Greece: 48 hours in Athens
48 Hours in Athens – Sleep, Eat and Play.
If you want to spend some time in an exciting European city then Athens is the perfect place. Ancient yet vibrant, cosmopolitan and yet very Greek. There are fantastic hotels to stay in, restaurants to dine and spend time at and of course awesome sights to see. Please keep reading to see some suggestions for hotels, restaurants and sightseeing.
Where to stay:-
Kubic Athens Smart Hotel (Agiou Konstantinou 26, Athens 104 37/Tel: +30 21 1402 1695) is the first smart hotel in Greece and using modern technology makes the guest’s life just that little bit easier!
This hotel is about a 5 minute walk to the nearby Metro station Omonia and is also approximately a 25 minute walk to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Omonia station is quite central and a convenient place to change lines on the well laid out underground system.
The airy, colorful rooms offer free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs and en suite, shower-only bathrooms, and smart-room technology which uses an in-room tablet to change the mood of the room with a flick of the finger. You are also given a smart phone to use during your stay either in the room or to take out with you thus saving your personal data and any roaming charges. There are plans to install and implement an Alexa style control unit called ‘Mike’ in all rooms as well. Breakfast is available and room service is available 24/7.
The lobby has a really friendly feel and a bar and lounge.
Stairs leading to the rooftop reveal a panoramic view. The day we were there it was a bit windy however we could imagine how lovely it would be on a warm evening sipping drinks with friend.
Athenian Riviera Hotel (Danais 7, Vouliagmeni nr Athens 16672/Tel: +30 21 0890 0000) is the perfect place to stay if you want to stay outside the city by the beach. The town of Vouliagmeni is easily reached by taking a short taxi ride from the Eliniko station at the end of the Red Line Metro.
The hotel is on a quiet residential street surrounded by pine trees and is a 6-minute walk from a beach on the Saronic Gulf.
The rooms are very comfortable and decorated in a elegant Greek contemporary style with balconies to sit and enjoy a quiet coffee or drink from the minibar. There are safes in the rooms and a laundry service is provides as well. The hotel also offers free Wi-Fi which is an essential in this day and age!
The ground floor restaurant serves a complimentary breakfast buffet. There’s also a cafe/bar, and a seasonal outdoor pool with a snack bar.
Villa Orion (4 Ioanni Metaxa, Voula 16673/Tel: +30 21 0895 8000) is for those wishing to keep to a strict budget and is a short walk to a bus stop that will take you to the airport or into the centre of Athens.
Set on a tree-lined street, Villa Orion is a 10-minute walk from both the beach and the train station, and 3 km from Konstantinos Karamanlis Glyfada Golf Course.
Rooms offer free Wi-Fi, complimentary Continental breakfast as well as a bar service and Room service is available 24/7.
Where to eat:-
Our first night we walked through the trendy Plaka area under the shadow of the Acropolis to the elegant French restaurant L’Audrion (pl. Filomousou Eterias 3, Plaka, Athens 105 58/Tel: +30 21 0324 1193).
In the romantically lit dining area the staff passionately tell you what is on the menu that evening and suggest wines to pair perfectly with your dinner choice. I had the Fish Soup and a glass of crisp Chardonnay wine for starters …
and the risotto with truffle and a citrus foam along with a glass of crisp, lemony Chablis was the perfect main course.
The desserts and after dinner wines were sublimely delicious and hard to decide if I liked the French one or the local Greek one better.
Kiouzin (Likavittou 16, Athens 106 73/Tel: +30 21 0364 7407) is a great place to taste traditional Greek food with a twist! We chose a selection of dishes and shared them between us. We had Greek Salad, Fava Bean Puree, Zucchini Balls with Whipped Yoghurt, Chunky potato wedges with lardons, egg and a cheese sauce, and a slow roasted lamb shank served on a bed of grains called Trachana!
Chocolate ice cream and a rice pudding mousse finished off our meal along with a dessert wine from the island of Limnos.
We ate at a relaxed and leisurely pace and chatted away while we worked through our feast.
Another ‘must-eat’ place is Mironi (Meg. Alexandrou 7, Athens 104 37/Tel: +30 21 0520 2339) featuring real local Greek food like the Mironi Salad, House Feta, Fried Zucchini, Tszaki, Roast Goat and Tomatoes stuffed with rice were among the dishes we enjoyed. We had a house white wine from Alexandria to go with our meal.
The staff looked after us really well and made sure we had a really enjoyable evening. We finished with a traditional little pastry drizzled with honey and sesame seeds called Galaktoboureko and a glass of Mastika, a liqueur made from pine flavoured resin native to the Mediterranean.
And of course keep your eyes out for interesting street food!
What to see:-
The Acropolis also known as the holy rock of Athens means ‘top of the city’ and at the flat top are the monuments The Parthenon, The Temple of Nike and on the north side The Erechtheum dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. I was speechless as my friend and fellow blogger Nayna and I finally made our way to the top. This was a symbol of ancient Athens to me since I was a young schoolgirl. I had made the climb, I had reached the top and stood in front of The Parthenon. A very emotional moment!
The Acropolis Museum – is an archaeological site-specific museum housing famous works of classical antiquity and the story and artefacts from the Parthenon. You can visit the cafe and look out on the spectacular sight of The Parthenon high above the city.
There are many museums which are testament to the life, history and culture of the ancient civilisation as well as to the modern culture.
City Sightseeing – Get the hop on – hop off bus, accepting all major credit cards accepted, friendly and must-lingual staff will take you to all the major sights including The Acropolis and Parthenon, Parliament Square, Temple of Zeus, Ancient Olympic Stadium and more.
If you prefer to drive yourself around the city and area you can use GloBal Rent-a-Car knowing they will have quality and reliable vehicles .
So if you have 48 hours to get away I can really recommend you visit Athens!
While you are here why not read some other posts from my recent trips to Greece!
Greece: Spending Ash Monday in Athens
Greece: Kubic Smart Hotel Athens
Athens Greece: Riding on the Athens Metro
Athens Greece: Vouliagmeni Lake
Athens has quickly become one of my favourite European cities to visit. Becky from TheOwlet.com has suggestions of some other great places in Europe to visit.
You can also see what Nayna has written Things to do in Athens.
