After a fun time island-hopping, we flew to Athens for our final stop in Europe, marking the midpoint of our 5-month journey. We always intended to exit Europe via Athens and it served our needs perfectly.

Many travelers skip Athens entirely, favoring Greece’s idyllic islands. We elected to stay 5 days, even though the essentials can easily be covered in 2 or 3. Typically, we would capitalize on the extra time by making day trips but, on this occasion, we needed the extra time to prepare for Vietnam.

Vietnam Logistics

Visa Documentation

Importantly, Vietnam does not allow visa-free entry for Americans or Canadians. As a result, we applied for “Visa on Arrival” (VOA) way back in Italy but there was a bit more to do. VOA applicants must bring:

1. A printed copy of the VOA approval letter.
2. A completed Entry/Exit form (that isn’t easy to fill out).
3. Two passport photos.
4. $25 USD each for the visa stamp. (Yes, USD. We had $45 so we had to take out $5 in Europe.)
5. A passport with 6 months validity and 1 full, blank page.

First, we prepared the materials listed above. Next, to be extra prepared, we printed “onward flight” information and bank statements in case the immigration officers wanted evidence that we planned to leave.

Planning

If you have been following our trip, you know that we finalize plans last minute. We used some of our extra time ensuring our flights to Vietnam, pickup from the airport, lodging in Hanoi, and trip to Sa Pa were good to go.

Miscellaneous

After 2.5 months on the road, Wyatt’s hair was getting unruly and Jackie’s shoes were falling apart. As a result, Wyatt scheduled an appointment with a barber and Jackie bought good shoes for southeast Asia.

Protein

In most ways, Vietnam is cheap. Protein, however, is not one of those ways. It is not produced locally and is therefore subject to a 100% tariff, making it twice as expensive as in the U.S. The solution, obviously, is to bring enough for your whole trip! We found good vegan protein in Athens, bought 3.5 KG of it, and stuffed it into the little space remaining in our bags. Here we come, Vietnam!

Touring

Our experience in Athens bears a strong resemblance to Rome. In particular, ruins, history, and food provide the highlights in both cities. The difference is that where Rome has Roman ruins, Caesar, pasta, and pizza; Greece has Greek ruins, Alexander the Great, fava, and moussaka.

Ruins

The Acropolis is Athen’s iconic ruin in the same way as the Colosseum in Rome, it’s a must-visit. Unfortunately, at 20 Euros per entry, it’s a bit expensive. Lucky for us, our days in Athens coincided with a national holiday, making all ruins free to visit on the holiday. Consequently, we visited the Acropolis and Greek Agora for free, saving us a total of 60 Euros (30 for each of us).

Criminally, handstands are not permitted in Athenian ruins so we only captured one in the Temple of Olympian Zeus before a caretaker warned us against trying anymore. We scoured for opportunities to surreptitiously sneak in a handstand but the monument grounds are completely covered by employees watching for mischief. 😢

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Mythology

Of all the intriguing mythology in Athens, our favorite examples are, appropriately, about Athena, the protector goddess of Athens. She won the right to be its protector goddess during a competition with Poseidon when she struck the ground with a spear and produced the first olive tree.

If that’s not interesting enough, her birth is even more fascinating. The inciting event was not sex, that would be far to bland. Instead, Zeus heard a prophecy that his daughter would be more powerful than himself. In response, he ate Athena’s mother (obviously). Shortly thereafter, he found he had a splitting headache so he took the most logical course: he asked his son to cleave his head with a sword. His son obliged and out popped Athena, fully grown and armed. Mythology is weird.

History

As always, we enjoyed learning more about history. The ancient Greeks are hugely influential today, at least partially thanks to ancient Rome taking cues from ancient Greece. In particular, Athens is the seat of the first democracy, one of the most important developments in the world which benefits us immensely today.

Throughout our tours, we constantly heard about Alexander the “Great”, a man revered in Greece today. He amassed a massive empire, yes, but to do so he killed hundreds of thousands and the empire collapsed immediately after his death. A great general, sure, but maybe not a great statesman or humanitarian.

Unrelated fun fact: An area in northern Greece is called “Macedonia” but, until recently, another country was identically named “Macedonia”. In early 2019, in exchange for allowing entrance into the EU, Greece demanded the country of Macedonia change its name to “North Macedonia” (which they did).

Food Walking Tour

After an excellent AirBnb experience in Rome we decided to try another in Athens. While none of the available cooking classes excited us, we did find a food walking tour with Julia and her husband George that piqued our interest. We booked the aforementioned tour and, once again, our expectations were exceeded completely.

Over the course of 3.5 hours, we walked all over Athens, sampling a huge variety of delicious, local Greek food (vegetarian, of course, by our request). Julia and George were friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Julia has lived in Athens her entire life and that native expertise showed.

First, she knew where to find truly local shops, such as our visit to the last restaurant in Athens still making Greek yogurt in house. Next, she knew the owners of nearly every shop we entered, visiting familiarly with the staff. Finally, she not only answered all our questions, she taught us more about the food we ate than we knew there was to learn. For example, we sampled a variety of olives and, for each olive, she explained the region of origin, ripening time, growing conditions, history, and what to eat it with. Needless to say, we were really impressed.

Everything above is important, of course, but the actual food is even more essential. Fortunately, it was all very good and we were provided with more than we could hope to eat. We tried:

• Greek yogurt with nuts and honey.
• Greek coffee.
• Koulouria (our least favorite item).
• Many olives. See the picture below.
• Cheese plate with honey, bread, wine.
• Pies: Once cheese and spinach. One cheese only.
• A bean and spinach dish.
• A veggie and potato dish.
• Fava (A mashed bean dish, resembling hummus.)
• Loukoumades (Doughnut holes dipped in honey.)

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Observations

Ruins Everywhere, Part 2: Construction Frustration

As in Rome, Athens is full of cool ancient ruins. In 1996, the city was denied its bid to host the 1996 Olympics, partially due to its lack of a subway. In response, the city decided to build one but they got more than they bargained for. Whenever they tried to dig more tunnels, they discovered more ruins and needed to call in archaeologists. In fact, they discovered so many ruins that some of the subway stations host exhibits displaying artifacts discovered during subway construction. Despite the setback, Athens finished its subway and was awarded the Olympics in 2004.

Long Term Travel

This has little to do with Athens but, as we travel for a longer timeframe, we notice ourselves drifting towards simpler pleasures. We watch more sunsets and see fewer ruins. We take more time for coffee and people watching instead of visiting every church. We’re really enjoying this evolution of our travel style as we learn to travel slower, savoring each place we visit instead of being completionists, trying to see every site offered in a city.

Simpler Churches

We noticed that churches in Greece appear simpler and less grand than those we found in other countries, such as France. As a result, we asked one of our guides if they could explain the difference and we really liked the answer.

She explained that Greece is Christian Orthodox while France is Catholic. In her opinion, Catholicism is a religion of dominance. God and the Church are to be feared and respected. Orthodox, in contrast, teaches compassion. God and the Church are more like partners. Catholicism humbles the worshiper while Orthodox welcomes them. While we are not students of religion, this explanation resonated as an apt description of the face of each religion, as demonstrated by its churches.

Conclusion

Athens was great. Though we stayed longer than necessary for most, we enjoyed taking our time with the city and we found it paired nicely with our trip to the Greek islands. A few cool day trips can be reached from the city, but we didn’t find time for any. As a result, we hope to make it back someday, maybe pairing the visit with a more island hopping.

Bonus Pics

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