If you are heading out to the Greek islands, chances are you’ll have a layover in Athens.  In my case, I was headed to Kalymnos and Adam and his mom were going on a cruise. So instead of doing a long layover in Athens airport, I decided to spend about 36 hours with them in Athens. It was their first time to Athens so it was important that we hit the major sites.

Plaka

Place is the historic district of Athens and a picture perfect place.  Walk around the old town, and then have lunch on the steps.

Lyca Hill

Lyca Hill is a nice sunset spot. You can take the steps up, or there is a funicular. There is even a restaurant right at the top. We chose just to hang out but that would be a perfect spot for an evening drink or dinner. We enjoyed one evening watching the sunset from the top of the hill.

The ancient sites

I had been to the Parthenon a few times before so I decided to skip that on this short visit. Instead, I got my fill of ancient sites  by visiting the Temple of Hephaestus temple and the ancient agora.  It’s the best preserved of it’s kind and really worth the site.

We also wandered by Hadrian’s arch and the temple of Zeus, although the temple had so much scaffolding on it, it wasn’t worth going into.