Our tour officially began on Friday evening, where we met our fellow adventurers and guides at a reception in the Electra hotel. We introduced ourselves and the guides gave us instructions and told us what to expect for the week. We then had our Welcome Dinner on the roof of the hotel. The next day, we explored Ancient Athens, including the Acropolis and Panathenaic Stadium.

AbD and Ancient Athens

After the Acropolis Museum, we checked into the Electra Hotel. It was a lovely room with a gorgeous bathroom. We had our welcome event, where we met our friends for the week. We then had a lovely dinner on the roof of the hotel, getting a great view of the Parthenon.

BACK TO EUROPE

08/29/23—09/11/23

Our adventure really began the next morning. We had an early breakfast and then went out to the base of the Acropolis, where we took our first group photo. We meandered around and saw the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, then climbed the stairs to enter through the Propylaia.

We saw replicas of the Caryatids on the Erechteion, where the women posed for the group. We circled the Parthenon and took another group photo before having a little free time on the Acropolis to check things out on our own.

Next we moved on to the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics was held. We took a group photo in the tunnel to the museum, where we saw many of the Olympic torches. We then came out into the stadium and took photos of each individual family.

Wendy

Danny & Christine

Jim & Megan

Danny & Gabriella

Richard & Cindy

Mike & Elaine

Ronit, Vik, Nima & Meera

Matt & Debby

Clay & Ashlei

Charlie & Celeste

Donna & Mallory

Rolando & Hermi

David & Cathy

Steve & Ann

Next was the Athens market area, where we visited a nice little shop for some local tastes. We went inside the Varvakios Central Municipal Market, where we saw tons of fresh beef, pork, chicken, fish, and things that I had no idea what they were. It would be fun to shop in an area like this, but I’d find myself being overwhelmed with the idea of buying something fresh that I’d have no idea how to prepare.

 

We stopped for a snack of donuts, then moved on to Kuzina, a Michelin 5-Star restaurant for lunch, where we celebrated the birthdays of Celeste and Meera.

Lunch was at about 3pm, so when we had time on our own for dinner, we didn’t really feel like eating much. We went with a group across the street and had some humus and pita bread, which was fantastic. We also saved room for gelato, where we ran into more of our group. It was a filling and fulfilling first day.

Our guides, Armando & Mary