Athens- Day 1

Hello!
Hubby and I were lucky enough to get to spend my school's spring break in Athens, Greece.  We are trying to work our way through the big cities in Europe while we are overseas.  :)
Athens is a very old, very beautiful city that's been incredibly hard hit by economic downturns in recent years.  There's a lot of modern poverty and decay alongside ancient wonders, which made our trip both magical and sad.
Our first day was mostly consumed by road tripping to the airport and getting to the hotel once we touched down in Athens.  The train system from the airport was super easy.  I got a bit of a thrill from discovering the automated ticket kiosk in the wall of the train station that allowed us to bypass the super long line of people cuing to buy tickets at the counter.  (Not sure why everyone elected to wait when the machine was right there...?)
When we planned the trip, we decided to splurge a bit and get a hotel room with a view of the Acropolis:

The room was still a decent bargain, being a bit of a walk from any big sights and requiring a walk through a very.... colorful market.
Once we got checked in and settled at the hotel, we spent some time walking around the neighborhood and getting our bearings.  Dinner was at a little place near the hotel.  I adore Greek food so meals were one of the things that I was most excited about when planning this trip!

For dinner the first night, I had grilled chicken skewers (souvlaki) with pita, fries, and salad.  I also ordered white wine.  The wine was about as cheap as soda everywhere we went, and I was on vacation so I splurged!  My only complaint was the lack of tzatziki (cucumber-garlic yogurt sauce) to dip everything in.
And check out the view we got to come back to!

Check back tomorrow for what we did on Day 2 of our Athens Trip.
Yours in learning and travel,
Amy