Athens

The final stop for our spring break trip was Athens. We decided to splurge a little bit and get a hotel right on the beach rather than in the city, which turned out to be such a good decision! Athens was the first place we've traveled where I didn't really feel like we were in Europe anymore -- it had much more of a middle eastern flare, and certain parts of the city were definitely a little sketchy! And not to mention that not only do we not speak Greek, but unlike Italian or French, you can't even guess on certain words because most of their letters are symbols... it might as well have been in Japanese!

We arrived in the afternoon, and after checking into the hotel we decided to catch the tram into the city for dinner. On our way home, we walked by a church and there were hundreds of people standing outside of it while some type of chant was going on. We thought it was a little strange, but we figured it was probably just part of the culture or something. We finally made it back on the tram, and we weren't on it more than 5 minutes when we realized most of the main streets were closed, and all of a sudden the streets started to fill with thousands and thousands of people walking with candles. Okay, this is NOT normal! I'm not going to lie, I was a little creeped out at this point. Later we found out that it was their Easter weekend, and that the city pretty much closes down. We panicked at first, thinking nothing would be open, but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we ended up getting in free to most of the historical sights, and the city was so much easier to navigate without a ton of people!

We knocked out a ton of sightseeing the next day, with our first stop being the Acropolis. There are many different temples up on the hill of the Acropolis -- this one is the Temple of Athena Nike. Yes, that Nike. :)

Probably the most famous and most recognizable of all the temples is the Parthenon, which is by far the biggest temple on the Acropolis overlooking all of Athens.

Jordan and I with a glimpse of Athens in the background...

Lindsay and I with the same amazing view of the city. Look at that gorgeous, sunny day!

I love this picture of Jordan staring at the Parthenon. He had to buy these sunglasses in Rome because he forgot his, and they were like mirrors -- I was trying to be artsy and get the Parthenon in his sunglasses. :) You can actually click on the picture to make it bigger.

It was pretty amazing to be seeing these temples that were built hundreds of years before Christ was even born! Although, I'll be the first to admit, after a while all of the columns started to blend together, and I felt like all my pictures looked the exact same. Oh well.

The "jumping picture" routine continued! We actually made it a point to get a jumping picture at every major sight, although a lot of them were taken on Lindsay's camera. I'll try to post some more on here once she gets her pictures online. :) Here's one of Jordan and I in front of the Parthenon...

Another beautiful view of Athens...

FINALLY we were able to get someone to take a picture of all three of us! This is the only one from the entire trip.

When you're wandering around the Acropolis, it's hard not to picture yourself all tan and beautiful, walking around in a toga with leather sandals -- a Greek God, basically. :) 

Here is a shot of another cool temple in the Acropolis overlooking Athens...

From there we hiked down the hill to the Ancient Agora, which, for lack of better words, used to be the downtown of Athens in ancient times. I thought this church/temple was really neat. It was standing amidst all kinds of rocks and ruins.

Our next stop was the Temple of the Olympian Zeus. This temple is even older than the temples in the Acropolis; it was built in 6th century B.C.! It's hard to tell in pictures how big it really is, so I took this one of Jordan looking up at it to give you a better idea...

I liked this picture because it shows the Temple of Zeus, and then the view of the Acropolis up on the hill in the background...

The next thing we were all pretty pumped to see was the first Olympic Stadium. The original one was built in 4th century B.C., but they rebuilt it for the first modern Olympic Games in 1886. They actually did the opening ceremonies here for the 2004 Games!

My cute husband, so excited to see the Olympic Stadium! :)

We walked a lot while we were in Athens, which was a great way to see different parts of the city and take in the unique Greek "charm."

The last thing on our to-do list was to go see the Bodies Exhibit that just happened to be in Athens. Jordan and I were a little unsure about this since we're both pretty squeamish when it comes to anything related to blood or body parts, but Lindsay talked us into it, and it ended up being AWESOME! Basically, it's a traveling exhibit that goes to different major cities around the world, and (according to Wikipedia): 

"The exhibition is set up so visitors journey through the human body starting with the skeletal system, and moving through the muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems; as well as fetal development. Containing about twenty whole bodies in total, each Exhibition uses real human bodies that have been preserved permanently by a process called "polymer preservation" that prevents the natural decay process. Some of the specimens are arranged so that they are performing activities such as playing basketball or conducting an orchestra. Along the way are other displays showing organs, healthy lungs next to smoker's lungs and all of the arteries and veins contained within the human body." 

It was absolutely incredible, and I'm not even much of a science person. :) They obviously don't let you take pictures inside, I was only able to get this one of the poster outside the exhibit. But, if you want to see some of the bodies or know more about it, click here to see the website, or just Google "Bodies Exhibit."

Our last day in Athens was fully dedicated to the beach! :) Our hotel was literally across the street from this beach, and it had been calling our names the whole time we were there...

The morning did not start out too promising; we thought it was going to be too cold. But we waited it out, and lo and behold, it got warmer and warmer, and became the perfect tanning weather! It was hot enough to where we all had to get in the water to cool off a few times. It was a perfect way to end our amazing trip! Here was my view of the brilliant blue water from my beach chair...

I am so glad we got a glimpse of Greece, although it has now become one of the top countries I want to return to and visit more of. Seeing Athens was great, but there are so many amazing cities along the coast and island towns that I simply must see before I die! :) Also, I truly cannot say enough about the Greek food -- gyros and Greek salad are my new favorites!

To see all of our pictures from Athens (and I'm apologizing in advance for all the old column pictures), click here.