Every once in awhile, I find myself in a city I never would have visited otherwise simply because a dear friend has chosen to make their home there.
I probably wouldn’t have road-tripped to Portland last summer, for instance, had a good friend from college not recently moved there to begin a PhD program. Likewise, Fort Myers, Florida, was never a high priority (I’m not Florida’s biggest fan) until a friend moved there with her boyfriend, giving me the perfect excuse to visit.
Sure, the free place to sleep is always a plus, but the really great thing about having a friend in a new city is having someone who knows you well acting as your personal tour guide. A friend understands your tastes and preferences; they know what you like and what you loathe. As such, when showing you around for the first time, they’re able to give you a perfectly tailored tour including only the attractions you’re sure to be most interested in.
And even though I didn’t have any good friends available to show me around Athens when I arrived, this is precisely what I got thanks to my free walking tour with This is MY Athens.
This is MY Athens is not your average walking tour.
The first major difference is that it’s not a massive group tour. The tours are limited in size to a maximum of six participants and can be as small as one. This creates a much more intimate experience and allows for the tour to be better suited to the tastes of the everyone involved.
A local Athenian volunteer acts as your guide, often leaving flexibility in the schedule in the event that you change your mind at some point during the day or think of something else you’d like to do instead, and the online registration form helps the guide tailor the day to your exact specifications.
You’ll be asked to provide a bit of personal information such as ages of group members and what language you prefer the tour be given in. It’s not uncommon for guides to bring along friends or family members (but not without your consent, of course) so you’ll be asked if you’re okay with this as well. As I love meeting locals, I thought this was a cool option and certainly something I’d never heard of anywhere else.
Finally, you’ll be presented with the two tailoring options: Option 1 leaves the tour itinerary completely up to your guide, and Option 2 requires you to select your top interests from an extensive list of categories to help the guide determine exactly where to go and what to show you throughout the day. After all, they’re not your best friend–yet.
The categories include things like cultural heritage sites, galleries and museums, cinema and theater, food and drink, shopping, nightlife, parks and nature, sea and sun, and many more.
My travel companion and I were most interested in seeing the cultural sites and monuments as we had not done so on our own yet, as well as experiencing a bit of the food culture and nightlife.
Our guide for the day, Alex, was a hip, bespectacled, and incredibly well-educated young Athenian–he just so happened to have extensive knowledge of ancient architecture and archaeology, which was the perfect complement to the activities we had planned for the day. He was an excavator by profession but admitted that he wasn’t working so much as of late. When asked why he’d decided to become a volunteer guide, his response was simply, “Because I want to be useful.”
We’d worked out the logistics of our tour the day before via text message and began at three in the afternoon at the Acropolis Museum, a fairly new addition to the city. It was a perfect way to avoid the midday heat and prime ourselves with knowledge before seeing the imposing ruins up-close and personal. Additionally, this meant we’d be on top of the city as the sun was setting, an experience that had been recommended to me by no fewer than a bajillion people. Yes, one bajillion.
The museum flows beautifully and purposefully from one floor to the next with the artifacts presented in a chronological fashion. We learned a mixture of Greek history and Greek mythology, which at times were a challenge for me to keep separate in my mind, but fascinating nonetheless. I also learned that I’ve been pronouncing most Greek words wrong all my life.
After a few hours spent meandering the Acropolis Museum, it was time to climb the hill to the real thing. Our ascent was slow to allow time for more history lessons and photo ops as we passed important sites–the Theatre of Dionysus and Odeon of Herodes Atticus, most notably–and because the heat of the day hadn’t so much as dropped a degree since we first entered the museum.
Once atop the hill where the ancient Greeks had first given birth to their civilization, we marveled. We marveled at the sheer size of the towering marble columns, we marveled at the unexpected details; we marveled at the idiocy of the people attempting selfies on top of the surrounding walls (people do, apparently, occasionally fall to their deaths doing just that), and we marveled at the sea of white buildings spreading in every which direction we looked.
As the sun began to set, we set off for our final stop on the historical portion of our tour, the Ancient Agora. The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural center, and the seat of justice. In contrast to the barren land on top of the hill, this area was lush and green with an abundance of colorful flowers. It wasn’t long though before the sound of urgent whistles pierced the air, alerting us that it was finally closing time.
We spilled out of the Agora into the busy pedestrian streets of Monastiraki, a lively neighborhood known for its bustling flea market. From there, we entered Psirri, a neighborhood more suited to those looking for chill restaurants with ambiance where they could have a nice meal or drinks with friends.
But we weren’t stopping for dinner just yet–we were on our way to an art exhibition called Strange Cities. Artists from all over the world were instructed to depict Athens having never seen the city in person, using any medium they liked and with only a box of random items as their inspiration.
Truth be told, I sometimes have a hard time appreciating modern art. Okay, OKAY, you got me, I’m sugarcoating it a bit–I think most of it’s bullshit–but some of these pieces did at least put a smile on my face.
Finally, it was time for us to check out the nightlife and put some food in our bellies. We ended up at a chilled-out rooftop bar complete with kegs for tables and psychedelic music videos projected onto the wall, not to mention a fabulous view of the Acropolis. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen the Parthenon lit up in all its glory, but I had a better camera and my awesome new zoom lens on hand this time around–needless to say, I was excited.
The next hour was spent drinking wine and talking politics (welcome to “nightlife” in your late twenties, folks) and genuinely enjoying each other’s company. If Alex wasn’t a friend before our tour that day, he certainly was by the end of it. Eventually, our empty stomachs started grumbling at us for their daily dose of souvlaki, so we made our way to a little local spot a few blocks away.
When the night finally came to an end, we were exhausted and happy. We promised to stay in touch with our new Athenian friend, grabbed one last beer for the road, and said our goodbyes.
A walking tour with This is MY Athens proved to be an ideal way to see the city, get a local Greek’s perspective on, well, everything, and learn a metric crapload in the process. We were introduced to places we never would’ve found without the help of an insider; getting away from the well-worn tourist path is one of the things I appreciated the most about this experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Athens in the future.
Tour guides are not compensated for their time–the tour is tip-based only. Every tour guide has their own policy regarding whether or not they accept tips, but it’s a good idea to at least plan to buy your guide a drink or a meal as a way to show your gratitude.
Pin It!
Have you been on a tailored tour like this? What’s the best walking tour you’ve ever done?
