Greece: Day 2 in Athens

Our second and last full day in Athens was a free day for us to explore!  We took full advantage, but our means of transportation was slightly different than we originally anticipated.  We were planning to walk around the city, but as we embarked for our first tourist stop, we found out that it was HOT out!!!

We first stopped at The Temple of Zeus and The Arch of Hadrian.  It was a cool opportunity to get up close and personal with some marble pillars  :)

Temple of Zeus

Temple of Zeus

Temple of Zeus

Arch of Hadrian

Once we were done there, we decided we would hop on one of the open bus tours around Athens rather than walking - GOOD CHOICE and totally worth the money we spent!!!  Here are the places that we stopped and visited:

Parliament Building

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament Building

Me with the Parliament Guard
They are only selected for this position if they are tall
and good looking - same as our White House guards  :)

Changing of the Guards

University of Athens

After we hit those spots, we went up to the old Flea Market area, which is still where you can find a number of different artists and vendors with a lot of cute crafts.  Before we got started with our memento shopping, we had to stop for some lunch - what else could you POSSIBLY want to eat in Greece than Gyro souvlaki?

The Coke in Greece is better than the USA

We did some shopping and my mom and I grabbed some worry beads for ourselves and others and then we headed down to the old Roman Agora and visited the Temple of Hephaestus.

We took the bus the rest of the way around and relaxed and listened to the audio tour.  We went back to the hotel, took a nap and then got up and got showered for a night out.  We decided that since we needed to get packed and had to get up early, we would go to a wine bar and get some wine and a light dinner and call it a night.  We got SOOOO lucky with the wine bar that we chose.

We went to "By the Glass" wine bar.  We were served by Marietta and she was AMAZING!  We told her what we liked in wine, and she brought us glasses (well, half glasses) and what she brought us was always great!!  She provided us with such great service and we could not have asked for a better night!  If you're ever in Athens, you HAVE to find this wine bar... you can find them on Facebook.

By the Glass Wine Bar

I loved the wine so much, I drank it and forgot to take a picture

Cold platter - meat, cheese, bread, fruit and nuts

Greek sliders - way better than American

We went back to the hotel and packed up and got ready to embark on our next adventure - at sea!!

OPA!