It’s All Greek to Me
Gyros, baklava, and the Acropolis make for a perfectly Greek weekend. Without anymore JFRC orientation trips, a group of friends and I headed to Athens. It was a quick trip, but completely worth it.
Friday morning we left campus early for the airport, but after boarding our plane was delayed for almost 3 hours because of strong winds. Not the best way to start a trip. I was bummed to arrive in Athens much later than we had planned since we would be there for such a short amount of time. But we put tourist mode on full blast and powered through the weekend.
After dropping off our bags at the AirBnB we rented for the weekend, we went to the Gazi neighborhood in search of dinner. We ended up at a restaurant called Gazi College, hoping for some authentic Greek cuisine. Turns out that even though this restaurant was a pretty popular with Greek college kids, the specialty was American style food. Oops. I ordered the only Greek item on the menu—souvlaki wrapped in a tortilla, which was delicious.
Saturday was our only full day in Athens so we made sure to pack it full of as Greek of an experience as we could find. We hiked up to the Acropolis as soon as it opened. Taking advantage of our “European Student Discount” we got in for free. The hilltop was beautiful and the Parthenon and surrounding ruins were incredible. We spent awhile exploring the Acropolis then working our way down the hill, passing through Ancient Agora and the Theater of Dionysus. The Acropolis Museum greeted us at the bottom of the hill, and housed many of the busts, statues, and pots that were found in the area.
After eating my 1st Greek gyro, we spent our afternoon wandering around the ruins of the Temple of Zeus and the National Gardens. Both of which were really beautiful. We made our way to the center of town and walked through the main shopping district of the city. A big bonus was finding a bakery with baklava, a Greek dessert that I’d never tried, but now I’m hooked. (I had another piece Sunday before lunch).
After a hard day of tourist-ing, we started the search for an authentic Greek dinner spot. We lucked out with a whole in the wall, “mom-and-pop” style restaurant near the Acropolis. The menu was hand written in a notebook, the dishes all mix-matching, and our helpful waitress guided us to some especially tasty appetizers. Our Greek feast started with Greek salad, potatoes, sausage, and baked cheese. We ordered a variety of hearty dishes—fried meatballs, kebabs, and chicken bites (I couldn’t tell you what that all was called in Greek). It was the perfect way to end our hectic day.
Sunday we took things a little slower. We made our way to the Archaeological Museum by 10 and then down to Athens’ flea market by lunch time. Grabbing more gyros to go we had to make our way to the airport early in the afternoon to catch our flight home. Which, thankfully, went off without a hitch.
Even though we got only a glimpse of Greek culture, I really enjoyed my time there. And really hope that I haven’t eaten my last authentic gyro.