Athens & Ermoupoli, Greece

Greece captured my heart more than I expected. I could have stayed forever! We bought these tickets on a whim because they were on sale for Black Friday and decided we wanted to do Athens and an island. Since we booked for probably shorter time than we should have, we wanted to do a close by island. After a lot of research we decided to check out Syros, which is a 2 hour ferry ride from Athens. We absolutely loved it!

Day 1

On our arrival in Athens we checked into our hotel at the Cocomat Athens (which is also a bed store?) and then met up with a friend of mine who is from Athens and also happened to be visiting. She picked a restaurant in a region that she called the “anarchist” area. We got there early and wandered around for a while to see all the cool street art. Then we met my friend for a very delicious dinner.

Ama Lachei

I didn’t take many photos here but we started with feta donuts and shared so many other delicious dishes together.

Day 2

Athens Walks Food Tour

The next morning we did a food tour of Athens with Athens Walks. We tried Greek coffee, spanakapita, bougatsa, loukoumades, a whole big spread of greek salad, dips, eggplant, meatballs and more and then finished with a gyro. We were so full afterward!

Ancient Agora

After the tour we found ourselves near the Ancient Agora and decided to check it out. It was really beautiful to walk around with lots of old artifacts and buildings. The history in Athens is just mind blowing!

Acropolis

After a break to get out of the sun for a while, we went to the Acropolis about 1.5-2 hours before sunset.

This worked out really well as the crowds were not too bad (obviously its a major tourist attraction so there are always some crowds) and also the heat was much better. There’s not a lot of shade walking around so definitely planning for the heat is a good idea. We also took the advice to go to the side entrance rather than the main entrance which was great, there wasn’t a line at all.

The history here was even more mind blowing, and walking up the hill to see the Parthenon was incredible. It is currently being restored so there is some scaffolding but it was still easy to see the views and see how incredible it is.

Afterward we followed the exit and found a nearby rock with a great view of the Parthenon where people were hanging out.

Plaka

We took a walk through Plaka to see it and ended up finding some really nice shops for souvenirs. The area was very cute and we really enjoyed wandering around.

Mavros Gatos

For dinner we went to Mavros Gatos, which was relatively nearby our hotel. We ordered way too much food - greek salad, tirokafteri (spicy feta dip), fried zucchini, souvlaki, beef patties and tzatziki. It was all amazing and it was so much fun to have so many different flavors to eat together. Even more incredibly, this whole meal plus a glass of wine and some water was like €50!

Day 3

On our 3rd day we woke up early and caught a 7 AM ferry to Syros. We took the fast ferry which is only 2 hours (SeaJets). When we boarded the ferry it was still dark, which meant we saw a beautiful sunset.

Shapes Luxury Suites

We stayed in Ermoupoli, which is the capital city of the Cyclades and the largest city in Syros. We found this beautiful hotel that was conveniently right across from the port. We were able to check in early when we arrived and had such a lovely view from our big balcony. We were even lucky enough to have some cat friends!

Epta

After a nap, we headed to Epta for some food. I got an amazing feta tomato egg scramble and Austin got one of his favorite meals of the trip which was a simple but delicious Greek yogurt bowl.

Anos Syros

After exploring the town for a while we decided to hike up to Anos Syros, which is a small village on the hilltop about a 20-30 minute walk from Ermoupoli. It was so cute!! We stopped first for a drink and a snack while we cooled off, and then wandered all over taking photos and saying hello to all the cats!!

Braziliana Snack Bar

We stopped at this snack bar as one of the only things open in Anos Syros in the off season. They had a lovely balcony overlooking the city & the ocean and we got a garlic parmesan flatbread which was a perfect snack after our uphill walk. We loved this place!

To Petrino

For dinner we went to To Petrino. It had the cutest terrace with fake flowers all over the top. We again ordered a ton of food - more Greek salad, fried feta, zucchini croquettes, and these amazing Syros specialty meatballs with fries.

After dinner we wandered around to enjoy the beautiful evening and the gorgeous views on the water, then ended up getting some gelato from Django gelato!

Day 4

Our hotel delivered a little basket of continental breakfast every morning which included juice, a few pastries, fruit and hard boiled eggs. I walked nearby to grab a coffee and we enjoyed having breakfast on our balcony in the morning.

Thessalonikia Bougatsa

After our breakfast we ventured out to get some bougatsa, which is a phyllo pastry filled with a sweet cream and topped with cinnamon and sugar. It was so delicious!

It was not warm enough to swim, but the weather was sunny and beautiful so we walked to a nearby “beach” area to sit and enjoy the sun and the view.

Gnision Souvlaki

For lunch we grabbed a gyro which was less than €5 and was the best gyro I have ever had. The pita was a corn pita which was so good. They had some tables outside to sit at as well.

Django gelato

I couldn’t stop thinking about the vegan banana bread flavor I had seen and not tried at Django gelato, so we headed back over for another gelato. The banana bread flavor was amazing!

Boheme del Mar

The weather was so nice that we decided to find a spot to sit along the water to enjoy a drink. We ended up at Boheme del Mar where we got a table on the water and enjoyed the sunshine.

To Mikpaki

For dinner we ended up at To Mikpaki. We sat outside again and ordered a bunch of interesting dishes. It was not as good as our previous dinners, but was still overall a nice experience!

We even had some friends during dinner!

Day 5

On our last day in Syros we had an afternoon ferry so we spent the morning having a slow breakfast on the balcony, exploring and eating while we killed some time. We had a repeat of the same gyros, another drink at Boheme del Mar and grabbed some loukoumi (also known as Turkish delight) from Ζάχαρη & Αλάτι.

Our ferry ended up super delayed due to weather as it was EXTREMELY windy, so we spent a lot of the afternoon waiting in the ferry port for our ferry to arrive. We ended up arriving in Athens super late on a pretty rough ferry, so we just ate fast food close to our hotel for dinner before we flew back to Amsterdam the next morning.

I absolutely cannot wait to go back to Greece and explore more islands and more of Athens. We loved both places but especially the laid back vibe of Ermoupoli. Next time I would love to rent a car to be able to explore more! I would highly recommend both places.