Spring break in Athens!

A T H E N S , Greece

i know i say this just about every week, but this is the coolest city i've visited yet!!! athens is so vivacious and full of colorful people. and the food... absolutely to die for!

(we sandwiched our trip to mykonos in between two days in athens at the beginning and a day at the end)

my lovely girls in front of the parthenon

the above picture with the parthenon was actually taken the last day of our spring break after our second hike up the acropolis because... apparently the biggest tourist attraction in athens (and probably all of greece) closes at 3 p.m. on saturdays. so when we were in athens the first day of our spring break and hiked all the way to the top of the acropolis to tour the parthenon, we reached the gates and they literally closed them right in front of us. good thing we lounged around in the sun on the cliffs of the acropolis and enjoyed such a leisurely lunch, we easily could have made it inside the first time had we added an ounce of hustle to our morning. haha.

but there are absolutely no regrets about that leisurely lunch...

in the last week i've found a new passion in life- olives. i want them EVERY day. the greeks KNOW how to do salad. yuummmmmmy. fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, caper peppers, onions, black olives, and blocks of feta (they say FAY-TAH) with seasoning and olive oil sprinkled on top. 

i've also fallen madly in love with feta, btw.

these people put feta on everything. in this pic above they served us baked feta with bread. OMG. if i lived in this country i would gain 400 pounds. i didn't even know that i liked cheese before this haha. one of the best kinds of feta delicacies is the warm croissants with feta melted on the inside. HEAVEN. i think we got one every day. if not cheese pies, then it was saganaki, my other new obsession.

and this my friends, is what greek saganaki looks like. it's bascially fried cheese. SOOO delicious.

coming from a girl who struggled for the first 16 years of life (pre-vegetarian days) to figure out which foods she liked, i've made major landmarks in these past few months. I LOVE GREEK FOOD!!!

and the greek pizza. mouth-watering. feta cheese, peppers, olives, tomatoes. heaven heaven heaven heaven heaven.

o and p.s. this is how dinner starts. eating out in greece goes like this. the most authentic greek men stand outside of their restaurants on the sidewalk trying to usher you in with their thick accents and charming descriptions of their specialties. usually they throw out, "Free wine! Free wine at my restaurant and free desert!" so then we usually go in after losing the will to avoid such a sweet deal (i must have "i love wine" tattooed on my forehead) and they seat us and tell us all of the best things on the menu and what we MUST try. it feels like endless rounds of delicious food topped off with traditional greek yogurt and peaches for desert. DELICIOSO!

i must say one of the greatest lessons i've learned in europe is the art of eating (hopefully this does not end up reflecting on the size of my pants! hahha). eating meals in europe are truly more of an experience. it's a slow process meant to be shared with loved ones and friends. a time to appreciate one another as well as the amazing food in front of you. i think that's such a basic thing that brings people closer together and slows down life (in a good way). if there's anything i hope to hold onto that i've learned here it's that- taking the time to enjoy life and the people around me. there's just no beauty in taco bell or a jam-packed schedule. i'm so glad i grew up with family dinners at home. it's so important.

enough with my sappiness, onto more pics from the beautiful city!

did i mention that it was carnival when we were in athens?? it's kind of like a european halloween celebrated before lent. we obvi had to join in and buy 5 euros masks from street vendors. hahah

and a view of athens from the plane

NEXT UP: Mykonos!