Day 8 (our last day) - Athens

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I cannot freaking believe that after all the anticipation, the trip is done! Day 8 was great. Some shopping and exploring, more great food, more shopping, more great food and then packing 😕

Day started off with a run for Bender. He ran up a big hill and could see the whole city, he ran through the luxury shopping streets and gave us a heads up that Golden Goose was open, he ran by the Olympic Games site, and through the National Gardens to scope it out for us later. Lots of pics!!

I love checking out past games sites! 

Parthenon from afar! 

National Gardens 

Can you tell we’re missing Kai? He got as many souvenirs as any of us!! 

Such an amazing view.

Proud that he asked someone to take his picture. It was quite the incline to get to the top of the hill. Perfect place to do some hill work!

Even met some new friends! 

Another run, another espresso on the patio. I will miss this so much. Small patios looking out on the world. As I’m typing everyone else is asleep, but I can hear tourists wandering the street we’re staying on below. One of my favorite parts of the travel experience is being part of a neighborhood- even if only for a very short time. 

We got a late start today - headed to brunch around noon. The first place we stopped was a Ergon Bakehouse - a small bakery that did not have anything gluten free even though that’s not what the reviews said. We did buy some treats at the bakery window though - can’t resist a bakery treat 😉 I’m in love with the Greek sesame bread rounds - Koulouri Thessalonikis - kind of like a skinny, harder sesame bagel, but so much better. 10/10…all the stars.

We kept walking any found Ergon House & Restaurant right around the corner. Such a cool concept. We lucked into seats at the bar at the window. The 5 floors above the open restaurant were hotel rooms. In addition to the restaurant with an extensive menu, they had a butcher, a grocery store, a coffee bar, a fishmonger…we ordered brunch/lunch, took a selfie…

And then wandered the aisles.

Contemplating how much olive oil we can fit in our extra suitcase…

Cheese too!

Zoe got a frozen Greek yogurt bowl and watermelon salad that didn’t have any watermelon, but was freaking delicious!

Bender got pancakes with Greek yogurt in between. They were scrumptious. Zack got a really good looking sandwich (that I don’t have the picture of) and he and Chris both got fancy coffee. 

I got tzatziki and pita and tabbouleh. This may have been my favorite tzatziki to date - and the tabbouleh was both nothing like I expected, and one of the best things I ate on this trip. 

After brunch, we headed to Kolonaki to do some serious window shopping. It was a fun walk through some new areas to get to the luxury shopping. 

We made it to the promised land - Golden Goose. They actually were having their grand opening tonight - so we were some of their first customers. They said it’s the biggest store in Europe! It was so fun to watch the artists paint and to see all the different laces, sparkle and accent options. 

Ok, so we did a bit more than window shop. Big smiles.

Then we walked back to our apartment through the beautiful National Gardens. 

Selfie stop!

We got back, started to organize and plan tomorrow a bit, and then headed to dinner at Lyra. The outside tables were on steps up the hill, and ours gave us the perfect spot to watch all the tours and tourists go by!

It’s kind of hard to tell, but we were at the bottom of the steps.

We for more tzatziki and some hummus, pitas and some potato cream for apps. Zoe had a burrata salad with some gorgeous tomatoes and I had mushroom risotto that was delish but crazy rich. Definitely the most truffle oil I’d even encountered before. 

Bender had seafood orzo.

Zack had some delish chicken.

After dinner we bought the last of the gifts and souvenirs that we wanted to buy and packed everything up! This Airbnb has been perfect - location, accommodations, communication - just fabulous. Actually all of them have been on this trip! Well done Bender! 🫶🏻

This pic makes me so incredibly proud and a bit sad. My heart is so full. I loved spending a whole week as the four of us! Those weeks are harder and harder to figure out. So thankful we were able to make it work and for the incredible memories we’re bringing back with us. I wish I could take them everywhere and let them experience everything - but I’ll have to settle for giving them a taste and hoping we’ve passed on a love for exploring and trying new things. 

Taxi coming at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Lots of airplanes and rearranging luggage and customs - hoping to make it home to Jax around 10pm - with a 7 hour time change it’s going to be interesting 😉. Zack is actually headed from our Philly layover to work a lax tourney in Myrtle Beach. Let the rest of summer begin! 

Thanks for traveling with us! It makes my day to read the comments you leave. Blogging leads to some late nights, but it’s become one of my favorite parts of travel - and I love being able to go back and remember the details of our adventures. 

Εβίβα! Yamas!

XOXO, the Benderz

Day 7 - Aegina to Athens! 🇬🇷

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Travel day! We woke up this morning in Aegina ready to take on the next adventure. We said goodbye to Vrachokipos and Christof the taxi driver picked us up and brought us back to Aegina Town. We ended up at Le Cafe, the restaurant right next to the one we started our time in Aegina at. Le Cafe was actually the restaurant we were looking for when we were “encouraged” to sit at the other. Kind of a full circle moment 😉

Everybody’s looking a little tired… but hearts are so full. 

First cold brew of the trip - 2/10. Would not recommend. Should have just gotten an espresso. 

Chris and Zoe got granola bowls, Zack got a chicken sandwich and I got the Aegina breakfast. Scrambled eggs with sun dried tomatoes, feta and pistachios, a bagel, yogurt with honey, orange cake and some cucumbers/tomatoes/olives. I shared 😉 

Then it was time to find our ferry back to Athens. Aegina was looking beautiful this morning. 

Pic from inside the ferry. They have baggage compartments like on airplanes and we had assigned seats on the high speed ferries. I’d say they were a quarter full - if that. So efficient. We were on and moving in less than 10 minutes and when it was time to get off, you better be moving that way!

Athens! We didn’t have a prearranged taxi for this ride to our Airbnb but we had been warned about getting fleeced because we were Americans. Our driver was great - he definitely was the least confident of all our taxi drivers with his English - but he pointed out the major sites on our way to our next home. 

We were able to see the presidential guards in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Presidential Mansion as we drove by. 

Crazy old and expensive hotel - boys had fun looking at the cars out front as we drove by. 

Always an adventure figuring out how to get in to a new place. This Airbnb involved a lockbox, a scan tag and a key to an apartment that wasn’t marked with a number. 

Only one person and luggage on the elevator. Zoe volunteered. It reminded me of the elevator we had at our HHI house last year 🤣

Hoping she makes it to the top…

This apartment is right on one of the most popular tourist streets in Plaka, a very popular part/neighborhood in Athens. Tons of shops and people! 

Another adorable little balcony to watch the world go by.

Another winner home base! The kids were painfully tired, so we left them to nap and recharge while Chris and I wandered a bit and got the lay of the land. So many things we wish we could take back with us. We have decided that getting another suitcase makes more sense (financially) than paying the weight overage fees for two big bags - so we started the search for a cheap one today. Olive oil heaven.

We headed towards the Acropolis and were rewarded with some amazing views. 

The archeology minor in me was dying to get in, but it’s not happening this trip. It was very much walled off and hard to get near without a ticket. 

We kind of took a selfie with the Parthenon? 🤣

Thinking of you Ya Ya!! We shopped and found some spots to bring the kids back to, I bought sandals and the toothpaste you’re supposed to when you’re in Europe, Chris bought a really nice Greek keys shirt. 

We also found the kids some Powerade and Coke.  Electrolytes and caffeine secured, yay!! We headed back to pick them up and Chris tested out our espresso maker. 

Directly across the street from us is a primary school. It’s interesting to be able to hear them playing and laughing behind the walls while all the tourists are wandering the street. 

We put our feet up for a few and headed back out, this time with the kids. 

We found Brettos and decided tasting some different Greek cocktails was as good a place to start as any!

We tried four really different things - two of which contained Mastika - a liquor made from the resin of a tree - that we really liked! So fun trying new things. 

Such a cool spot. We also got some cheese/salami/olives/bread to keep us going. 

And it was on the menu, and we weren’t sure he would ever get to try it again, so Zack tried a shot of absinthe, which we had no idea was anise flavored as well. It was interesting, there was a note on the menu that bottles had to be taken away - not consumed there. They were not dealing with absinthe drunk. 

Zoe opted for Greek yogurt. 

Zack found some sunglasses, and Zoe found some odds and ends while we wandered. 

Sunglass selfie! 

We did make it to the Acropolis/Parthenon perimeter with the kids - but may try to walk the whole thing tomorrow. As least see it from a bunch of different angles (although, foreshadowing, we did get a pretty amazing view later on).

Missing Kai - who got his first bad report card of the whole trip so far. Hoping it’s not a trend.

Dinner was at Trattoria Plaka. They had a bunch of gluten free options including gluten free pasta. They also had traditional Greek and Mediterranean dishes. We sat at the outside tables and watched the world go by. Loved everything about it except the cigarette smoke. 

Apps! More tzatziki (high on the list), dolmades, and some delish mushrooms and cheese sauce. 

Grilled veggies for me. So good. 

Moussaka for Chris - slightly better than the last one. 

Happy Zoe with some Arribiata pasta. 

Zack got lamb chops which were yummy but took some work. 

And at the end, they brought “holy water” - shots of Mastika - as a digestive. 3 of us shared. I really like it!! I’ve already looked and Total Wine carries it in the states.

Then we ventured a bit farther from our apartment. 

Chris found a roof top bar that overlooked the Parthenon. What a cool space. We shared and sampled a few more Greek specialty cocktails and enjoyed the view! 

Everyone at the Elysium got a little container of nuts with their drink. Every drink should come with nuts or some kind of snack. We literally just ate and still immediately scarfed down the nuts! Then it was time to move on to a spot Zack found. 

The Bar in Front of the Bar was a super fun scene. It was 11 on a Wednesday when we go there and pretty quiet, but by the time we left it was definitely filling up. Zack showed us a picture of what things look like on busy nights and the street behind them is full of people all the way to the other bars (shown in the pic above). They had the most interesting specialty cocktails - we ordered and tasted a few. 

The clear tall one was a tomato martini which I had high hopes for. It was good, but not at all savory (hoping it would be.)

Closing down Plaka on a Wednesday night 🤣

Not exactly sure what our plan is tomorrow. Last day in Athens, last day of our trip. 😕 Excited to pack in some last adventures before returning to reality 😕😕. Have the best day y’all!

Cheers! XOXO, the Benderz