Athens, Day 1 Unexpected Beauty and Fun in this Vibrant City

Monday 6/30/2025

Our first full day in Athens! And it was a dream. We slept in until 10am, exhausted from the two full travel days we had just conquered. But, that did not set us back and we had a splendid day to make up for the two prior. 

I somehow convinced mom to go to a vegan cafe with me and we split two dishes, a vegan BLT and pain au chocolate. I enjoyed both dearly and Mom said she also liked it! That was a win to get both sweet and savory for breakfast and to be able to split it with someone. We sat there for a while, enjoying our slow morning. We sat outside and it was starting to get warm outside, no complaints from me as I could live in the heat and it was my day to day last summer in Asia, however I wanted to make sure my Mom stayed properly cooled, and I planned our day around making sure she would get just that.

After breakfast, we started at the Parliament Gardens. I love visiting the local park, like central park in NYC or Retiro in Madrid, I am almost always impressed with the beauty of the local greenery and plants. I had high hopes for the beautiful Greece, but I cannot lie when I say this one was meh. I felt bad as this was the first place I brought Mom for the day and it was not living up to the hype. Plus there wasn’t a ton of shade to be had so we were using up some precious energy walking around the uneventful park. We did get to see a cool building with the most vibrant yellow in the park, shown in the photo below, but it was literally just a conference hall. There was also a cute pond filled with turtles, and that was about it from this spot! And that's ok, we recognized that quickly exited to make our way to the next item on the agenda. 

We navigated toward Ermou Street. All I knew of this street was that it was a popular shopping street and I’m super grateful we went! We stepped into a Zara straightaway so that we could get into some AC. But, there wasn’t anything there that was doing it for me, shopping wise. I was still kind of looking for a dress for the wedding, I didn’t love what I packed, but I was willing to settle if couldn't find anything here to buy. The one thing I did really want to get while here was a pair of linen pants. So, when we went into H&M and that was the first thing I saw, I physically ran to it. I also grabbed a couple shirts and Mom found this cute blue, yellow, white lemon skirt that was right up her alley. We both ended up buying clothes and adding to the closet within hours of arriving to Athens. Our shopping didn’t stop there, but we did have a little intermission.

I didn’t get coffee at Holy Llama because I thought that would be a fun side quest to find another cafe to try. I took us to one a bit off Ermou Street that had good reviews. Mom got an iced coffee and I got a cappuccino with pea milk and a dash of sugar. It was a dark roast but it definitely woke me up for the day. We sat half inside half out, as it was the only seating option we had. We were chatting as one would at a cafe, proper to keep the culture, specifically I had elaborated more on work and my future career endeavors.

We got up and headed back to Ermou Street to finish up our shopping. We didn’t make more than a few steps and we were back in a store. There was an adorable jewelry place where everything was 5 euros. I ended up getting 4 pieces and was super excited about all of them because they were each so unique, some staples, some fun, and all that will add nicely to my collection. Maybe even toss one as a gift to a friend, but I have a feeling I will want to keep them all for myself as I have shamelessly done not once before.

After I had my fun in the jewelry store, Mom had hers in Colors of Bennington. She picked up a shirt that was nostalgic of her college days, it was sweet seeing how excited she was about getting a memento like that which only brings back good memories from the olden days. And to piggyback off that, we stopped at a souvenir stand and hauled magnets for us and our family. Recently I’ve been thinking of expanding my travel collection beyond postcards and magnets have seemed to appeal to me as an additional pick up. 

We reached the end of the shopping street with our arms full and wallets a bit emptier, however our hearts were happy and that’s what mattered most. Next up was exploring the Plaka neighborhood. I knew that it was a cute neighborhood to walk around and we had been on the edge the entire morning so now it was time to go into the center.

On our way in, we stumbled on Hadrian’s Library and the incredible area around. This corner was the coolest nook in the city. We saw some ruins and across the street was also another spot of Greek remnants. And, you could see the hills in the backdrop that made it ever more angelic. I was not expecting Athens to be this cute, exceeding expectations which only makes my experience and memory of it even better.

We kept walking about, colorful buildings left and right, homes draped with vines, flowers, and trees in bloom. We meandered about, I made Mom stop for a million photos, but it felt like the truest girls day ever. We were both geeking about how fun the day turned out to be. I think we both expected to be pretty tired, but the perfect day we were having only energized us.

I knew there was an area in Plaka with shops and restaurants, which surprisingly we had not run into, so I was now on the hunt for it. We both weren’t very hungry yet, I think it was a mix of the heat, exercise, and late brunch, so we kept a going.

We stopped in a few more stores, picking up postcards, a tote bag, and a painting. I was so excited about the painting I got, and funny enough it wasn’t even of a spot in Athens, but inspired by the Greek island Corfu. It felt like a big girl purchase and I cannot wait to hang it up on my walls one day, to say that I got in Greece, painted by a local student, say less. Now, I just need to go to Corfu, and hopefully I can get there one day when I move back to Europe. You can’t say no to a Greek holiday, can you?

We got a recommendation from the worker at the art store to check out this beautiful cafe with a draping flowering tree and that became our next destination. I’ll let the photos show you what a magical place it was. 

We went to Aerides Plaka Restaurant, and had the best service. They gave us tap water, the waiter was nice to make sure that when I was ordering the bean dip for my main meal that I knew what it was, a confusing concept to have a bowl of dip with bread for a meal, but trust. There was a moment where some water from a hose splashed on us, and because of that, they gave Mom a free aperol spritz. That was also the first time I tried one and it was very refreshing. But, I didn’t want to drink too much and get a headache from it, so I kept it under my tolerance of three sips. Mom also got a free orange cinnamon cake, this place was really sweet.

We had an early dinner and stayed there a bit longer to rest and enjoy. We navigated some more streets around Plaka, but after being on our feet all day, and even though I don’t drink, I had us set to go to a rooftop bar for the rest of the night.

At first, I was thinking of taking Mom to this place called A is for Athens, but I didn’t love their drink options. However, we were right underneath the building, so I glanced over at the rooftop next to it, and when I saw some fresh juice on the menu, I knew this was the place to go. We went up to MS Gardens Rooftop, and when getting sat, they asked us if we wanted sun or shade. The first table they pointed to was halfway in the sun and at first I was thinking we could maybe tolerate it, but they said no worries, there’s another table in full shade, and when we turned the corner and laid our eyes on the table that was dead center with the view of acropolis, it was as if a dream had come true.

This patio was full of people and somehow we got the best view in the house. We took some photos, we talked about old stories of travel, and were in awe with the view we got. I enjoyed my freshly squeezed OJ and Mom got a fun fruity NA drink, and we stayed there for almost 2 hours. Long enough to see the sun set and golden hour to light up Acropolis. It was incredible and the best cap to a practically perfect day. We were both beaming with joy, that Athens was more fun and beautiful than we expected, having a great day despite the looming heat.