After our fantastic trip to Rome where my husband “geeked out” on all things Classics, we decided to go farther back in time to Ancient Greece. Within a week of returning from Rome, he was already planning a 5-day New Year’s Trip to Athens.
Little did we know at the time, this would be our last vacation pre-COVID. The last time we traveled as a family without masks, without writing down our names for contact tracing, or without fear that someone’s cough would send us into quarantine.
Our 2020 started a bit rough. On New Year’s Eve, minutes after expressing how much we enjoyed Greece and were ready to explore more, my daughter had her new iPhone stolen off our table in downtown Athens by a beggar. In mere seconds, we took it all back.
That being said, our family rallied and recovered quickly to salvage the rest of the vacation. I’m very glad we made the trip, and I do recommend it as part of a larger Greece vacation. However, I am not particularly anxious to visit quite yet. Some time needs to pass. That being said, if you are traveling with teens to Greece and making an Athens stop, here are a few posts which I hope will help. Our itinerary is at the bottom.
Where we Stayed: Plaka
During our Athens vacation, we stayed in the Plaka neighborhood. After some warnings from friends who recommended paying extra attention to the neighborhoods, we decided to splurge a bit and stay in Plaka, which is the nicest neighborhood and close to everything. Right outside our door was a small grocery store and tons of restaurants. We could even see the Acropolis from the next street over. It was the perfect location.
In addition, this may have been the best Airbnb we have yet to stay in. The apartment, which sat a bit below street level, was the ideal set up for our family of four. We had two big bedrooms, two bathrooms (only 1 shower), and a fully stocked kitchen. Outside, we even had a little patio. Had the weather not been so terrible, it would have been the perfect spot for an evening happy hour. Our hosts even arranged airport drop off and pick up for us, which I would highly recommend.
Tips for First-Time Visitors Adventuring Through Athens
Our end of 2019 Athens trip was a mixed bag. We loved learning about the beginning of Western civilization. The Ancient Greeks were amazingly smart and innovative. But Athens is also dirty and full of crime (like pickpockets and theft). I would certainly recommend including Athens, at least a day or two, into any Greek itinerary. Athens is both a jumping off point for other places in Greece (like lovely picturesque islands) and a city worth spending a few days for a fantastic ancient history lesson. If you decided to roll Athens into your relaxing Greek Isles destination trip, we’ve listed out a few things to note before you go.
Learning to Cook Greek Food in Athens
One of the best ways to learn about a culture is through food. We’ve started incorporating food tours or cooking classes into all our vacations. It’s a great way to meet the locals and get a deeper understanding into what makes a place unique. We added a cooking class from Onion Athens to our itinerary while in Athens. Even one year later, we’re still making the moussaka and cheese pies. Read more about it here.
Taking a Peloponnese Day Trip from Athens
We anticipated five days might be a bit long for just Athens We opted for a day trip outside the city to see more history. My classics-loving husband scoured Airbnb Experiences and Trip Advisors to choose the perfect day-trip tour.
Our 12-hour day trip took us to the Corinth Canal, Ancient Corinth, Mycenae, Epidaurus, and Nafplio. In the end, we were happy to see something outside of Athens to get a taste for life beyond the city. I found this particular excursion a bit too much for our last day, but I highly recommend getting out of town for at least a day. Read more about our trip here.
How to Train Like Olympians in Athens
While visiting Athens, we wanted to balance looking at broken ruins with fun activities for our teens. Because of the rave reviews on TripAdvisor, we booked an Olympic Games Workout and Tour through Alternative Athens. This ended up being something very different and something to get us moving on a cold morning. We learned quite a bit about the Olympics and some of this legendary games, such as Discus, Javelin, Shot Put, and Jumps, and how to do them and how they are scored. Then we had a little family competition. Read more about this activity here.
What We Did: Our Itinerary
Day 1
- Arrived very, very late after luggage took an hour and a half to arrive in baggage claim. Our Airbnb arranged for the airport transfer.
Day 2
- Walking Tour with George. (4+ hours)
- Greek Cooking class with Onion Athens.
Day 3 (New Year’s Eve)
- Visit to the Acropolis Museum.
- Visit to the Acropolis.
- Lunch at Efcharis Restaurant.
- New Year’s Eve roaming around downtown.
- Late night dinner at a nearby restaurant to apartment (post iPhone incident)
Day 4 (New Year’s Day)
- Dinner at Ovio.
Day 5
- Olympic Games Workout and Tour through Alternative Athens.
- Visit Ancient Agora.
- Family divides up for massage, mani/pedi, CrossFit workout.
- Dinner at Fine Mess Smokehouse
Day 6
- Peloponnese Day trip with Penguin Tours. (12 hours, long day)
Day 7
- Left so early in the morning it didn’t even count as a day.
All photos © Linda Kerr, TravelTeening
