Athens Travel Diary | Hotel Grande Bretagne

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Happy Friday!

This post is so long overdue! How is already June?! It feels like we got back from our trip a week ago (it’s been almost 8 weeks!). I might be heading back to Greece very soon, so I just had to revisit my photos and share my Greek memories with you before I make new ones! If you haven’t checked out my Santorini Travel Diary, get on it – it’s such a beautiful post, definitely one of my favorites. We spent the first few days of our trip in Santorini and then headed back to Athens for a few more days before visiting Istanbul. I fell so incredibly ill between packing up my bags in Santorini and arriving at Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens. 🙁

I have never been so sick in my life & my luck’s timing could not have been worse. I’ve always loved Greek mythology and could not wait to see the historical sites in Athens. All those years of playing God of War and taking Greek myth classes in college were preparing me for this trip haha! One thing I can always give myself credit for is being a trooper – from my entire body being covered in heat rash in Hawaii to my feet being painfully swollen in Paris.. it has always been in me to seize the day. I rally and push through to be able to see whatever I can regardless of the unfortunate circumstances but this flu (or whatever it was) left me down for the count. I spent most of our time in Athens and Istanbul in bed but was able to conjure up a couple hours of energy here and there to get my explore on.

First up, you just have to see where we stayed! Hotel Grande Bretagne. The property was originally the home of a wealthy businessman, later headquarters for different groups during different wars, and even housed the prime minister during the Greek Civil War. In 2006 it went under a massive renovation to restore it to its former glory and now.. here we are!

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Upon arriving, we ordered some room service while enjoying gorgeous unobstructed views of the Acropolis, & went straight to bed!

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At any time of the day, the view was breathtaking!! I also have an affinity for checkerboard floors so this balcony was everything.

Athens is so intriguing to me, the historical sites are so old (we’re talking 4th century BC!) but its all woven in to a modern metropolitan city. The importance that the people and country place on preserving these places is amazing.

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We headed up to the GB Rooftop Garden for a buffet breakfast every morning (& dinner our first night). We sat out on the terrace every morning for that gorgeous Acropolis view, as if I didn’t get enough directly from our room.

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^how miserable and puffy do I look?! I cannot tell you how deeply I fell in love Waseem all over again during this trip!!! The way he took care of me day in and day out and remained so patient was incredible. No one has ever taken care of me like that before and it just made me remember what a gem I have. 🙂 Thank you Waseem, I love you to the moon and back!

I rallied up some energy this day and we went out to see the Parthenon.. with some lunch on the way!

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Entrance to the Parthenon closed early that day because we were there just a few days before the tourist season began when operating hours are longer. So we checked out the museum for a bit before I had to get back to bed, ugh! We made it to the site the next day though!

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& back to bed!

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