I know what you're thinking; "I thought this blog was going to be about things you've done on your travels! Athens is your hometown!" Well, what can I say? You're right! But please, consider this; what if there's a reader out there who wants to visit Athens? Don't they have the right to read about interesting things they can do here? Besides, people don't call me a tourist for nothing. No, really - you have no idea how often people talk to me in English when I go downtown, mistaking me for a foreigner. Therefore, I figured that if I'm going to be treated like a tourist, I might as well act like it! This means that you might find a few posts about Athens here and there - I hope you don't mind!
So when I was still in highschool, I'd been to the Acropolis in a class field trip. I always wanted to go back up there someday and explore it at my own pace. It was September 2017 and my friends and I decided to go on a little Acropolis excursion. We looked up free entrance dates and arranged to go on a Sunday.
However, when we finally got together, we had an unfortunate realization; we were too late and the archaeological site would close very soon. After a few facepalms, we made a spontaneous decision to go up Mount Lycabettus instead. Despite having lived in Athens my entire life, I had never actually been there. Thankfully I was wearing my comfortable trainers! We hiked up the path all the way to the top (but if you guys are too tired, you can also get a cable car for 7€).
Seeing Athens from that viewpoint really took my breath away; a level above it, I could hear the heartbeat of the city. As the sun went down, the most beautiful colors flooded the scenery. And when the last beam of light disappeared into the sea, the city lights came on. God knows how I love city lights. Especially the lighting of the Acropolis was magnificent - the Parthenon looked like it was made of gold.
(photo: Rania Zokou, instagram: @raniazk_)