2013 Europe and Middle East Adventure from The Traveling Ladies: 24 Hours in Athens

We woke up at about 3AM in Israel to catch a flight to Athens, Greece. Our considerate and wonderful Uncle Chuck kindly drove us to the Tel-Aviv airport. The process of checking our bags took us an hour and a half, because the airline doesn't allow carry-on's to be over 8 kilos (20 pounds). So our after working with an "incompetent" luggage checker, we checked my (Cassie's) carry on. (In our opinion, carry on's should have the right to weigh however much the owner wants it to weigh.) Thank goodness we got to the airport early, or else we would have missed our flight!

After surpassing "moderate" exhaustion, we all went into "extreme" exhaustion, but we were still awake enough to say goodbye to Israel, and enjoy a beautiful sunrise takeoff.

Byebye Israel, hello Greece!

After a nice short nap on the plane, we arrived in Athens at 8am. From above, Athens looked absolutely stunning! After we landed, we found our driver, George, who would drive us to many places around Athens in the next 12 hours. We began by driving up to the highest point in Athens where there was a temple and amazing panoramic views.

View of the Acropolis from our overlook!

The three of us with an amazing view of Athens and the Acropolis

George then told us about the history of Athens, the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and shared how close the stories of Mythology were to the daily lives of the ancient Greeks. Then we went to a great bakery where we got a fresh squeezed orange juice, and a yummy lunch. We also bought Barley Rusk, a Greek biscotti, that you drink with coffee. It expands in your stomach like a sponge, was tasty, and kept us feeling full for a long time!

We then visited the Archaeological Museum. It was an amazing place full of gold, pottery, statues and Greek history.

Cassie and Tessa in front of the Archaeological Museum!

Ancient Statue

The Acropolis was next on our list, and as we walked through the Parthenon, past the temple of Nike up to the Acropolis, we couldn't help but marvel at the feats of architecture before us.

Acropolis

Spartan Women Temple

Parthenon

Looking up at the Acropolis

We shopped in the Plaka, where Tessa bought a green leather back pack, and Cassie bought a metal statue of a blue cat. After more touring, we had a authentic Greek dinner near Poseidon's temple along the Mediterranean Sea. The drive along the coast line pulled us in and gave us dreams of living in such a beautiful place.