The Greek capital is a great blend of old world charm and modern day convenience. This was our second stay in Athens, almost exactly three years following our first. Because of the repeat visit, we skipped most of the main tourist sites and focused on spending time in the city parks hunting for birds, tortoises, and wildflowers. We did make exceptions for revisiting the two main art museums, which were still well worth it. And like our first trip, we also enjoyed walking around downtown looking for street art, window shopping in the plentiful antique stores, and greeting friendly cats.
Our first visit took place mid-January to mid-February 2023. At that time, we enjoyed the Greek winter with temps normally in the high 50s to low 60s (14-17C), although we did see snow flurries a couple of times. This visit was mostly the month of March, so we saw more sun, higher temps, and missed out on the snow. The orange trees were still very pretty, although they didn’t have that same alluring fragrance from earlier in the season. Instead, we traded the pleasant scents for copious amounts of springtime wildflowers throughout the city parks. They blanketed the landscapes everywhere and we took a ridiculous amount of pictures of them.
This trip to Athens also served as a test for us to gauge how we’d fare when revisiting a city we previously liked. While there are still plenty of interesting spots around the world that we’ve never been to, it’s getting harder to string them together without repeating a destination or taking extra long flights. So we figured we might as well start with a place we really clicked with the first time to see if it would feel the same on a repeat visit. It turns out that we liked Athens just as much, if not more, the second time around. This was an encouraging result which will certainly make our lives easier in the future, although it may make the corresponding blog posts less interesting.
Lycabettus Hill
Our favorite park was still Lycabettus Hill, which offers great views of the Acropolis and entire city after a steep climb to the top. There are dozens of paths that crisscross throughout the park which allow many different ways to explore it. And while the lookout point is quite popular, many of the side paths are not, so it’s easy to separate oneself from the crowds and enjoy the open spaces. The plentiful wildflowers drew us back here several times.
Philopappos Hill
The largest park and our second favorite is Philopappos Hill, which is just to the southwest of the Acropolis. It’s a little harder to get away from the crowds here, and there’s a lot less shade, but it’s still a fun spot. There are wild tortoises living throughout this park that can sometimes be found trampling through the underbrush. The area views are still very good, but not quite as sweeping as Lycabettus Hill. It’s a nice place to spend an afternoon. And despite being less than an hour walk from the Lycabettus Hill, Philopappos Hill had a very different mix of wildflowers for us to enjoy.
Other Parks
There are lots of other small parks that we explored as well. Many of them have hills to climb, cats to pet, or both. There are also plenty of parrots (mostly monk parakeets) squawking up a storm throughout the city. In one park, we even found a parrot apartment complex hanging off the branches of in a pine tree. It featured multiple different nests within one large bundle, each with their own door. It was pretty interesting, although we couldn’t really talk about how interesting it was without yelling due to the constant chatter of this high density dwelling.
Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation Museum
The Goulandris Museum is one of the two best art museums in Athens. They use a unique lighting technique which makes the paintings appear almost as if they are backlit. I’ve never seen it before or since. The permanent collection is nice, albeit somewhat small, but our visit coincided with an awesome temporary exhibit called From Monet to Warhol which featured an incredible selection of impressionist and post-impressionist art.
National Gallery
The National Gallery is dedicated entirely to Greek artists. It showcases the local talent throughout the eras covering many different styles. Although paintings that feature the spectacular Greek landscape seem to be the most popular choice on display. We were glad we made a return trip.
Doctor Visit
If you’re a dedicated reader, you may have noticed that the timing of these blog posts has become much delayed. I’ve never been super prompt in getting them posted, but it’s already September October November and I’m still writing about March. Much of the reason for that is that I’ve been struggling horribly with acid reflux most of this year, causing my sleep to be poor and completely ruining any motivation I have to sit down and write. Reflux is not a new issue for me, but it has become much worse recently. Since I had been unable to fix my issues without professional help during the first 2 months of the year, I decided to search for a GI doctor in Athens.
I was able to find a gastroenterologist that trained in London and had availability just 2 days after we started looking. We both thought the initial consultation appointment was not only productive and helpful, but also a bargain. He started me on a new medication and we scheduled an upper endoscopy. I also had a blood test and ultrasound. The endoscopy allowed us to rule out several factors, but nothing was able to pinpoint the reason for my newfound problems. And unfortunately, the medication was also ineffective and left me in about the same condition as before. Nonetheless, I thought the care I received was competent, efficient, and inexpensive. And the doctor also gave me some insights on the next steps that he would’ve taken had we more time.
To quantify it, the initial appointment cost $81. I went to a separate lab for a blood test and ultrasound and that was $110. The biggest bargain was the endoscopy, which including anesthesia, was only $350. That’s a combined cash price of $541. I don’t even want to think what that would cost in the US. Certainly much more, even with insurance. (Note that we do carry international health insurance, but it’s a catastrophic policy that has a very high deductible. Due to the cheap cost of care outside of the US, it doesn’t make sense to insure for care that’s easily affordable.
Where We Stayed
We rented a charming apartment on the north side of the city in the Kypseli neighborhood. It had marble floors, real art on the walls, a second bedroom, and a nice living area. There was also a weekly farmers market right outside of our door. It was a little bit of a splurge for us at $1943, but we knew we had some cheaper destinations following it, so it seemed like the right time. That also covered 31 nights instead of 28, so that bumped it up a bit in total.
What We Spent
Even with the medical expenses and apartment splurge, our spending in Athens was still very reasonable. Our spending during the 31 night stay in the Greek capital came to $3531. Adding in our recurring bills for mail service and cell phones, the grand total came to $3767, or a little under $122/day.
After almost 7 years since we last worked, we are getting pretty good at this retirement thing. That was evident in the way we could spend over a month in a city that we’d been to somewhat recently without getting bored. Even though we didn’t really do much in the way of activities or visiting official sites, we still enjoyed our time wandering around the city streets and especially through the parks. We were completely enthralled with all of the plentiful wildflowers that coincided with our spring stay. I think it’s safe to say that Athens is one of our favorite places in the world and I wouldn’t be surprised if we decided to stop here again in the future.
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