All Aboard for Athens

Santorini was not easy to say goodbye to. Things got a little emotional as we boarded the ferry and watched that stunning volcanic isle disappear in the distance. Still, Heather and I had one last stop on our joint European adventures to enjoy — a weekend of urban adventures in Athens. I loved this city something fierce on my first trip several years ago, and was extremely excited to return for another round.

Photos courtesy of Heather Holt

Photos courtesy of Heather Holt

We absolutely adored our apartment rental in Santorini, and were thrilled to continue the theme in Athens. This time, we went with a spacious designer loft found on Flipkey  (this particular place is no longer listed) for a fraction of what a high-end hotel would cost. While there were issues — the building was fairly sketchy and it’s definitely a one bedroom apartment with a second bed awkwardly placed in a master bathroom — we loved using our own kitchen and washing machine, having enough space for impromptu midnight dance parties and pretending we were super trendy Athens locals for two nights.

And really, any complaints aside — if only you could find apartments like this in New York starting at $150 a night!

This was my first time using Flipkey — they invited me to test out the site after I bonded with some of the team at a travel event in NYC — and I loved it. It had a super clean interface, it’s integrated with Tripadvisor (one of my favorite travel sites of all time), and they had a great selection of properties.

My family and I are already using it to plan a big reunion next year in Florida — we found houses on Flipkey that didn’t know up on any of the other standard rental sites.

We kicked off our first night in Athens in style by popping around the corner — literally — from our apartment for sunset drinks at Fresh Hotel, where Heather was hit with her first ever glimpse of the Acropolis. Yamas! (That’s cheers, if it’s not all Greek to you.)

Photo courtesy of Heather Holt

Our next stop? Zappeion Gardens for a midnight movie at an outdoor theater, one of my favorite memories from my first trip to Athens. While the cinema experience lived up to my own personal hype, the attached restaurant has gone downhill compared to my rose-colored recollections.

Still, you simply can’t miss visiting one of these countless open air theaters on a summer trip to Greece.

The next morning, we mostly ran errands and enjoyed doing cartwheels in our cavernous accommodation. Eventually though, we made our way to another one of Athen’s mega-hip hotels, New Hotel, for an avocado-laden late lunch, and then worked off the calories with a window-shopping stroll though the charming Plaka district.

Finally, it was time for the big one — visiting the Acropolis itself. Having already been once myself, I was still excited to return, especially with a fellow photographer in tow. We were running late, as usual, and arrived just as the crowds were thinning out and the golden hour of lighting was settling in over the hill.

It was perfection.

One of the many things I love about traveling with Heather? She takes the most amazing candids. Look how deep and contemplative I look through her lens, when in reality I was probably mulling over the maximum amout of gyros it is socially acceptable to eat per day.

Photo courtesy of Heather Holt

Photo courtesy of Heather Holt

Photographers — save the Acropolis for sunset. I can’t imagine a more stunning time of day. We practically floated back down to the streets when the guards finally kicked us out.

We decided to celebrate our perfect Parthenon experience with a night in Gazi, Athens’ hip and happening nightlife district. With no real insight on where to go or what to do, we simply bar hopped in whatever direction the wind (and wine) took us, from bro-tastic mega bars to hipster-inspired speakeasies tucked down discreet alleys. From what we could tell, we were the only tourists around.

Going out in Gazi yourself? Cartone and Plastiko were two of our favorites.

Don’t ask

Eventually, we cabbed it back to the more tourist-friendly — and much closer to our accommodation — Psirri district. Here, we discovered two more of our favorite finds of the night, Six Dogs and the rooftop bar of A is for Athens. While A is for Athens was a hotel bar and thus filled with a healthy mix of tourists and Athenians, hidden away Six Doggs definitely had the same local flavor we had found in Gazi.

All too soon, our forty eight hours in Athens were over and it was time to part ways with Heather — though not for long, as we already had plans to join forces again in Thailand a few short months later. And while Heather was off to Germany, Iceland, and beyond, I was thrilled to not be crossing any borders for a few more weeks.

And with that, I was off to next installment of my Greek adventure…

Happy Friday!

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Many thanks for Flipkey for providing me with a booking credit. As always, you receive my honest opinions regardless of who is footing the bill.