You all know this feeling – work is stressful, life is stressful, it’s cold and you are just craving for a break, preferably far, far, faaaaar away from it all. I love Berlin, but lets face it,  it can be a real struggle in winter – like 50 shades of grey weather struggle. So, perfect timing to go on a little (solo) trip. I scrolled through the Ryanair schedule to find possible cities for a weekend getaway and voilà – Athens it was. I never actually been to Greece before, so I was very excited to make this one a first for me.

So, for the second time this year, I packed up my stuff and travelled to Athens on a Friday morning. It’s only a 2,5-3h flight from Berlin and the way from the airport to Monastiraki is very chill and you can simply reach is via metro. I stayed at the City Circus Hostel in the Psiri district which is only 8 minutes away from the Pl. Monastirakiou and Emou Str, which is the main shopping street and brings you right up to the Parliament of Athens and the Temple of Olympian Zeus (approx. 25 min walk).

The hostel is very chill, the rooms are clean and the staff is really friendly. They have happy hour almost every day around 7:30pm where you can meet other backpackers and get a free glass of wine plus a snack. If you are keen to get a free breakfast, do not book your nights via a third party platform but directly from their website. One big plus about the hostel is the roof top terrace with a beautiful view on the Acropolis (especially nice at night) and the location. The Psiri district holds tons of bars and restaurants and the cute little streets are filled with street vendors and street art, so its worth checking it out. BTW, I had really nice Gyros close to Ag Anargiron, but you can also just check out one of the endless restaurants for typical Greek food. SO GOOD.

Sightseeing

Great thing about Athens- all the important sights are in walking distance. So, after I arrived at the hostel, I started walking. I know, I’ve said it before but you can explore and experience so much more when you travel by foot. Get lost, wander around and see as much as possible. It’s a good way to take it all in.

Some of the greatest sights that I visited were of course the Acropolis, the Filopoppou Hill, the Parthenon, the national gardens and the parliament as well as the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus and and and. Word to the wise, just start walking and you will for sure pass many of the sights on your way. I bought a 30Euro pass at the Agora which gives you access to 7 different sights around Athens. If you are interested in sight-hopping you should do it for sure. Also, buy the pass at one of the smaller sights, so that you won’t have to wait in line for the bigger ones.

I walked up the Acropolis on my first day there, even though a lot of sights are closing between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, I really wanted to do the biggest sight there during a weekday to avoid even more tourists. I actually got lucky and it wasn’t too overcrowded. Its a nice walk around and you are able to walk down the hill as well to see a bunch of smaller sights, which is quite nice. I just really liked sitting up there to take it all in, you have a fantastic view over the city all the way up to the ocean.

My personal favorite was to watch the sunset on top of Filopoppou Hill. The walk up there is pretty chill and on Saturday they had a bunch of vendors set up on the sides, with music playing and lots of artists. The hike up the mountain only takes approximately 15 minutes, but its definitely worth it. It gives you the perfect view over the city and the Acropolis and it’s not too overcrowded (at least not when we walked up there). On the sight, you can also find the Monument of Filopoppos and Socrates’ prison on your way up there, so it’s a good activity after you are done exploring the city.

Nightlife

Nightlife in Athens is suppose to be pretty great and you have a lots of different bars and clubs that you can go to. As I said before, Psiri is a good place to go out, especially if you want to find some cool bars or just go to good restaurants. Plaka has a lot of cool bars too. I personally only went out to one bar metamatic:taf the first night because greek friends of the Americans I went out with suggested it. You wouldn’t actually know that its a bar, because its located in a small street and doesn’t look like much from the outside. It’s actually a bar meets art gallery kinda thing, but I quite enjoyed the atmosphere.

The second night, we went to a more chill bar called Katinikapea close to Emou Str, had some greek food (Gyros and Saganaki) and Ouzo (duh!) and enjoyed some typical greek music, which was kinda nice after walking around for two days straight. One of the guys I met there also said, that Athens has a sick underground club scene, which is suppose to be really good, so Athens definitely offers enjoyable nightlife for everyone.

I know, I know, its not very creative to tell you guys every single time to go visit this and this destination because its so awesome, but seriously – go visit Athens because its awesome (haha). I booked my trip so spontaneously that I didn’t even really have the time to think about what I wanted to do there and it turned out to be a really awesome trip after all. Just another example that you should travel by yourself at least once in a while. The people you meet, the time you take for yourself – it’s just a different experience and, YES, I would highly recommend to do it.

My goal for the next upcoming months is to travel at least one weekend per month to a destination I’ve never been, so next up will be my surprise birthday trip, that I got for my birthday from my dear Henni (I think I know what it is but I won’t spoil it – yet), Poland, Naples and a short trip with my sister and Henni in April. Stay tuned.