restaurant in Greece served us dessert with every meal.

Jumping back on the hop on and hop off bus we ended up on the beach route. The beaches were so beautiful! We stayed on the two hour route and then decided to go back to beach that we liked most which was Kavouri beach. We relaxed on the beach and watched the sunset.

Kavouri Beach

I had a wonderful conversation with Nicole at the beach. I was able to get to know her more and I shared with her that I really wanted to see and possibly learn Greek traditional dancing. Nicole was so nice and was willing to go with out with me to make sure that happened.

We were getting hungry so we ended up eating at a restaurant called Arcadia. Arcadia was not the first place we were thinking about going to but when we walked by they told us if we came back we would get free glasses of wine and shots. So, talked us into eating there. They had really good food and treated us very well. Nicole and I shared our meals again. At the end, of our meal we tried the famous anise-flavored liquor that is called “Ouzo.” Ouzo tasted absolutely disgusting, because it taste like black liquorish. We all forced ourselves to drink it since they gave it to us for free but what we all enjoyed was our dessert which was Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts on top.

After eating, we made our way back to our Airbnb and Nicole and I got ready to go back out. We found a traditional restaurant that played traditional Greek music with Greek dancing. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. I absolutely loved listening to Greek music. It is so calming and soothing. Nicole and I continued our wonderful conversations and we both were grateful that we went out that night. I watched strangers in the restaurant sing along to Greek songs. I watched them dance like they already knew each other. It was beautiful! During our time, we were asked if two people could join us at our 4 seated table. We said yes, to the two older men in their late 30s or early 40s.

Greek Music

They explained to us that we were listening to traditional Greek music. They bought us wine and we all raised our glasses and cheered “yamas” while they were singing along to Greek music. They both knew a good amount of English. They ended up inviting us to their table at a night club. All through out the night, people from other tables bought us wine, and we eventually had to say no. It was really cool to hear pop Greek music and also listen to traditional Greek music which was a slower kind of music. Nicole and I stayed out until about 3 am but we both got up at 5:30 am. We got a taxi to Mount Lycabettus to watch the sunrise. We were very tired but it was so worth it. It was beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it. We lived it up and took advantage of every opportunity to experience Greece’s culture. It’s such a beautiful and loving culture. Everyone we came in contact with was so nice and helpful.

After watching the sunrise, we got ready for the day and went to the National Archeological Museum. Then we headed to the airport and arrived back in Barcelona around 7 pm Sunday.

It was a very packed and fun weekend. I am so thankful I was able to experience Greece’s culture in the three whirlwind days. Everything was laid out so perfectly. I miss listening to Greek music at the restaurant and being around loving people that’s full of life and joy. I’m going to have to go back.