3 Reasons to Visit Athens & Why I Disliked It

When a good friend recently asked me for traveling advice to Athens, I cringed.

Well, I told her, Athens was not my favorite city. I found it dirty, rundown and bloody hot during our August visit nearly five years ago. Compared to Istanbul, Athens disappointed me – BIG TIME!

However, always trying to see the glass-half-full kinda thing, I decided to look back through my hundreds of photos and come up with good reasons to visit Athens.

1. Ancient Ruins

Of course, wandering through the Acropolis and seeing the ancient columns of the Parthenon lit up at night on the hilltop was AMAZING! What’s also cool is the numerous restaurants in the Monastiraki neighborhood that featured rooftop dining. Here you could enjoy a Greek salad, freshly caught fish and the fine views of said historical ruins.

The Parthenon, the largest Doric temple to be completed in Greece, truly captures ancient Greece’s glory. The temple featured eight Doric columns in the façade and 17 columns lined each side.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a stone theater, built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus, who constructed it in memory of his wife, Regilla. During the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, when it’s open to the public, you can see performances of music, dance and drama here.

We were fortunate to see the newly opened Acropolis Museum, which houses Acropolis artifacts and preserved marble carvings, at night. Check to see when nighttime visits are allowed.

The Parthenon lit up at night as seen from the Acropolis Museum.

2. Pork, Pork and More Pork

Since we were living in Turkey, we rarely got to eat pork. Sure, we could find expensive pork at some places and maybe bacon for breakfast, but generally we would stuff our suitcases full of pork on our European travels! However, in Athens, we were in pork heaven and ate it nearly every meal on our 3-day trip!

If you love pork like we do, don’t miss out trying the pork souvlaki skewers or shaved pork for döner kebabs. Add a Greek salad on the side to make your meal a bit healthier.

3. Greek Iced Coffee

August must be the worst month to visit Athens! We found half the city’s shops and restaurants shut down because people were on vacation, and the temperatures were unrelenting at mid 30s C/90s F. The blazing hot, dry weather made us thirsty! My go-to drink was a Greek Frappe, an iced coffee drink made with instant coffee granules and slightly sweetened. A frothy frappe is the perfect pick-me-up in Greece!

(NOTE: we never would have chosen to travel in August, but we were traveling with US friends who were on vacation.)

Why Athens Disappointed Me

While standing atop the Acropolis was a fantastic experience, wading through hordes of pushy tourists was not.

I also was disappointed to see the Parthenon and other ancient structures covered in metal scaffolding and nearby construction cranes. I understand that the Greek ruins are old, but I had gotten so used to seeing historic Greek, Roman and Hittite ruins in Turkey in their more natural states. To this day, my favorite ruins we’ve seen are located in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, with a massive stadium dating back to 1^st century AD!

During the summer, Athens becomes a sweltering, dusty, landlocked city. There’s no relief from the constant sunshine until nightfall. In Istanbul, even though temperatures do get just as hot, the city is located along the Bosphorus and the Black Sea so you have the cooling sea breezes to provide relief. In Athens, you have to drive about 30 minutes to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

It’s difficult not to have expectations of a place that you’ve heard and read so much about over the years. Athens was like that for me. I’ve read a few other bloggers, such as Dangerous Business, express similar feelings as me. I just expected Athens to impress me.

So is Athens worth seeing? Yes!

Would I visit again? Maybe. I still haven’t done the Greek islands properly, so that’s always a possibility.

Maybe it’s better NOT to have expectations. What do you think?

This post is linked up with #WeekendWanderlust by travel bloggers A Southern Gypsy, A Brit and a Southerner, Justin Plus Lauren and One Modern Couple. Hop on over to their blogs to see more travel stories or link up yourself!

Read More