Trip to Greece - Day 2 (Aug 27, 2025)

Reached ATH about 45 min early. Huge line for immigration because a dozen or so large flights had unleashed a humongous volume of tourists on Greece. Thankfully, we were directed to a different, shorter line after a 20-min wait so we were outside in about 35-45 min. We were met at the exit by a contact person (Galena) from the company that made the travel arrangements. There was also a driver to take us to our hotel in Athens. It took us about 40 min to reach the hotel. Thankfully, they were able to accommodate our early check-in request, so we could get into our room early in the morning. Had a quick shower, went for breakfast to Holy Llama, visited Hadrian’s Arch, First Cemetery, passed by Temple of Zeus but the entrance fee was too much (E20/person), so we decided to chuck it and walk instead to the Panathaneic Stadium. From there, we walked back through the National Botanical Garden, visited the Zappeion, then walked back to the hotel. We were exhausted by then due to the excessive heat and the jet lag and the lack of sleep. Sahana decided to have a nap and I updated the blog. While we were in the room, there was a knock on the door and when I opened it, a hotel staff member was there with a bottle of wine and she handed it to me. I was puzzled as I took it but I realized that the envelope that came with the bottle mentioned somebody's else's name. She took the bottle away after apologizing but was back a few minutes later with a wine bottle again. This time, I noticed that the envelope actually mentioned my name, so I accepted the bottle and brought it to the room. In the envelope, there was a thank you letter from Siva (the travel agency that planned the whole trip). I checked the bottle and realized that it was actually vegan wine. I recalled that I'd mentioned it to the Siva person that had helped me with the booking, so it was nice of them to remember that when they bought the bottle of wine. By 4pm, we were feeling reasonably rested, so we decided to venture out again. By then, it was even hotter, sunnier and more crowded. We headed towards Syntagma Square to watch the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony, which takes place every hour on the hour. We had to wait in the blazing hot sun (reflecting off of a shiny  marble floor) and watch the poor soldiers pacing about. The ceremony was fascinating and boring in equal measure. The weird march they did was reminiscent of John Cleese's silly walk!

Afterward, we headed back towards our hotel and decided to visit the Panagia Kapnikarea church nearby. From there, we decided to visit the Tower of the Winds which was a short walk away. From there, we planned to visit the Temple of Ares without realizing that it is actually part of a larger area known as the Ancient Agora for which you need tickets to enter. Google Maps told us to go in a certain way to the place but we couldn't access that part because we didn't have tickets to enter. We kept walking along a trail that was a very roundabout way to get to the entrance of the Ancient Agora. Finally, we reached the entrance to the Ancient Agora but decided not to enter after seeing the cost of a ticket, especially since it was less than hour for the site to close.

By then, we were beginning to feel very hungry, so we tried to find a place to have dinner in. We picked either Avit or Vegan Beat which were both on the way back to the hotel. We walked through the popular (and very crowded) Monastiraki area. In the end, we picked Vegan Beat and had a satisfactory dinner there. We called and spoke to Ashwin briefly on the way back to the hotel. We bought a couple of bottles of water and returned to the hotel, relieved and exhausted. Both of us crashed out at around 9:30pm.