| Holiday Ratings | |
| Recommended days | 3 |
| Budget | £ |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Now the kids have both left home it’s difficult to get quality time together so we try and do a couple of weekend breaks together each year. The first one of this year was Athens for the weekend, booked through BA holidays and an attempt to get them some historical awareness and culture.
Luckily I’d been there before so they wouldn’t have to spend tedious amounts of time at all the historic sights and Natalya could fit in the huge amount of cafe visits on her list!
Our Accommodation
We stayed in the Hotel Phillipos, as part of the BA travel package. The hotel was a real bargain and we had a good room and access to the roof terrace. We were pretty much the only guests too as it was low season. The hotel was a few minutes walk from the Acropolis and old city.
Athens Old City
After checking in to the hotel we wandered through the old centre of Athens,around the Acropolis and Agora via a couple of cafes and also a fish spa where we had a fish pedicure. This was a fun experience and also completely unexpected!
Acropolis 
Athens 
Athens 
Athens 
Byron’s Monument 
Monastiraki Square 
Tower of the Winds 
Tower of the Winds
Acropolis
I had to drag them out of bed at the crack of 8.15 the next morning (damned frustrating waste of half the day!) and we had breakfast and then took the short walk to the Acropolis. The weather was glorious and we spent quite a long time climbing the hill and looking at the ruins although it was obviously crowded with other selfish tourists by this time.
Acropolis 
View over the Agora 
View over the Agora 
Acropolis 
Acropolis 
Odeon of Herodes Atticus 
Odeon of Herodes Atticus 
Parthenon 
Acropolis 
Acropolis 
Temple of Athenian Nike 
Acropolis 
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Museums and Temples
We then walked through the Agora area and the Temple of Hephaesteus before heading in to the Agora museum and then a cafe before another wander to the Temple of Olympic Zeus. Since my previous visit (2016) the area around the Agora has been cleaned up and it was less threatening now.
In one day we saw some amazing highlights of Hellenic civilisation and Roman imitation. After dinner we went to the roof terrace and chatted while I took a succession of out of focus night shots of the Parthenon ……
Agora museum 
Agora museum 
Temple of Hephaeaston 
Temple of the Olympian Zeus 
Temple of Hephaeaston 
Temple of the Olympian Zeus 
Parthenon 
Parthenon
Parthenon Museum
The next morning the weather was pretty pants – showers, cold and very windy. It really helped to know the UK was enjoying a heatwave! We walked to the Parthenon Museum and looked at the carvings and sculptures that are still left.
After the Persians sacked and desecrated the Acropolis the Athenians buried the remaining statues and the colours can now be recreated because they were originally painted. Fascinating as I’m sure you’ll agree!
Byzantine and Christian Museum
We sampled the delicious cakes at the cafe there before a long walk through the rain and hurricane force winds to the Byzantine and Christian Museum. A bit of a niche place but I enjoyed it and I didn’t hear the kids complain! It also has an excellent cafe!
We then sheltered inside for the evening, listening to the wind blow the furniture around on the balcony and the rain lash against the windows. We had a delightful 4AM alarm call on Sunday ready for our trip home.
Athens is a lovely city for a weekend break and I and a great time with the girls, cramming a lot into 2 days. The city is easily walkable although it would have been nice to have time to visit the 2 hills overlooking the Acropolis by taxi. I am hoping the huge distances we walked compensated in some way for the vast cake and dessert mountain we consumed!
2019