A trip to the land of gods: Greece (Athens, Delphi)

This is a log of my trip to Greece with my senior, Ferry (again).

We left Trento by train to Milano on Friday, 19th September 2008. In Milano I bought several hamburgers at the McDonalds just in front of the train station which cost for only €0.50 each Of course hamburgers aren’t good for health, but they did a good job in stuffing my stomach Then we took a bus heading towards the Malpensa airport. We slept at the airport since our flight to Athens was on the next day early in the morning.

So on Saturday, 20th September 2008, the plane took off in the morning to Athens. We used the Easyjet airline since it was one of the cheapest flights available. After our arrival in Athens, we took a bus to the Syntagma square, then went to the hostel that we had booked to check in. Unfortunately we arrived at the hostel too early, so we had a lunch at a small traditional fast food restaurant nearby.

Athens – arrivals’ exit point

Then we visited many famous spots with the guidance of the free city map, wikipedia, and wikitravel as usual. I can’t remember all the details, but I’ll try to write the major outline.

First we visited the temple of Olympian Zeus. The good thing about archaeological sites in Athens was that they were free for students enrolled at a university within the European Union. The problem was that I lost my Univ. of Trento’s student card But fortunately I brought the Univ. of Bonn student card so I could enter the sites for free.

Athens – Temple of Olympian Zeus

Then we headed to the Acropolis. At the foot of the Acropolis we visited the theatre of Dionysus, and not far from it there’s the theatre of Herodes Atticus.

Athens – Theatre of Dionysus

Athens – Theatre of Herodes Atticus

Then we went further up and found the gate to the Acropolis, the Propylaea. Advancing forward passed the Propylaea we found the famous Parthenon. And near the Parthenon there was the Erechtheion.

Athens – Propylaea

Athens – the famous Parthenon

Athens – Erechtheion

Then we visited the Areopagus hill where it’s said that the Apostle Paul delivered the famous speech written in the Christian Bible and associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece.

Athens – Areopagus hill

There were so many archaeological spots we visited that day. In the evening we had dinner and walked around the city center. Then we went back to the hostel. I made the stupidest mistake that night: sleeping without any blanket. In the next morning when I woke up, I was really sick! I caught the influenza, which was really terrible. But I still tried to enjoy the following days as much as possible.

The next day, Sunday, 21st September 2008, we went to Sounion by bus to see the temple of Poseidon.

Sounion – Temple of Poseidon

We walked about 3 km or so to the bus stop and headed back to Athens. We had our lunch at the city center, then went up to one of the hills (there should be a funicular but we couldn’t find it, so we walked). Then we spent the rest of the day strolling at the city center.

On Monday, 22nd September 2008, early in the morning we took a bus to Delphi. The main thing to see there was the temple of Apollo.

Delphi – Temple of Apollo

Going further up the hill, we found the theatre of Delphi, and on top there was the stadium.

Delphi – Theatre

Delphi – Stadium

Then we went down the hill towards the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. There we found the Tholos.

Delphi – Tholos

After visiting the main sites, we took a bus back to Athens, had our dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday, 23rd September 2008 was our last day in Athens, so we did most of the shopping and also visited some unvisited spots at the city center. Then we went to the airport and took another Easyjet plane back to Milano.

Athens – posing with the guardian near the Syntagma square

This trip was pretty interesting. Nevertheless, my influenza made it a bit difficult to enjoy.