in the city. Near the acropolis is the Plaka neighborhood which is a nice eating and shopping district — I recommend you stay there.

Prior to Greece I had never been to Europe and didn’t realize that Europe particularly poorer and older Europe doesn’t have accommodations like we are accustomed to so if you want a nice transition from American hotels to Greece, I’d recommend the IHG intercontinental hotel in Athens. It’s looks and feel very American whereas most of the rest of country won’t offer that.

If you need to find other things to do near Athens then you can head out to Nafplio which is roughly two hours west of Athens. It’s a great little European town where a lot of the locals spend their weekends. It has historical sites nearby, beautiful city streets and shops. Near Nafplio, you can also stop in Corinth where you can visit the old historical sites where the Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians. If you have more time to venture into the Peloponnese (peninsula) then there are several other historical sites. Historical sites are just about everywhere in Greece.

As for beauty, Santorini has world class views and those super cool cave houses on the cliff side but other than that the island is pretty ugly. Not to mention they have been dealing with a lot of earthquakes and I’m hearing people are fleeing the island which is sad. Crete is not far. It appears to be a prettier and larger version of Santorini and of course there is the popular Mykonos.

In Athens, most will speak English. Once you get on the edge of the city and beyond it will become almost entirely Greek speaking and very authentic. I felt extremely safe and at peace everywhere we went in Greece.

Go and enjoy the beauty of the olive trees, lemon trees, orange trees, Cypress trees etc…