How to Spend An Awesome First Day in Athens

Athens: Famous for its perfect weather, cheap local foods and ancient sites. 

Thanks to a House Sitting job, we lived in Athens rent free for five weeks in return for looking after a gorgeous dog and cat. 

With the sun almost always shining, and historical artefacts around every corner, it's hard not to have an awesome first day in Athens, but to make sure you definitely do, we've written a post on how to spend an awesome first day in Athens:

Visit the markets in Athens

First things first, get up early and head over to one of Athens' markets. This will immerse you almost immediately into a more 'foreign' culture and whet your wanderlust appetite. Be warned though, these markets are filled with fresh fish and meat - which means whole sharks, pigs' feet, skinned lambs and cows' heads which don't have skins but still have eyes and tongues. It is pretty overwhelming if you're not used to it, especially as the venders shout at you for your attention. Personally I found it exciting, but could imagine that this is one of those places that turns meat lovers into vegans. 

No matter if that's not your thing, they also have markets teeming with spices, nuts, fruits and all manner of exotic foods. The smells and the sounds are enchanting.

We visited a market that was on Athinas Street, just a 5 minute walk from Monastiraki Tube Station, and this is actually a great starting place to see the other main sights in Athens: 

Walk up to the Acropolis from Monastiraki

We approached the Acropolis from two directions - first we walked to it from Acropolis Tube Station (which takes about five minutes) and on another day from Monastiraki Tube Station. The second option takes about 30 minutes, but feels even longer as the sun is hot and the hill is steep, but it's still 100% the better option (in our opinion). Firstly, you get some awesome views on the way up, and secondly you have those 30 minutes to get truly excited to see Ancient Greece!!

If you are indeed approaching from Monastiraki, make sure you don't go straight into the Acropolis at the paying entrance, carry on a little further for epic views of Athens on one side and the Acropolis on the other:

I especially liked seeing the Stoa of Attalos from above. 

After you've enjoyed the view, double back on yourself and make your way to the top of the Acropolis: 

Visit the Parthenon

The Parthenon is the Eiffel Tower, or the Brandenburger Tor of Athens (i.e. the iconic piece). This is the one that you will see on all the postcards and struggle to get an original photo of for your Instagram:

This is our attempt

The slightly confusing thing is that the Parthenon is located on the Acropolis. Which is basically a hill filled with lots of ancientness. You have to pay to get into the Acropolis (and thus see Parthenon up close). We think this is definitely worth it, because you don't just get to see the Parthenon you also get to see:

• The Erechtheion
• The Herodeon
• The Theatre of Dionysus
• The Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus
• The Propylaea
• Ancient Agora
• Hadrian's Library
• Kerameikos Archaeological Site
• Temple of Olympian Zeus

Which isn't bad for €12. 


It was a shame that there was work being done on the Parthenon (which isn't scheduled to be finished any time soon apparently). However, it was still an incredible sight and it's amazing that it was completed in 432 BC!!! It has been used as a treasury, a Christian church and a mosque. Despite the heat and scaffolding there were plenty of tourists here: 

We were prepared for the Parthenon to impress us but we weren't prepared to:

Enjoy the view of Athens from the Acropolis

Having done very little research before we went to the Acropolis, you won't be surprised that we were surprised that it's on a hill. The Greeks definitely knew how to build when they built the Acropolis, because the view of Athens is incredible (though has obviously changed astronomically since they built it):

Here is a small rant about the employees of the Acropolis which you may or may not want to skip, depending on how you feel about petty rants: 

[In Athens we found almost every single Greek person that we met was welcoming, friendly and kind. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the two employees we came across in the Acropolis. They were pretty rude, here are the examples:

1. I was eating a sandwich. There are no signs that say you can't eat and, as I mentioned before, we'd done little to no research on the Acropolis.  An employee came over to me and said 
'You are NOT allowed to eat in here, this is a museum NOT a park'. And waited until I put my sandwich away, then stood near and glared at me. Fair enough it's not allowed, fair enough you're proud of the Acropolis, but he could have just politely said 'You're not allowed to eat in here'.  No need to bring the park into it. Also, a museum is defined as building which the Acropolis is not. Douche. 

2. I was sitting with my legs over the side of the wall where there was admittedly a 30 ft drop on the other side. Again though there were no signs that said I couldn't AND loads of other people were doing it too. A different employee charged over to me 'You are NOT allowed to do this, if you fell it would be really bad for publicity'.. Again, fair enough it's not allowed, but you could have politely said 'You're not allowed to do that'. No need to reveal the fact that for you the worst thing about me falling would be bad publicity, not my death itself.

HOWEVER, saying all this I'm sure if I had to work around annoying tourists all day every day who were trying to destroy the statues with sandwiches and fall off walls AND it was in the sun all day, I think I would be grumpy too. So no worries Acropolis employees I won't hold it against you. ]

Anyway, aside from the awesome Parthenon and the awesome view of Athens, there are still other parts of the Acropolis to enjoy:

The Erechtheion

The Erechtheion was dedicated to the two best Greek Gods - Athena and Poseidon. Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom and Poseidon is the God of the Sea. According to our good friend over at Aspect Of Style these two Gods fought to become the patron of Athens. The Athenians were allowed to decide: Poseidon gave them salt water and Athena gave them an olive tree. The Athenians went (correctly) for the olive tree and that's why Athens is called Athens :) 

After you've finished exploring the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Propylaea, head down the other side of the Acropolis to see: 

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus dates back to 161AD (but was restored in 1950). It's incredible that something that old is around today, and not only around but still being used: it's the main venue of the Athen's Festival. 

After you've checked this out you can keep going down the hill, exiting the Acropolis by going past the Theatre of Dionysus. 

Next, you can walk down Dionysiou Areopagitou Lane towards Hadrian's Arch. If you do, you'll walk past Acropolis Museum (not included in your Acropolis ticket) and you'll also walk past the best Greek Yoghurt shop - Fresko Yogurt Bar. Yes it was touristy, but it was without a doubt the best Greek Yoghurt we had in Greece, and indeed in the whole world! 

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Next we'd recommend going to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we found that this was a lot less crowded than the Acropolis, but no less impressive. 

Again we tried to get an original shot for our Instagram and these were our favourites:

It's also cool that you can see the Acropolis from here:

Now this was enough for us to fill up a whole awesome day in Athens, but if you're more active you might also fit in the Kerameikos Archaeological Site, Ancient Agora, Hellenic Parliament and so much more that Athens has to offer. 

Other important information:

Food and drink in Greece

There are some foods and drinks that you have to try out in Athens: Gyros, tatsiki, fresh fish, feta (φέτα), Greek yoghurt, moustalevria etc. The food in Greece truly is delicious, but we were pretty surprised to find that the food was not as cheap as we expected. The food definitely isn't as cheap as Italy or Portugal. Or at least that's what we found - maybe we were looking in the wrong places. 

We did find that it was impossible to find substandard food in Greece - no cheapy value products, everything tasted amazing.


In terms of drinks, we found the fresh orange juice to be some of the best we've ever had, and the coffee to be some of the worst. The orange juice is squeezed in front of you and is served with plenty of ice. The coffee is strangely thin until right at the bottom where it's weirdly thick (like the cheap hot chocolates you can get from a machine). Some people become addicted to Greek coffee when they come to Athens, we did not. 

As for alcohol, Greek beer is fine, Greek wine is not good and Greek Ouzo is the best! This is just our opinion of course, we didn't try every single Greek wine or beer and are of course biased towards German beer and Italian wine, but it might not just be us - there is a reason Greece is famous for its Ouzo, not for its wines and beers. Just saying. 

(Out of all the Greek wines, the one in the above photo is probably the worst, but has the coolest cover.)

Accommodation in Greece

We were lucky enough to be House Sitting in Greece, which meant that our accommodation was provided for us in return for looking after these two beauties:

We found our House Sit through Trusted House Sitters so do check them out. 

Alternately you might be interested in one or more Greece Holiday Packages in which case check out HolidayMe.com.  

Getting around Athens

The tube in Athens is one of our absolute most favourites in Europe. It is so clean and so well organised! We arrived to Greece in Athens airport where there are free (and awesome) guides and maps of Greece (brought to you by GreekGuide.com). We found these really useful, especially the tube map so definitely pick a couple of those bad boys up. 

All in all, Athens has already made it into our hearts as one of our favourite European cities, we honestly believe it would be near impossible to spend an un-awesome first day in Athens.

Athens, we love you thissssss much

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy our other posts about spending 24 hours in a European capital city:

How to spend 24 hours in AWESOME Tallinn
What to do if you're in Dublin for 24 hours
Is one day enough for sightseeing in Paris
How to spend a day in Amsterdam (on a budget)

Thank you for reading, we'd love to connect with you on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook! 

Have you been to Athens? Was your first day awesome? Let us know in the comments below! 


This post is written in association with HolidayMe. 

10 FREE Things to do in Rome!

10 FREE things to do in Rome! Plus some ways to save money on meals, accommodation and transport. 

Rome is our favourite European city. It has everything: The weather is wonderful, the food is fantastic and everything is so pretty! 

But it's very easy to spend a lot of money in Rome - most of the main sites charge an entry fee, there are people trying to sell you things on every corner and you're not going to want to miss out on anything! Don't worry though, we've put together a great list of 10 free things to do in Rome - which take the main sites into consideration too:

1. The Colosseum 

It's no wonder the Colosseum is one of the seven new wonders of the world. We were astounded by the architecture and even more amazed when we remembered it's around 2,000 years old. I mean, if people nowadays are astounded by it, imagine what the people back then thought of it!! 

You have to pay to go inside the Colosseum - and how much it costs depends on if you want to jump the queue/if you book online etc, but a stroll around the circumference is completely free and still awe-inspiring!

It's nice to sit and stare at it (and the people),  but the guys selling things (junk) can get a bit annoying. My approach was to be rude and shout 'no' any time they came close, so they'd back off. Tanbay's approach was to try and sell them things (his sunglasses, my plastic bracelet etc.) Both approaches worked well (mine was more effective, Tanbay's more entertaining). 

2. Roman Forum 

Situated next to the colosseum is the Roman Forum. It is an impressive bunch of ruins originally used as a marketplace, but over the years hosted many important events including elections, trials and gladiator fights! 

It's completely free to walk through, and so cool! 

3. Altare della Patria 

In terms of age, this is super-duper young compared with most of the other sites in Rome (it was completed in 1925)! So, unless you're Australian, you won't be impressed by it's 'ancientness' ;) - so why am I mentioning it? 

Firstly, it's the largest monument in Rome. It also holds the unnamed soldier - a soldier picked at random after WW2 to commemorate all the unnamed and lost soldiers. 

It is also pretty controversial (the locals hate its newness and its whiteness). Hence it's earned a fair few harsh nicknames such as the wedding cake. 

We thought it was impressive though, and worth a look on your way to the Colosseum.

4. Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary

Less controversial and far cuter is the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. This was one of my absolute favourites in Rome because it's where
archaic Rome meets cute, caring Rome.

Torre Argentina does what it says on the box and cares for cats. They collect the strays, neuter them and debug them. Then they are free to roam the ruins and wait in comfort for an adopter. 

They were so friendly and so gorgeous! Seriously! Most stray cats we've met have been (understandably) grumpy/stand-offish /scared but these guys were just so lovely and sweet :)

For more cute kitty pictures, check out Claire's post about the cat sanctuary on - World Traveler in Training 

5. Trevi Fountain

Photo credit: pixabay

Okay this one was a bit of a disappointment because it was under renovation! Yes the above photo credit goes out to pixabay.com. This is what it looked like when we were there:

There are two bits of bad news here, a) it looked bad and b) we didn't get to throw in a coin! Legend has it that if you throw in a coin you are destined to return to Rome (I did it when I was seven and it clearly worked). 

Luckily we believe in making our own fate, and will return to Rome! And see the fountain!

6. The Pantheon

This was my other favourite thing, we'd never heard of the Pantheon, but a couple of people recommended that we go there and it was easy enough to find on the map so off we headed. I'm so glad we went there, it is SO beautiful!

You can go inside, which looks great too.

But for me it was the outside that was marvellous. 

7. Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona is a great little spot. If you go in the morning it will be completely deserted and you can fully appreciate the fountains.

If you go in the evening it will be packed and you can enjoy the street artists and people watch. 

8. The Tiber

The Tiber is the main river in Rome, it's so beautiful! And not just the cute little bridges, even the water itself is a nice colour. Well done Tiber. Lovely to take a stroll along.

9. Castel Sant'Angelo 

Like the Colosseum, Castel Sant'Angelo has an entry fee, but is free to observe from the outside and, like the Colosseum, it has a good looking exterior.

Castel Sant'Angelo was built by/for emperor Hadrian! (Think wall.) I think it's cool. 

10. The Vatican City

Okay, okay our final free thing to do in Rome is actually not even located in Rome, because despite it feeling like you're still in Italy, and the border being a tiny gate, when you're in the Vatican City you are in a whole other country! 

It's the smallest independent state in the world, and it's beautiful.

This is where the Sistine Chapel lives, which does cost to enter, but the city itself is gorgeous and free to hop in and out of. 

So these were our 10 free things to do in Rome, 10 free things that will easily fill up about two days and leave you in love with Rome. But what about everything else? How can you save money in other areas? 

Tips on how to save money in Rome: 

Accommodation: 

Yes, we'll admit we weren't house sitting here (unfortunately, because house sitting in Rome would be the best). House sitting in Rome or cities in general is certainly possible - we've House Sat in Berlin, Helsinki and the Gold Coast, Australia, so we'd definitely recommend that you check out  this website where we find all our yummy House Sits. 

Failing that, you can do what we did and try AirBnB. We stayed in the most beautiful little apartment which had the nicest bathroom: 

It was like staying in a hotel, except it was cheaper, nicer and we had our own kitchen.

If you're new to AirBnB we are pleased to give you a AirBnB voucher - get 22 euros off when you spend 67. Yey :) 

Food: 

We have two tips here, the first one of which may or may not apply to you, so let's get that one out of the way first:

1. If you're staying at a House Sit or an AirBnB, you can make at least one of your meals at home (and save some dough). Eating home-made sandwiches at the Colosseum can't be the worst thing that's ever happened to you, right?

Of course, if you're only going to be in Rome once you're  probably going to want to have all of your meals out and soak up as much of that yummy Italian food as possible.

But for us (and maybe for you too) travelling long term means that our wallets (and growing bellies) can't cope with three meals out a day. 

So yes, if you are staying in Italy for a long time and/or have plans to return (we're here for a month and coming back in October), then consider having a few budgety meals in your AirBnB/House Sit. 

2. This one is for everyone: 

Eat away from the main sites wherever possible.

Like buying a croissant next to the Eiffel Tower, any quick, 'cheap' food bought next to the Colosseum will be a) over priced and b) not great for your taste buds. 

If you walk just a few blocks away, the prices will be cut almost in half, and the tastes will double in tastiness. 

Our favourite meal in Rome was at Carlo Menta. The pizzas there cost between 4 and 6 Euros, are massive, and are so, so, SO delicious!! Thank you so much Ashley and Alex from In Pursuit of Adventure for the tip!

Transport: 

We are massive advocates of public transport, and we love going on the underground, but when it comes to Rome, please AVOID TRANSPORT! You won't see half as much as you will if you just meander along at your own pace, get completely lost, and discover more fantastic ruins that certainly can't be found if you're on the bus/tube. 

But if you really, really hate walking, then we can highly recommend renting a bike and cycling round the city, you will still discover all the cool bits, and hopefully work up a bit of an appetite for more pizza. We really liked the company Bim Bim Bikes - why not give their wheels a whirl?

Time: 

This is just a general tip for the summertime - get up EARLY. Yes I know it's disgusting, but believe us you get to see things tourist-free (and generally native-free too) AND the weather is more agreeable. 

We actually got up early, did some sightseeing until lunchtime, had a nap and did more sightseeing in the afternoon/evening. Our favourite time of the day in Rome was early morning. 

Okay so what do you guys think? There is so much to do in Rome and 3 days is a great amount of time to get a good taster - we hope you enjoyed our highlights of a few of the things you can do for free!

If you did you may also enjoy our other European city guides - they're all about what things you can do for free in a short amount of time: 

• 22 Fun (and FREE) Things to do in Berlin
• Amsterdam for the day
• How Should you Spend Just One Day in Paris?
• Visit London on a Budget

For any questions you might have about Rome, or indeed anything else, please feel free to contact us on Facebook or Twitter - or leave a comment below :)

How To Spend 24 Hours In Awesome Tallinn

Want to visit Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, but have limited time? Don't worry, with this guide you will experience the best sights of Tallinn in just 24 hours! 

Estonia is a small country with a sad history, which mainly involves being occupied - be it by Soviets, Germans, Swedes or even Danes. 

But the last twenty years have been happier, and Estonia now holds its own as a country with good education and good freedom of speech. It's also a very internet happy country and brought us the wonder that is Skype! So we headed to its capital: Tallinn.

We only had 24 hours in Tallinn, which isn't really a long enough time to make a judgement on a country, but is long enough to have a taste of it and to be able to bring you some recommendations, so:

How should you spend just one day in Tallinn?

Wander Around Old Town

True to it's name, this is a very Old Town, with some parts dating back as far as the 11th century. The whole thing is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's very impressive with surprises round every corner.

One of the most famous towers is Fat Margaret's Tower. I don't know who poor Margaret was, but I think it's a bit harsh to name a fat tower after her:

Although Old Town is very small (about 30 minutes walk from one end to the other) there are so many little side streets and alleys that to explore it properly takes hours.

Check out Raekoja Plats

This is Raekoja Plats (Town Hall Square). It's at the centre of Old Town and has lots of restaurants and souvenir shops and quite often a market too. 

We thought about having lunch here, but it was a) expensive and b) the restaurant people stand outside and pressure you to go in. That makes me feel super awkward and mean when I say no. 

There were also a lot of Italian restaurants. We LOVE Italian food, but wanted something a bit more 'Baltic'. In the end we settled for a delicious burger and beer:

Walk to the top of St Olaf's Church

St Olaf's Church was built around the 12th century and is very pretty from the outside. If you've read our 14 Free Things to do in Helsinki post you will know that we have three categories for churches: spiritual, creepy and boring.

St Olaf's unfortunately fell into the latter category, but nevertheless it was pretty from the outside and you can walk up it. 

Count the creepy dolls

For some reason, there are a lot of creepy dolls in Tallinn. Perhaps it was because we'd just seen 'Annabelle' but they were scary. Still, you can't miss them if you wander around Tallinn and they make great Instagram photos! 

Stay with AirBnB

We really enjoyed our AirBnB stay in Tallinn, our host was super! He came and picked us up from the Town centre, which isn't required by AirBnB, so it was super nice of him. Plus he had a beautiful BMW.

The flat was just a studio, but had everything that we needed for the night - plus tasty coffee and a log fire.  

We had a great night and like with our first stay with AirBnB we slept a lot better than we ever have in a hotel. 

If you'd like to stay with AirBnB (cheaper and more authentic than a hotel) please have a $25 AirBnB voucher :)

Transport

Tallinn was extremely easy to get to from Finland by the ferry. Where the ferry drops you off look out for St Olaf's Tower and then head straight towards it (if you want to go into Old Town). 

Tallinn is also very easy to reach/ leave from by plane. Thanks to Skyscanner (an excellent website which compares plane prices) our flights to Germany were super cheap. The airport is very close to the city centre - and only ten minutes walk from where we stayed with AirBnB.

All in all we really enjoyed Estonia - even though we weren't there for very long, it's always great to experience a new country.

The strangest thing was, going from Finland - Estonia - Germany, was half the price of journeying straight from Finland - Germany. 

(We took the ferry from Helsinki to Estonia, and then a cheap flight from Tallinn to Bremen.)

Have you ever been to Tallinn? What was your favourite bit? Write a comment below and let us know!