Elle Takes Europe 2026 - Day 13: Spartan Santas
Our first full day in Athens is upon us. After a beautiful evening overlooking the Acropolis, today was the day we’d go tour it. It would be the third time Jenn and I have visited the Acropolis, once in 2008 with Jenn’s parents, and again in 2012 with my entire family. It’s in that small handful of places in the world (like the Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, Colosseum) that no matter how many times you see it, each time you do is special. Before making our way to our 9-10 AM tickets for the Acropolis, we had breakfast at the hotel. Jenn got pancakes, and I had eggs. We gave Elle some of each and grabbed her stuff from the buffet. None of us was overly hungry, so we made our way quickly to our taxi.
Our drive to the Acropolis took only ten minutes, and ten minutes after that, we started the steep walk up to the Acropolis. We had originally thought about using the Baby Carrier we had, but realized that Elle was far too big for it now. Instead, we took turns carrying her to the top. She’s getting heavy! The 8-10 AM time frames are sold out nearly every day during the summer (for obvious reasons), so we made the slow but steady climb up with hundreds of others. When we did make it to the top, it opened up, offering great views of the temple and nearby structures. We let Elle walk around as much as she wanted, especially in the shaded areas. She loved it and was having a blast. Even in the heat, she found it so fun to be around so many people and to have the freedom to roam around.
We stayed at the top for about an hour before making our slow descent, stopping at a gift shop to grab a giant water bottle and letting Elle snack. One of my favorite memories of the entire trip was Elle seeing people dressed as Spartans. I am not sure where she got the idea, but she kept calling them Santa. She would wave at each of them and say “Hi Santa,” and they’d, without fail, wave back. There must have been a dozen of them spread throughout the area, and each time she’d get a kick out of it. We saw many of them as we walked down the hill and headed towards the Acropolis Museum.
We missed the museum on our first two visits to Athens, but we are glad we finally made it there. The museum houses an array of great finds from the Acropolis and nearby areas. It’s beautifully designed and has stunning views of Athens and the Acropolis. After touring the first floor, we got a quick lunch at the museum cafe. We ordered a ham and cheese sandwich and some eggs, with juice and a smoothie, hoping Elle would eat any of it. She didn’t really. From there, we bought some books for Elle and a decorative book for the house at the gift shop and toured the remaining two floors before grabbing a taxi back to our hotel.
One of our biggest concerns over the last few days has been Elle’s eating and bowel movements. I’m not sure we will want to read this years down the road, but Elle hadn’t pooped in 3-4 days, and so we knew her stomach had to be hurting. She also hasn’t been eating well, which isn’t like her. So we listened to her, and she kept saying she wanted to eat pizza. So when she woke up from her nap, I had a small cheese pizza with breadsticks delivered from Domino’s. The smile on her face and the way she devoured that pizza were priceless. Did it help her bowel movements? Probably not. Was it healthy? Absolutely not. But did she smile the entire time she ate it, and didn’t stop bringing it up the entire evening? Absolutely.
After she had finished eating (at least half of the pizza), we went for a short walk around the nearby neighborhood, and went into a bookshop and bought Elle a Spot book. They are little pop-up books where you try to find Spot the dog. From there, we went back to the hotel and had dinner at their rooftop restaurant called NYX. It too has views of the Acropolis, and we got great seats in the corner with beautiful views of the Acropolis and nearby Athens. The cuisine was Japanese, and it was pretty disappointing. It started strong with a glass of white wine for Jenn and a rose for me, with the tuna tacos. They were fantastic, a bit spicy, well seasoned, and a perfect appetizer. We then had two different sushi rolls, and they were both terrible. We finished up the meal with edamame and chicken teriyaki. It was good but not great.
We had planned to go for a walk after dinner, but Elle accidentally spilled a little soy sauce on Jenn’s bright white dress, so they went back to the room while I paid the bill. When we got back to the room, Elle spent about 15 minutes pooping, and we both noticed the immediate relief when she got done. We forwent the walk and gave her a bath, watched a little World Cup, and turned the lights off, an incredible day in Athens.
