Greek Seek - Day 1

 

My guy and I decided long ago that for major accomplishments, we would gift our children experiences instead of stuff. So for high school graduation, they get a domestic trip and for college, they get an international trip. He and I both love traveling and hope to pass the love of new experiences, people and places on to them. 

This spring, our not-so-little-guy graduated from UNCW with honors!! For his graduation trip he picked Greece! It didn't surprise me. He's always loved mythology and can tell me the stories in detail. Rick Riordan has always been his favorite author and the Percy Jackson series was his favorite. Greece fit!

He has big plans ahead so I am savoring every second of this trip with him!!

We left RDU at 10:45am on Sunday and arrived in Greece at 11:00am this morning here, Monday. They are seven hours ahead of our east coast time zone. Needless to say, not a huge amount of site seeing today. We are tired!

Trekking through Toronto Airport

Really tired - nearing the end of our 5 hour layover in Toronto.

Ironically, when we boarded our flight from Toronto to Athens, Nia Vardolos was getting on our plane! I mean what are the chances that the star actress from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is flying with us to Greece?!? Obviously, our seats were not in the same section!! :-)

Blurry quick pic of her at her first class seat.

We arrived in Athens, made it through customs and caught our ride to our Airbnb and dropped off the bags since it wasn't quite ready for check in. 

We tiredly strolled down the famous Ermou Street in Athens, just one block up from our place. Lots of fancy shopping there but we were just killing time. Right in the middle of all the shopping was a quaint little church. I found it interesting that the Greeks show reverence to the icons in the church by kissing them. No pics were allowed to be taken while on the inside but it was filled with art on every surface. We grabbed a quick bite and then headed back to our place. 

Ermou Street

Greek Yogurt with fresh fruit, thyme honey and chia seeds

We hung out for while because we were just so tired but trying not to sleep so we could adjust out sleep patterns. So we people watched for a bit from our balcony. Okay, so mayyyybe I closed my eyes for a few minutes.

We are staying in the Plaka region of Athens, the oldest part. So we set out this evening to take a look around at the area. Beautiful old streets, narrow rows of homes, shops and restaurants. And it is all juxtapositioned with ancient ruins!! Just beautiful! We had some traditional Greek food for dinner after exploring and then headed back to our place. Tomorrow we look forward to the ruins!! Goodnight Greece!

A peek at the Acropolis on the hill

Leather sandals and bags are abundant here!

Plaka