Day 8- Travel Day and Athens

Today was our first day in Athens! We started off the day with leaving the hotel at 6:20am to leave for the airport at 6:30 to catch our 9 am flight. The airport wasn’t super busy but I did get stopped for a random selection in the TSA line and got yelled at in Italian because I didn’t understand what the lady was saying. 

Once we boarded the plane the flight felt super fast and was pretty easy other than the little to no leg room, which I know was a struggle for me and a lot of other girls on the flight. We got to the hotel at around 2:30 with the time change and began exploring Athens at 3! 

We first stopped at the Parliament and we saw the guards standing outside of the building. We watched them do their strut where they walked back and forth and kicked out their legs. They change every hour because of the heat and they protect the congress 24 hours a day. From there we walked to the first modern Olympic building which was designed in 1874. The building was completely made out of marble and they had the huge Greek columns in front which I thought was super cool to see in person. Then we walked to where the Greek national games were held. It was built in the 6th century BC and could hold 80,000 people. While we were there we stopped at a little food stand where I got these small croissants filled with chocolate and a vanilla milkshake. Finally we walked to the town square where we had a few hours to shop and do whatever we wanted. I split off in a group with Syd and Penelope where we jewelry shopped all day. I ended up getting two rings, a necklace, and some candy. After a few hours we walked to a gyro restaurant where Guy Fieri once ate. We had a very fresh Mediterranean salad with pork gyros and Greek yogurt mixed with honey and a cinnamon cake for dessert. Overall it was a great day and I am excited to further explore Athens tomorrow!

- Maddie Davies, Sophomore