Our First Full Day in Athens
It's been a month since our trip to Athens. While I complained of the constant travel from one city to another during our recently concluded summer vacation to Europe this year, I do miss the places we visited. I miss seeing new places. I've always found traveling very reinvigorating.
Anyway, our trip to Greece last month was our first to the country. I do hope to return very soon and visit the islands next. Joining a cruise to tour the Greek Islands has crossed my mind.
For our first full day in Athens, we decided to take things easy. Still jetlagged, we felt it best to stick to our immediate neighborhood which also happened to be the epicenter of tourism in the city, Syntagma Square.
While walking around, we saw this very tiny church called the he Church of Kapnikarea in the middle of the shopping district just a few blocks from our hotel.
A mosaic right above the entrance to the Church of Kapnikarea
The Catherdal of Athens. Located just a couple of blocks from the Best Western Amazon Hotel, visiting this beautiful cathedral was a quick and easy.
The main altar inside the Cathedral of Athens
The Church of Agios Eleftherios located right beside the Cathedral of Athens
Right in front of the cathedral stood this monument dedicated to Archbishop Damaskinos (1891-1949)who stood up to the Nazis on behalf of the Greek Jews.
Here's a closer look at the Archbishop Damaskinos statue.
This was the tiny but modern lobby of our hotel, the Best Western Amazon, right off Syntagma Square. It was a superb hotel! Very highly recommended.
Ruins, ruins, everywhere in the city!
A view of Lykavittos Hill. This cone shaped hill topped with a tiny white church is the highest in Athens at little over 900 feet sea level.
The Laundrymat we went to twice