The world is a much bigger place than the city you live in.

Nothing makes me happier than packing up my essentials in a carry-on sized suitcase and heading to a new and incredible destination. I want to go everywhere. I want to experience every culture. I made a goal to visit a new country every year, and I’ve been making that happen for the last 4 years, now. My latest adventure took me to Greece, and it was perfect.

I started my trip in Athens. It is the capital city in Greece, as well as the most populated, and one of the world’s oldest cities. I traveled for 20 hours in a row, I am still terrible at sleeping on planes, my body hurt from sitting for so long, and I was so purely exhausted I’m not sure how I was still standing. But when I got there, I met about 38 new friends in the Athens airport. We went straight to our hotel and then took the metro into the city center of Plaka, where a welcome dinner was ready and waiting for us in a beautiful open air rooftop garden, with the most gorgeous night time view of the Acropolis. We ate our first real Greek meal including falafel, tabouli, hummus, pita bread, and for us vegetarians, the biggest and chunkiest greek salad I had ever encountered. I think it’s safe to say I ate more feta cheese on this trip than I’ve ever eaten in my life. And I’m completely okay with that.

The next morning, we woke up refreshed, and headed back to the city center to take a walking tour of Athens and make our way up to the Acropolis – which is the highest point in the city. It’s where the Parthenon is located and where you can get the most incredible views from above. We heard fun greek mythology tales, took plenty of tourist photos, walked up like 100 marble steps, and took in the views. After touring the Acropolis, we wandered on our own. Shopping, gelato, and our first try at ordering coffee in Greece. Just so you know, the Fredo Espresso is the way to go. They really know how to do iced coffee and I ended up drinking at least one of these every day.

Around dinner time, a lot of our tour group opted to head to a traditional Greek dinner including dancing and multiple courses. My friends and I chose to head off on our own and I’m so glad we did. We ate the most delicious gyros – which, by the way, in Greece they always stuff your gyros with “fried potatoes” aka french fries – and then headed to this bar called Six Dogs. They had some of the most creative craft cocktails, including adding garnishes like caramelized pineapple (which the bartender lit with a flame right in front of us) and even cotton candy. I got my fix of Italy here too by ordering my favorite, Aperol Spritz.

Two nights is all we got in Athens before packing up the next morning and making our way to Santorini. I honestly didn’t expect to fall so in love with Athens, I got there feeling excited to head to the islands in two nights, but I ended up so happy to be there. It has such a city vibe, and it reminded me of Rome, but honestly a little less crowded. Which I also didn’t expect. Athens is full of beautiful history, fantastic shopping, and gorgeous buildings. I’m glad we got to start and finish the trip here. More posts on the other stops of my trip soon :)

– Allison

Plaka at night.
The Parthenon
Athens street art
Fredo espresso – BEST DRINK EVER
Gelato in every country
The wonderful thing about their gyros in Greece is that they put “fried potatoes” in every one.
Six Dogs is an open air bar with tons of greenery and a great vibe.
Some of the most creative craft cocktails I’ve ever had.
Some of the ladies I traveled with, it wouldn’t have been the same without them!