When my step-sister told her younger son, age 6, that we had left Rome and went to Athens, he responded with “Rome conquered Athens years ago”. Technically, true, but not in our opinion.
Athens was both friendlier and more welcoming than Rome. Almost everyone we encountered spoke at least a bit of English, which was great because we were completely out of our element language-wise. Rob and I both have enough French and Spanish knowledge to muddle through- even in Italy, as Romance languages are similar enough to, at least, get the gist of signage. Not at all true with Greek. Aside from a few fraternities/sororities, I haven’t even really encountered the Greek alphabet before.
We stayed in two rooms at a lovely hotel in the center of the city. The New Hotel was in a great location with a beautiful view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Rob and I were sitting in the very sophisticated, yet cozy, rooftop bar when an earthquake hit. You can read about it here https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/earthquake-rattles-greece-felt-athens-2022-11-29/ if you are interested. The epicenter was 35 miles away, so we were safe but very surprised! It was the first time our family had ever experienced an earthquake and it isn’t an experience we ever want to relive.
It rained almost the whole time we were in Athens. It really didn’t matter, it was beautiful anyway. The food was good, the pastries were lovely, the coffee was very strong, and the city was incredibly walkable. Truthfully, that’s all I really need.
Ian is the ancient history and archeology lover of the family and he had a list of places that we needed to see. We had scheduled this portion of the trip to coincide with his 12th birthday. He has always shared his birthday with our eldest son, Michael, and this was by far “the greatest birthday ever”.
There was glaring evidence of the economic troubles that Greece has gone through, as we saw many closed businesses and a whole deserted shopping arcade. But there was also obvious signs of returning growth and refurbishment. I think in a couple years Athens will have completely rebounded and I wish I had the money to invest in real estate there right now!
I’d love to return to Greece someday and have time to explore some of the gorgeous islands but, sadly, that will have to wait for another trip. We flew from Athens to Paris on December 1st for the final leg of the trip and I plan to write a post about that in the next couple days. Adío!
2 Comments
Karla & Joe Peskuski · December 13, 2022 at 4:08 pm
Nice, sounds like you had fun. You also didn’t post a pic of our Wonder Woman and I wonder where she could be?
Roni wicker · December 15, 2022 at 1:55 am
Beg to differ. Our family has been in an earthquake before. When we lived in Tennessee in 1973 ( rob was in the first grade), there was a tremor located very close to Knoxville. We were 25 miles away and distinctly felt it. Can’t imagine why Rob doesn’t remember!
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