Greece Part 2- Trip to Athens

Trip to Athens!

    

Saturday through Monday we went to Athens as a family. There were day trips you could take that were organized through the conference, but we had planned out what we wanted to do ahead of time and Eric spent many hours plotting, planning, reserving, researching what we were going to do. (yea Eric!) 

 

Waiting for the bus

 

     We got up early and waited for the public bus (that we were pretty sure drove by without stopping for us, only to be relieved when the real bus did stop for us!) and hopped on for a 1 ½ hour trip to Athens. The public transportation in Greece is very nice and pretty easy to navigate. We had been staying on Evia island. The distance between the mainland and the island if very minimal. I feel like we could swim it.  We arrived and hopped off the bus, and had to move quickly, we had to get on the Metro, switch from green line to red line, (with our suitcases, backpacks, stroller and 4 kids....) find our tour group meeting at 10 a.m. (it was 9:55) AND Eric had to run our bags to our hotel. Thankfully we chose a hotel about a block from the Parthanon so we were right there. It was on this quaint little street, it’s was so cute. Anyway, we made it! We joined a 3 hour walking tour of the city. The boys did really well, all things considered. We had a hard time keeping up with the group at times since we had a stroller (that one wheel randomly falls off of) and 3 midget walkers. Eric basically listened to the tour guide each time we stopped and I kept the children from either a) walking into the street b) walking off with treasures from vendors c) throwing rocks at each other or I was busy d) giving them water and candy. Then he would summarize to me what was said. It worked. 

 

Look hard, we're on the right, gazing at the theatre!

 

After the tour I was sooo beat. We came back to our cute little hotel (a one minute walk!) and ate lunch and I took a nap with the littles. Eric took the big boys around the neighborhood and then they sat up on our hotel roof. 

Hotel roof-top view

      Once everyone woke up it was time for ice cream! We got some yummy gelato that gave us the energy to climb up the Acopolis! (the whole hill area that the Parthanon sits on top of) Pretty amazing. I love how old it all is. We took our time looking around and taking pictures. Then we started off to find a place for dinner. We looked in a few shops along the way, bought the boys Greek god shirts (Alexander the Great!) and ate some super yummy gyros. Then we put those kids to bed! 

Our fun Greek shirts, Hercules, Achilles, Alexander the Great and Pegasus!

A moment to remember!

Almost to the top of the Acropolis

      Sunday we went to Aegina Island for the day. Eric did such a great job planning everything out ahead of time, so we knew exactly what Metro to get on, where to transfer, where to pick up the ferry, etc. It was a 30 min. ferry ride (it was enclosed, no risk of children falling over the edge!). It was such a quaint, cute island! We first walked around all the shops and restaurants, just looking around. Then on a whim, we decided to rent one of those big huge bikes that would hold all 6 of us and peddle around. It was so funny! The best part was going down hills. The kids loved it. 

So fun!

We then ate some lunch, some ice cream and swam in the sea. 

We had planned to stay till 6 pm. but by 4 we were ready to go. We went back to our hotel which was so conveniently located, and strolled around till we found an outdoor pizza place. We had a Greek pizza (!) and some pepperoni too. It looked more like ham so the boys kept telling me I ordered wrong. Trying to explain that pepperoni is different in different parts of the world was not understood. Good thing they like ham too! 

Yummy dinner! We made the boys try Gyros and they loved them.

      Monday we set out to find Mars Hill (where the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians) and after a few detours we finally found it (right after our stroller broke :( ) We brought our Bible to read Acts 17 and Eric and I were embracing this moment and all it meant....as the boys slid around on the slippery marble rocks. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. 

Reading from Acts

We then tried to do some shopping but didn’t have a lot of success. We weren’t really in the right part of town for the kind of shopping I was looking for. (people, I just want a Target, is that too much to ask??). We finished out our day in Athens with McDonalds for lunch for the boys and yummy gyros for Eric and I. (I’m pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in Greece). We then headed back to Evia and the conference in time for dinner. Last part of the trip and some funny moments coming in the next update! Stay tuned...