Athen’s Other Sites

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Athens, Europe, Greece

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Agora, Arch of Hadrian, Athens, Mt Lycabettus, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Temple of Olympian Zeus

This is post six of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

While the Acropolis is arguably Athen’s main draw, there are plenty of other sites to see if you’re a ruins lover, many of which can be accessed for free with your Acropolis ticket.

Ascending up Mt Lycabettus

Rising 200 meters above the rest of the area, Mt. Lycabettus is a great way to get panoramic views of Athens. You can get to the top of the mountain one of two ways – walking, or paying 7 euros to take the funicular up to the top.

Since it was a boiling 88 degrees, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to conserve our energy and take the furnicular.

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Taking it Indoors: Athen’s Museums

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Athens, Europe, Greece

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Athens, Byzantine Museum, National Archaeological Museum, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

This is post five of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

I have a mixed relationship with museums. I love walking through them, but scarcely read anything. This means that an average museum trip for Mrs. Selfish and I is usually less than 2 hours.

We’ve blazed through the Uffizi in Florence (where we almost missed the Birth of Venus), the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Museum of Natural History in NYC, to name a few. Undoubtedly we missed much.

So when it came to Athens, I was debating whether or not we should even head indoors. With 3 full days in Athens, however, it became clear that we were running out of things to do, so we decided to head to the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine Museum. Good thing too, as both proved to be well worth the trip.

The National Archaeological Museum

Considered (by Wikipedia) to be one of the greatest museums in the world, the National Archaeological Museum has one of the largest collections of ancient artifacts I’ve ever seen.

I love me some Greek statues, so this was well worth the trip. It was also nice to actually see the statues in Greece, as opposed to other European museums where they were “on loan” or had been looted from Greece hundreds of years ago. Entrance to the museum was 7 euros per person. Continue reading →

Oompa! Eating Athens

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Athens, Europe, Food & Drinks, Greece

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Athens, Greece, Karavan, Manh Manh, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Souvlaki, Thanasis, To Steki tou Ilia

This is post four of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Having recently eaten our way through Taipei, Mrs. Selfish and I were finally getting tired of Asian food, a rare feat in the Selfish Household. Fortunately, we were now in Greece and I was hungering for some Greek food.

Pitas! Gyros! Lamb! Feta! Baklava! Actually, that’s about all the Greek food I knew going in.

Apparently our offerings of Greek food Stateside are very weak and consists almost entirely of gyros, which is like going to a sushi restaurant and declaring you know Japanese food. We just don’t get the breadth of Greek food in the good ol’ USA.

Fortunately, Athens has a wide variety of Greek food types, so we set out to expand our palettes.

Munching down at Manh Manh

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Starting at the Top: The Acropolis

15 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Athens, Europe, Greece

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Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

This is post three of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

For our first day in Athens Mrs. Selfish and I headed to the Acropolis. The largest tourist attraction in Athens (and possibly in Greece), the Acropolis is a collection of four ancient buildings that sit on top of a flat rock a few hundred feet above the rest of the city.

Constructed in the 5th century, BC, the Acropolis is most noted for the Parthenon, which dominates the skyline. Since Athens was conquered several times over the last 2000+ years, the Acropolis has been burned and reconstructed many, many times.

Since 1975, however, the Greeks have made a serious effort to restore the Acropolis, which was ravaged by pollution, war, and poor restoration. Most notably, the Venetians (the jerks of the Adriatic, as we would later learn in Dubrovnik) damaged it with artillery fire back in late 1600’s and it never fully recovered.

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Acropolis for Breakfast: Staying at the Hilton Athens

14 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, Athens, Europe, Greece, Hilton

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Acropolis, Asiana, Athens, Hilton Athens, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

This is post two of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

After a busy night in Taipei, and a trip to the best shaved ice place ever, Ice Monster, Mrs. Selfish and I woke up at 4 in the morning and hopped in a cab to the Taipei airport.

A little groggy, we were awakened by our cab driver’s erratic style – namely using the gas and the brake pedals simultaneously. That takes talent.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Selfish’s was starting to experience morning sickness, so we were more than happy to exit the cab 30 minutes later to start the next leg of our journey: Taipei to Athens by way of Seoul and Frankfurt.

Admittedly, I was pretty excited since we were going to get to try out Asiana first class from Seoul to Frankfurt, a 11+ hour flight.

While the seats were a little dated, the service and food was outstanding! I especially enjoyed eating bibimbap at 30,000 feet – though technically this was probably more like fried rice since the bowl was not a sizzling hotpot, so the rice couldn’t achieve the proper level of crispiness.

21+ hours of travel later, we arrived at our next stop: Athens.

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Greece Lightning: Heading to Greece

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Europe, Greece

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Athens, Greece, Hilton Athens, Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

This is post one of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Man, what a year it’s been! I reported back on the first half of our trip to Taiwan and Greece back in September, and then skipped ahead to our trip to Korea.

Why? Chalk it up to preparing for Baby Selfish, too much traveling, or downright laziness, but the fact of the matter is that I broke up Taiwan and Greece because they felt like two separate trips. I mean, check out this map:

Finally! A legit round-the-world trip.

So that brings me back to Greece. Mrs. Selfish and I visited Italy back in 2010, and Turkey earlier this year, but Greece had always been high up on our list.

You don’t really need a reason with sites like this. Continue reading →

Triple the Jetlag to Taiwan and Greece!

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, Asia, Europe, Greece, Hilton, Hyatt, Taiwan

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Around the World, Athens, Grand Hyatt Taipei, Greece, Mykonos, Santorini, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Taipei, US Airways

Over the last week we’ve been moving all the crap I never thought I’d see again out of a 16’ x 8’ x 8’ container into a space roughly 3/5 the size of our Orlando house. The amount of stuff we have has been so daunting, that we have to put our Tanzania trip report on a brief hiatus.

Man, I hoped I’d never see this stuff again.

After living out of a suitcase for the last 20 months, it’s been a pretty draining experience. “Why do we have so much clothes? Why did we buy all of this stuff? Who bought this???”

So I’m really looking forward to our upcoming trip to Taiwan and Greece next week.

Yes, Taiwan & Greece. One trip. 2 continents. 3 bouts of jetlag.

We are literally flying around the world this time.

Triple the insanity for 120,000 US Airways miles each!

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The Selfish Years

~ Over 200 cities, 42 countries, 6 continents and counting.

Tag Archives: Athens