I asked over on Twitter if anyone would be interested in hearing what I did in Greece and some tips & advice I'd give if you planned on traveling there soon and! here we are! I visited Athens, Santorini, Paros & Mykonos at the end of August and for this post I'm going to be discussing what I got up to in Athens. I decided to break it up, giving each part their own post, because if I did all 4 of them in one post, I'd end up with a literal novel for a post. 

📍Athens, Greece

The first thing on my list of places to visit is Parthenon, Acropolis. Now, I think it is a given that if you go to Greece you HAVE to see the Parthenon. It was dedicated to the Greek Goddess Athena! It has some great quality history tea-  if you're interested in learning more about the history, before I went I read this article. However, I am going to note, it is really word heavy and I kind of dozed off a few times reading it - if you want to know the history in a fun way I'm happy to write a Quality History Tea Crash Course on it!

Parthenon, Acropolis 

GENERAL TIPS: 

TIP #1: Wear shoes with grip. Acropolis translates to On top of the hill which means it's a climb, please wear comfortable shoes so your feet will be nice and happy. While walking towards the Parthenon, there are shiny parts on the ground and normal walking parts - the shiny parts are really slippery to walk on. So, by wear shoes with a grip I mean please wear sneakers. 

TIP #2: If you're with a group/someone, make sure you're within eyesight of that group or have a hold onto that other person's arm. I went with EF Tours Ultimate Break and included in it was a headset tour. The cool thing about these headsets was that it was only one earphone so you were still able to clearly hear your surroundings with the other ear. There are crowds of people there which granted of course there are, it is THE SPOT to see. I sometimes couldn't see my sister and had to full stop and stand on my tippy-toes trying to see if it was time for me to play Marco-Polo. There is a fee to go into the Parthenon, but since I went with EF Tours it was already included however I did a quick search: It's €20 originally and reduced to €10 in the winter.

TIP #3: This kind of goes hand in hand with crowded areas - keep your bag in front of you at all times. Crowded areas means it's easy for someone to get their hand into your bag, you're too close to everyone else to realize it. So please, keep an eye on your bag.

Also, not really tip but there are a few water fountains on the way up to the Parthenon which is great if you run out of water - just fill it right up!

TIP #4: In the photo above, behind me you'll see a huge crowd of people semi-blured out (thank you portrait mode). At that exact point, you can see all of Athens. However it is also, as my tour guide said, known for people getting pick-pocketed there. So, it's more of a go at your own risk for the 'gram. I personally was not about to take that risk, so this is more of a tip to tell you that if you do choose to go there please watch out for your things.

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

hello mtv welcome to my crib 

TIP #1: If you want to get a jumping photo in front of the Parthenon, you are better off taking a video and screen-caping from there. The area around the Parthenon when I went wasn't crowded however my way TO the Parthenon was crowded (just wanted to clarify!).

TIP #2: If you want the Parthenon fully in the background, make sure the person taking the picture is just about kneeling on the floor to get it fully or at least mid-way crouch. Taking the photo fully standing won't get all the beauty that is the Parthenon. 

TIP #3: The sun might actually blind you, please wear sunglasses so you don't have your eyes squinting in photos. 

ON YOUR WAY BACK DOWN THE ACROPOLIS 

Now, when you make it down the Acropolis, you most likely finished your water or you're in the mood for a nice refreshing drink that is not your water. Right when you come down, look straight and you'll see a lil spot that sells lemonade slushy and juices. Now, keep in mind THEY KNOW you want something refreshing so they have the price for a small cup of lemonade slushy at €4.50. Now, I did a double take at that price. My sister and I decided to share one because although I was thirsty I was not thirsty enough to spend nearly €5 on a small cup of lemonade. To me that seemed a lot but if that's your norm for lemonade, carry on!

Panathenaic Olympic Stadium

(I wrote an entire post on this and shared pictures in depth if you want to see more photos)

GENERAL TIPS

TIP #1: This is more of a tip on your way TO the Panathenaic Olympic Stadium. You will see the National Garden once you get off at the metro stop Syntagma and, in order to get to the stadium, go through it AND FOLLOW THE TRAIL SIGNS TO THE CAFE. Once at the Cafe, ask a waiter which way it is and they will tell you in which direction to go straight down in. (I got lost in the garden and wanted to help anyone who doesn't feel like getting lost)

TIP #2: This is a tip for my US students. On our ID's it does not show the year we graduated, so we can actually use it overseas and they can't say anything like 'are you a student' because they don't have the year we graduated on them. If you bring your Student ID it'll be €2.50 to get into the Stadium! If you do not have a Student ID, it'll be €5! (It also comes with an audio guided tour, you just tell the person the language you need it in!)

TIP #3: PACK WATER IN YOUR BAG. Trust me, you will need water. I only brought one bottle with me and had to leave early from the Stadium because I was thirsty and ran out of water.

TIP #4: The sun actually was shinning really hard at this part, please remember to wear sunscreen and maybe have a cap as well!

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

TIP #1: The great thing about this track is that there's always space around where there aren't going to be people in the back of your photos. So, if you're waiting to take an action shot of you running / jumping just wait a few minutes and then take your photos fast enough that the oncoming people walking on the track won't photobomb it. 

TIP #2: This kind of goes hand in hand with the tip above: Similar to my taking a jumping photo method, if you are taking an action running shot, take it as a video and screen-cap from there. 

TIP #3: This is more of a tip BEFORE you come to the Stadium. If you're stuck on what type of photo to take browse through the instagram location tag Panathenaic Olympic Stadium. My sister and I saw this photo after we came back and I really wish I took a jumping photo in that position kind of like this one here!

TIP #4: This tip is for my Olympic Torch History lovers: In the Poster and Torch Room (This stadium is where ALL Olympic Torches and Posters used to promote Summer & Winter Games return - I'm talking 1900's torches.) take a photo of the Torch & Poster separately - it really won't fit in one frame, yes I'm serious. And if it does fit in one frame, you don't really get the detailing on the Torch that great. Below, there is a photo of the London 2012 Torch + Poster in the same photo and a photo of the Torch on its own to see for yourself!

For my Olympic fans like myself: There is also the Olympic Stadium used in 2002 and the Ancient Stadium. I wish I had more time to explore those Stadiums. 

Also, if you have the time ( I sadly did not but I really wanted to) try to take a stroll on The Pasalimani Piraeus- there are great seafood places there seeing as it's quite literally on the water. GET SOME SEAFOOD FOR ME PLS

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PLACES TO GET DRINKS

uh hi I mean fresh juice and coffee - in terms of beer/wine I'm sorry I don't know the best places for that as I myself do not drink.

Greece is known for their Fresh Fruit & Vegetables. If you didn't know that, now you do! Honestly, I came back home to the States and everything just tastes fake, once you have the real taste of something you can't go back! I especially love their cantalope and watermelon.

Now, every place has their 'Center'. In New York, it's Times Square. In Greece, it's Monastiraki. This is where all the shops, fresh juice places and places to eat are. Now, in Athens, the shops to get souvenirs from close early EVERY DAY. Now, as a New York City person this really confused me because New York is the city that never sleeps so, getting used to people in the shops having an actual sleeping schedule was an interesting concept. Monastiraki is close to most of the archeological sites so it's very much the center of Athens.

WHERE TO GET FRESH JUICE:

Xymopoieio

Pandrossou 64, Athina 105 55, Greece

This is the exact address (YA GIRL WAS NOT GOING TO SWEAR UP AND DOWN HOW GREAT IT WAS AND NOT GIVE YOU THE ADDRESS) and name of the place that I went to for fresh juice. I had the mint lemonade first, as I was still a bit half/half on juices there. However, the mango juice and orange juice were calling my name - any type of fresh juice in Greece sign me up. If you'd like a look at their menu, I found them on google! Although a blurry photo, I hope you can still make out a bit of the menu. Most of the drinks were under 3 Euros!

WHERE TO GET FRAPPE COFFEE:

I personally don't drink coffee (me and tea are forever an OTP) however, this coffee was great in that it didn't taste strong but also had just enough of a kick in it. These coffee shops are generally everywhere. 

What is a Frappe Coffee?

It is a greek foamy ice-coffee drink.

What makes a great Frappe Coffee is having just the right amount of foam on top. Too much foam and your ice-coffee drink is no longer ice coffee. Just the right amount of foam means when you finish the liquid (aka. the coffee) at the bottom, the foam should not be far behind.

I, however, do not have a direct address but more of tip when scouring around for a good cafe. Look for the home-y ones not the franchised ones!

There was a cafe in front of my hotel that did a great job with their foam & coffee balance - my hotel that I stayed at is below (very last section) if you're interested!

fun fact: The discovery of Frappe coffee was ACCIDENTAL - some of the best things in life are accidents. Did y'know chocolate chip cookies are the best accident in history?

PLACE TO EAT

If you're looking for a place with authentic greek music this is definitely the place you want to go for dinner:

Geros Tour Moria Restaurant

Mnisikleous 27, Athina 105 56, Greece

There is live music as well as a mini show put on while you're eating. Also, it's really interactive, so you'll probably be whisked off to join the dancing happening during the live music!

I did try another place for lunch in Monastiraki however I wasn't too crazy for it so I'm not going to include it here since I didn't love it.

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WHERE TO GET OLIVE OIL TO TAKE IN YOUR LUGGAGE

Once you try their authentic real olive oil you'll understand why I have a legitimate section for THE PLACE to get olive oil in Athens. My tour guide from EF Tours recommended this place and I'm not even joking, their olive oil tasted so beautiful. In this lil shop, there's also honey soap, fig snacks (which are AMAZING) and some boxes of Baklava prepared and ready for you to take home with you. Speaking of Baklava, I get into that when I traveled to the islands, I had it pretty much every night #noregrets.

AMBROSIA

36 Pandrosou, Monastiraki, 105 55 Athens Attica Greece

If you are looping back around to Athens on your way out, I'd wait to get souvenirs & Olive Oil from Athens until you come back around- you don't want to be lugging it around if you don't have to!

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THE METRO
If you've ever been to the NYC subway station, you'll know that if you don't know the ins and outs then you're going to spend a bit of time trying to figure out how the subway station itself works before actually getting to your destination. Athens on the other hand is really simple to understand. When my sister and I were wandering around Athens, and went on the metro on our own, we were able to figure out which way we needed to go without too much trouble.

The metro only goes in two directions, to the Airport or towards Town. NYC is straight up origami compared to the Athens Metro.

WEATHER IN ATHENS

I went at the end of August and the weather in Athens was actually great. The sun is high in the sky HOWEVER there is no humidity. So you have a nice day lighting wise and you don't feel like you're about to sweat off the sunscreen you applied earlier in your hotel room.

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WHERE DID I STAY - HOTEL

President

43 KIFISIAS Av. -- 43

Athens

THE WEBSITE

⭐⭐⭐⭐

4/5 Stars 

What I loved: The room itself was spacious; there were three of us in the room and there was a lot of leg room to actually walk in the room. Yes, yes, yes I did not travel all the way to Greece to stay in my room but it was nice that it was a comfortable size for three people. Also, there was a rooftop bar with a pool - it was a great place to read at night after a long day. The hotel was also very close to the metro, just a short walk away!

What I didn't love: There was only 2 outlets in the entire room. So, let's do some quick math shall we? There are three of us so, three phones. We had to take turns using the outlets. Thankfully we all used our iPhones for pictures or else this would have been a bit more hectic with charging cameras!

ALSO side note about eggs for breakfast in Greece: When having sunny side up eggs, you may note that the yolk is actually an orangey-red color. Now, at first I was like honey bunches of nope I am not trying those non-yellow yolk looking eggs. And then someone on the tour, who has a farm, mentioned that the reason they are an orangey-red color is because they are fresh and don't have anything added into them. 

AND THERE WE HAVE IT

This is my first time ever doing a travel guide post and I really hope I delivered. I didn't plan to do travel guides for my time in Greece, if I did I would have taken a photo of each place I got a drink & ate at. If you're heading over to Athens, I hope this post got you excited!

Since this is my first time writing a travel guide, please let me know if the format was okay & if the general tips & photography tips were helpful! I am actually an avid photographer (this means my friends, sister and everyone else in my family has WAY too many off guard photos while I have none; it's great.) so I thought it'd be good idea to give photography tips. 

NEXT UP- TRAVEL GUIDE: SANTORINI

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At the end of August, if you've read my latest post, you'll have known that my sister and I decided to go on a tour of Greece. One thing I was really excited to see was the Ancient Olympic Stadium, however after a lot of maneuvering around the National Garden I ended up being right in front of a stadium I didn't realize existed: The Panethenaic Stadium. There was a massive track, which when I tell you how upset I was that I wasn't in my track clothes to run a few laps I'm not even joking.

Something that I've seen was mentioned in the book Strong: A Runner's Guide to Boosting Confidence and Becoming the Best Version of You by Kara Goucher (which I am still yet to get!) was to speak your dreams to other people. We often keep our dreams close to us as if it were a candle and telling others would blow it out. On this tour, I mentioned to the group - my fun fact was that I like to run - that I was training for the 5000M with an aim to make it to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They were so interested in hearing about the dedication that I must put to this sport that I love so much and are looking forward to seeing where my running takes me.

It was then that I realized the importance of speaking your dreams to other people. I mention my dream of making it to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Team USA in the 5000M often on here - I'm pretty sure my regular readers may get a bit annoyed of me talking about it so often. I also mention it to my family when something is planned for the day, and I have to remind them that I have to get my run in earlier in the day for the plan to work. Because I'm training, the only rest days I take are when I feel my body needs one; that's not to say I run 24/7 until I feel like my body is about to collapse, I schedule 2 rest days in my schedule per week (but more like active rest because I like to walk around and not be a couch potato). I never really mentioned it to anyone outside of those two groups: Blog & Family. So, actually saying it to people in real life made it more real for me. In a way, I guess I have more people to hold me accountable. It made me excited because for once it wasn't just me believing in this dream of mine, it was others looking forward to seeing my dream become a reality.

I did this jumping pose at all major places and I can confirm my arms were extremely sore and about to fall off by the end of the trip

In the beginning, when I mentioned it to my family, it was something they semi-brushed off but I don't think they did it intentionally. My mom is a pretty huge supporter of me, anything is possible is kind of her mantra, that and life is easy, breathe. I mentioned to my sibling that there was another girl who was a runner, like me on this tour. My sibling responded with like you but in a way that's like you're not serious type of way. I know my sibling probably didn't meant to say it like that, or maybe they did, but reiterating my dreams to others on my tour of Greece really solidified my dream in my mind. I was on cloud nine and not even a ~comment~ like that was going to bother me. Well, I guess if it didn't bother me it wouldn't really be an anecdote in this blog post.

This stadium had a place where the King and Queen sat (y'know when there was a Greek Monarchy) which actually looked pretty cool and roomy to sit in. Here's a bit of quick history you probably didn't wonder about but I'm going to tell you about anyway: Did you know that all Olympic Torches & Posters used to promote the Games (Summer and Winter) return to this stadium? Also, the Altar - where the High Priestess lights the Olympic Flame for its journey to the city that organizes the Olympic Game is here, which is below!

Now, a mini spam of the Posters for the Games & Torches through the years:

Here we have London 1948 - I'm really curious on the history on this Torch design because clearly it's who I am as a person to want to know everything about history.

Fast forward London 2012 - what a different look right? It was pretty hard for me to get the photo of the poster & torch hence why I took 2 separate photos!

Canada aka. good ol' friend (well, when a certain president behaves) hosted the Games in 1976 - I really love the classic look of this one. I actually took these photos to show it to a friend of mine but thought I'd include it anyways!

Beijing in 2008! I love how detailed the pattern is on this Torch!

Rio Olympics 2016! I remember watching this abroad and all I'm going to say is Simone Biles. That is all. If you don't know who that is, look up Simone Biles Rio Routine, you'll thank me later!

You thought I was done with the 1900's NOPE- here we have Helsinki, Finland 1952 and can I just say wow. I just love this Torch a lot. It just has that look that makes you do a double take (or maybe that's just me!)

Everywhere I looked there was a bit of history from all over the world on the walls. The Olympics brings countries together and it was interesting to walk through history that is shared with other countries. This is also where I learned that Los Angeles, California hosted the Olympic Games in 1984.

I also wasn't sure I'd see the most the most recent one from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang but! It was here!

Ok I promise I'm done with my fascination of the Olympic torches through the years I could have stayed there all day, my camera roll has more torches & posters.

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That right there in the back is my mom in the future 

I did run on the track in my regular clothes, and I was just so happy & content. I made my sister take a photo of me preparing to run (granted my leg is probably too bent in this photo but I was too excited so forgive me track people that are reading this) and hilariously a guy photobombed my photo. When I looked back at it I thought to myself, this is what I want for my future to be in 2020. I am so excited with the thought that that's going to be my mom one day, cheering me on in Tokyo 2020 if I make the team (please legs love me and move fast for the Olympic Trials xo).

Dreams don't work unless you put in the effort and as I was just coming back from injury, my motivation took some dips and dives but this Stadium brought me back up again. I remind myself that for every workout I do, even the ones that have me contemplating if I should go out in the rain for a run, I get stronger. Every workout makes me stronger and more capable of achieving my dreams. There are days where I think to myself can I do this? Is this in my future? When I catch myself thinking this, which happens a lot more than I'd like to admit, I drain out all the negative thoughts & doubts that enter my mind and replace them with You Dreamt it. You can. You will.

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If you are interested in seeing what I got up to in Greece fitness wise - clips of me running on the Panathenaic Stadium, Cliff Jumping off a 32 foot cliff, hiking for amazing views etc. You can check out my latest Youtube Video; if you have the time to watch it, I'd love to know what you think!

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What are your dreams & aspirations? Has anyone ever told you you're dreaming too high when you told them?

ps. As I mentioned above, running in the rain is not my ideal running weather. Do any runners know of the best way to prepare? What to wear? How do I make it a comfy run?

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At the end of August, my sister and I went on a tour of Greece with EF Tours Ultimate Break . We've both used EF Tours in our high school days -  she went with her English class to the U.K + Paris while I went to Spain with my Spanish class, so we had a feel for how EF Tours worked!

Although most days were pretty jammed packed, there was also a good portion of free time. While we were in Athens, the one thing that was at the top of my the list was to see the Olympic Stadium. At the time, I didn't know there was there was The Ancient Stadium, Panathenaic Stadium (First modern Olympic Stadium used in 1896), and the Olympic Stadium (2004). In my mind there was only The Ancient Stadium & Olympic Stadium (2004) - no middle man there.

My sister took a lot of convincing to go, she isn't as Olympic invested as I am (which I guess is how normal people react to Olympic related things) but! finally my pestering paid off. We asked our Tour Guide for the trip what stop on the metro we needed to get off at and thankfully the metro station was actually pretty easy to understand. 

When we got to our stop, I pulled out the map I was given at the start of the trip and began navigating. We both didn't have data outside, we usually had to rely on cafe's for Free WiFi, which meant Google Maps was not at our disposal. Now, I'm not even joking here, I looked the proper tourist part: Arms outstretched with a map, bag in front of me with my phone because ya girl is not about to get pick-pocketed, paired with me walking a few steps and looking up from my map every once in a while to make sure I didn't hit a tree.

Does Hawaii want its trees back?

When we asked someone to make sure we were headed in the right direction, we were directed to The National Garden - they said that if we walk straight through The National Garden then when we exit, the Stadium will be right in front of us. Now, this seemed simple enough in theory. 

We walked through The National Garden and all was going well for .5 seconds until the path split into two - left or right. There went the theory that this was going to be simple straight line. I looked back at my map and it didn't really go in depth with the ways of the garden, it just showed a whole lot of greenery with the label.

We maneuvered our way deeper into the maze-like garden and realized that this wasn't really just a garden. There was a zoo, bridge and, according to the pointing arrows, there was a cafe too. My sister was complaining that we were lost and that this was a waste of time if we didn't know where we were going. But I DID NOT make it this far into the Garden to turn back around because:

A. This garden was a maze and going back meant I had to actually have some idea of how to get back.

B. The birth place of the Olympic Games was so close (but actually far at the same time) and I was NOT about to abandon ship just because I had no idea which way was North.

The people we asked inside the garden were also tourists, so no luck there. I decided we were going to follow the arrows to the cafe. Where there is a cafe, there are waiters - waiters who can direct me through the maze that is this Garden. 

When we finally made it to the cafe, I pointed to my map asking how do I get there?. Not mentioning that 'there' was the stadium because I guessed that was obvious. I was holding the map right side up and the waiter hilariously said okay first, you're holding the map the wrong way. And then proceeded to tilt the map into a landscape. Turns out, walking to the cafe was the right thing to do (you can best believe I gave my sister THE LOOK like AHA I sort of knew where I was going). When the waiter tilted the map, he then pointed to the path I needed to take - a straight line. The cafe in the garden opened up to the main road, all we had to do was walk straight down and the birth place of the Olympics would be right in front. 

As I said my thank you's, the waiter then asked if I knew that what I pointed at was the Stadium and yes yes I did waiter, it's what I've been waiting to see since since I landed in Athens.

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gotta love panoramic making the sidewalk have a weird U shape

It was through this whole maze that I realized how much easier it was to read a map than to navigate with Google Maps. Granted, the map didn't show the garden in depth, but! I made it to the cafe by looking up at the trail markings. If you've used Google Maps before, you already know I would have spent a good portion of my time trying to see if I was going in the direction of the blue line.

By using a map, I was forced to absorb by surroundings, think for myself which way was East and West, and actually talk to people. When I made it to the cafe, all the waiter did was point to the map and tell me to follow a straight line. I knew where I was going because I looked at street signs, and saw that this was the same street that the waiter pointed to on the map.

Most of the time, our phones do all of the thinking for us: Make a right in 20 feet and the destination will be on your left. It's easy to just blindly follow the GPS navigation and not pay attention to what is actually around you; I do this pretty much anytime I'm in an area I don't know.

By using the map, it's almost as though part of my brain was waking up. I mentioned a while back on a post about digital clocks vs old fashioned ones that the more technology advances, the less work our brain does. And this is where I really saw it come to play. Maps are pretty easy to understand once you're holding it the right way. Sure, it's not as  ~easy~ as Google Maps and there's a lot more thinking involved because instead of the GPS telling you to make a left in 100feet/meters, it's your brain looking at the street name on the map and looking up to see where the coordinating one is in real life. A lot of the trust was placed on me rather than my smartphone, which was new. Usually, we trust our phones with our lives not ourselves.

To every Island we went to in Greece, I became known as the map person because as long as I had a map, there was a 98% chance I wasn't going to be a completely lost soul in a foreign country. To be fair, using a map made every day an adventure for me. Sure, it was a tiny bit frustrating when I ended up on several detours to get from Point A to Point B but, I can confirm that this made the days in Greece a lot more fun. Most of the time I had to make sure I wasn't holding the map the wrong way, which as I mentioned above with the waiter, happened a lot.

How long has it been since you used a map? Do you prefer using an actual map or Google Maps?

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I will be putting a whole post together of the Panathenaic Olympic Stadium because it was actually magical - I didn't want to leave but I ran out of water and the sun was shinning pretty high up in the sky.

I will have a new video up on my channel Running Diary: Ep 2 which will include a few clips of me running on the FIRST modern Olympic Stadium used in 1896 (!!!!!) & some scenery as well! If you'd like to subscribe: SUBSCRIBE HERE

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