top 10 places to visit in Athens Greece

1-The Acropolis

It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of the Acropolis 1 (daily Apr–Oct 8am–6.30pm, Nov–Mar until 5pm) to the ancient Greeks. The religious significance of this sheer-sided rock, looming 90m (300ft) above Athens, was paramount, and the buildings on the summit still embody the essence of classical Greek architecture. You can see these temples from most parts of the city – particularly at night when they are beautifully lit – which adds to the feeling that this small area is still the heart of Athens. The name ‘Acropolis’ derives from the Greek words ákro, meaning ‘highest point’, and pólis, meaning town.Try to visit early or late in the day to avoid the tour groups, or on Mondays, when most tours don’t operate; wear comfortable rubber-soled shoes as there are slippery stones worn smooth over the centuries and numerous uneven areas where heels can catch.Once past the ticket office, a path leads to the summit of the Acropolis – a relatively flat plateau around 320m by 130m (1,050ft by 425ft) in area. This steep incline is the last section of the original route taken by the Panathenaic procession up to the statue of Athena (for more information,). Used for strategic purposes throughout the Mycenaean and Archaic periods, the rock was easy to defend. It had spring water and superb views of the surrounding area. The first religious structures appeared at the end of the 6th century BC, though these early temples were destroyed by the Persians under Xerxes in 480 BC. The Athenians left the gutted temples untouched for three decades and were only persuaded by Pericles to undertake a reconstruction programme in 449 BC. Pericles commissioned the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea, taking advantage of a new marble quarry on Mount Pendéli (Pentele to the ancients); the marble thus became known as Pentelic. When the Romans took control of Athens they embellished the site with small additions, but the decline of Roman power left the Acropolis vulnerable to attack and vandalism. The rock reverted to its earliest use as a strategic stronghold during Ottoman rule. Large quantities of stone from the temples were used for construction of bastions and domestic buildings. Following Greek independence in the 19th century, a zealous restoration project saw the removal of all medieval and Ottoman structures on the Acropolis, and inaugurated archaeological studies of the ancient remains. These continue to the present day.

2-The Propylaea and around

As you make your way up towards the Propylaea (gateway) you will pass through the Beule Gate, built as part of a 3rd-century AD defensive wall. This gate was revealed only in 1853, underneath an Ottoman bastion. Immediately past this stands the jewelbox-like Athena Nike temple B , among the earliest Periclean projects, with four Ionic columns at the front and rear; since the millennium it has been completely reconstructed, using original masonry chunks. In myth, King Aegeus leapt to his death from here upon spying the ship of his son Theseus, who had neglected to change his sails from black to white as a sign of having successfully vanquished the Cretan Minotaur. More like a temple than a gateway, the monumental Propylaea C  was a sign of things to come, built to impress visitors. It retains this ability in modern times, even though the structure was never actually completed. Construction commenced in 437 BC to a plan by the brilliant Athenian architect Mnesikles. A series of six Doric columns marks the transition into the Propylaea, beyond which there are four symmetrical rooms, two on either side of the walkway. Two rows of three Ionic columns (this was the first building to incorporate both styles of column) support the roof, whose coffered ceiling was originally painted as a heavenly scene. The five heavy wooden doors along the walkway would have heightened the anticipation of ancient pilgrims, as each would be opened in turn. The only room to have been completed was the second on the northern side. This was used as a refuge for visitors to the Acropolis and also, according to the 2nd-century AD travelling geographer Pausanias, as a picture gallery (Pinakotheke), since its walls were covered with panels and frescoes.Just beyond the Propylaea, you will find on your right remains of the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia D , founded in the 4th century BC.

3-The Parthenon

 

The Parthenon E is one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. The series of columns supporting pediment and frieze is the epitome of Athens to many visitors, and would also have been to travellers in ancient times. However, they would have seen a highly coloured structure decorated with magnificently carved sculptures, not to mention a strong wooden roof. What remains is the bare Pentelic marble used in the construction, and the refined lines and form that make it an architectural masterpiece.The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom and justice, and means Temple of the Virgin. It also housed the city’s treasury, thus combining spiritual and secular wealth. An Archaic temple on the site was removed after the battle of Marathon in 490 BC to make room for a much larger temple. This so-called older Parthenon was still being constructed when the Persians destroyed the Acropolis temples in 480 BC. Work on the present temple, designed by Kallikrates and Iktinos, began in 447 BC. The temple was dedicated to Athena in 438 BC, at the Panathenaic Festival. This festival then took place every four years until the late 4th century AD. The Parthenon was converted into a church in the 6th century, and a bell tower was added by the Byzantines who named it Agía Sofía, meaning the Holy Wisdom. During the 15th century, under Ottoman rule, the bell tower became a minaret and the church was converted into a mosque.Eventually the building served as a munitions store. In September 1687, when Venetian forces attacked Athens, a shell hit the Parthenon, igniting the powder inside. The resulting explosion destroyed the centre of the temple along with many priceless carved friezes and columns. Under a ‘licence’ from the sultan, Lord Elgin removed as much of the Parthenon’s sculpture as his men could cut free, a process that continued from 1801 until 1811. The items, known as the Elgin Marbles, are on display in the British Museum, though the legitimacy of retaining them is hotly disputed. Restoration on what remains of the temple has been almost constant since 1834.Today it is not possible to walk among the columns and the temple interior. This echoes the rules of ancient Greece, when only the highest priests could enter the naos or central sanctuary. There they would have worshipped an ivory-and-gold-covered wooden statue of Athena said to have been 12m (39ft) high. Walk around the 70m-by-30m (230ft-by-100ft) exterior to appreciate the colonnades.

4-The Erechtheion and Porch of the Caryatids

 

To the north of the Parthenon stand the graceful statues of the Porch of the Caryatids, which adorn the southern facade of the Erechtheion F. This temple is an unusual mélange of styles, with rooms at varying levels, built on the putative site of Athena and Poseidon’s contest for the honour of protecting Athens. It was the last of Pericles’ great buildings to be finished, dedicated in 406 BC, and combined the worship of Athena and Poseidon under one roof. Following the contest between the two gods, legend has it that they were reconciled and this dual temple recognised their special bond with the city. The sanctuary was converted into a church in the 6th century AD and was used to house the governor’s harem during Ottoman times. The caryatids – female figures used as pillars – are so named because they were long presumed to be depictions of the women from Peloponnesian Karyai, captured after that city-state made an alliance with the Persians and was sacked in punishment. Now, however, it is thought more likely that they represent local novices in the service of the goddess Athena. The on-site sculptures are copies: five of the originals are displayed in the New Acropolis Museum; the sixth, taken by Elgin, is in the British Museum. On the eastern facade a row of Ionic columns marks the entrance to the sanctuary of Athena Polias, established here after the original Temple of Athena was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. The foundations of this Old Temple of Athena are in a roped-off area directly south of the Erechtheion. The Erechtheion’s north facade consists of another porch, on high foundations since the ground level drops here. A hole in the ceiling and a gap in the floor were left to show where Poseidon had struck with his trident. The name Erechtheion derives from Erechtheos, legendary Archaic king of Athens and predecessor of Kekrops, whose tomb was supposedly beneath the building. Outside the porch to the west was located a now-vanished altar to Zeus, said to be beneath the olive tree Athena gave to the city.

5-New Acropolis Museum

 

Opposite the Dionysos theatre stands the shining modern construction of the New Acropolis Museum 2inaugurated after many delays in 2009 at a cost of €130 million. The stark, angular structure seems distinctly retrograde from outside, but the interior with its clever natural lighting does an admirable job of showcasing the contents, many never before exhibited owing to the space limitations of the old museum. The lowest gallery houses finds from the Acropolis slopes. Leading to the upper levels is a ramp, simulating the approach to the Acropolis, surveyed by the scarred but still impressive, original Caryatids (which have recently undergone three-and-a-half years of laser cleaning). On the first floor, the Archaic exhibition features the famous Moskhophoros (Calf-Bearer), and various coquettish korai revealing a pre-Classical ideal of beauty in their make-up, earrings and crinkled, close-fitting garments. The top floor is the pièce de résistance: a glass gallery holding a reconstruction of the Parthenon pediments, of the same size and compass orientation as the actual Parthenon looming just outside the wrap-around windows. The friezes, including the triangular western aetoma, are mounted at eye level – unlike their original position overshadowed by eaves so that the ancient Athenians couldn’t really appreciate them. Authentic fragments which Greece retains – less than half the total – have been mounted alongside plaster casts of the originals in the British Museum, a pointed exercise in advocacy for their return. During construction (2004–07), parts of ancient Athens were discovered on site. This was one reason for the delay in the opening: building plans were altered so that dwellings, wells, water and sewage works, an olive press and even a symposium hall with mosaic flooring remained viewable through glass panels set in the ground. The excavations extend well under the museum, suspended above them by 100 massive anti-seismic columns.

6-The Pnyx and Areopagos hills

 

North of Ágios Dimítrios Lombardiáris rises the Hill of the Pnyx 5 , meeting place of the Assembly of Athens. Loosely translated, pnyx means ‘crowded or tightly packed place’, and in ancient times this was a highly populated area. You’ll see the outlines of walls, including the defensive Themistoklean Wall, between nearby shrubbery. The Pnyx meeting place can be found below the summit on the northeastern side of the hill. When democracy was established at the end of the 6th century BC, the debating chamber moved from the Agora to this structure, where prominent public figures made their speeches at the rostrum. Seats were provided for the 5,000 citizens of the city needed for a decision-making quorum, who would listen to the arguments of the likes of Pericles and Themistokles. On the Hill of the Nymphs north of the Pnyx you’ll see the neoclassical Athens Observatory, founded in 1842. On the north flank of the Acropolis is the Areopagos Hill 6, diagonally down to the north of the main Acropolis ticket office. This was the meeting place for the governing council in aristocratic periods, and remained the court of criminal justice even in the democratic era; the modern Greek supreme court is still called the Áreos Págos (Hill of Mars). Here in AD 51 St Paul delivered his speech known as the Sermon on the Unknown God, making an important convert in the judge Dionysios, henceforth the Areopagite and later second bishop of Athens (the nearby, pedestrianised street commemorates him). A bronze plaque with the sermon in Greek is to the right of the slippery steps leading to the top.

7-Cathedrals old and new

 

From the Kanellopoulos and Man and Tools museums, walk straight down Mnisikléous to the vicinity of Athens’ two cathedrals. Ground was broken for the rather gaudy new Mitrópolis £  in 1842; it was completed in 1862, financed by the sale of land and structures pertaining to 72 other churches. The cathedral houses the relics of Agía Filothéi, martyred by the Ottomans in 1589. She appeared in a vision to the faithful in 1940, foretelling Greece’s ordeal during the occupation but victorious emergence thereafter. To the left of the entrance is also the marble sarcophagus of Patriarch Grigorios (Gregory) V, executed by the Ottomans in Istanbul when the Greek war of independence erupted in 1821, and whose corpse (after numerous adventures) only arrived here in 1871. In the shadow of the main cathedral huddles the tiny Mikrí Mitrópolis (Little Cathedral), doubly dedicated to the Panagía Gorgoepikoös (She Who is Quick to Hear) and Ágios Elefthérios, protector of women in childbirth. Dating from the 12th century, the church was built using stone from various ancient structures. Wander around its exterior walls to see sections of Greek and Roman columns, or fragments of ornate carvings.

8-The Greek Agora

 

From the south side of the Roman Forum, continue west along Polygnótou to the southeast entrance of the ancient Greek Agora (daily 8am–3pm), birthplace of western democracy and the social, commercial and administrative heart of the ancient city-state of Athens (agora is derived from the Greek agiero, meaning to assemble). From the 6th century BC onwards, this area played host to a number of activities including religious and political meetings, law courts, education, shopping or simply passing the time. Here Socrates presented his philosophical theories; unfortunately he fell foul of the authorities and was put to death in 403 BC. The area was mostly razed during the Goth attacks of AD 267, but was covered with new buildings during Byzantine and Ottoman times, all of which had to be cleared when excavations began. From the southeastern entrance, follow a section of the Panathenaic Way past the 11th-century church of Ágii Apóstoli, the only remaining Byzantine building on the site. Greatly changed over the centuries, it was restored to its original form in the late 1950s. The frescoes in the narthex are original; others were moved from the Hephaisteion when it was deconsecrated. The Panathenaic Way continues to the other entrance off Adrianoú, near which lies the Altar of the Twelve Gods. This small monument, from where distances to all other points in the Greek world were measured, is now mostly hidden beneath a railway line. A significant section of the altar was exposed in February 2011 during maintenance work and the altar briefly became the focus of protests (and a lawsuit) by archaeologists and local dodekathístes (Olympian god worshippers), who objected to the railway administration’s plans to re-site its tracks atop the altar rather than prepare a diversion. However, a court ruled against them and the altar disappeared again in August 2011. Directly to its south, the outline of the Altar of Ares and Temple of Ares can be seen in gravel. Beyond them are the remains of the huge Odeion of Agrippa, a roofed theatre built in 15 BC. Before it are three gigantic statues of a god and two tritons.

9-The Hephaisteion

 

The western side of the Agora is dominated by one of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples in the world, the Hephaisteion & (Temple of Hephaistos; also known, incorrectly, as the Theseion). The design of the temple, completed between 449 and 444 BC, is Doric mixed with Ionic elements. Hephaistos was the god of metallurgy, and this temple was set at the heart of the smithing, casting and ironmongery district. Later it was converted into the church of Ágios Geórgios with the addition of interior walls and a vaulted roof, surviving through Ottoman times – the last services were performed in 1834. It then served as a museum and storehouse. The exterior of the temple is well preserved, reflecting the same building techniques as the Parthenon – without, however, entasis, making it seem clunky in comparison. The columns are more slender and the entablature (the space above the column capitals and below the pediments) sturdier. The metopes (square spaces, often carved in relief, between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze) on the entablature depict the legendary feats of Hercules and Theseus, the latter subject accounting for the long-standing misidentification of the temple.South of the Hephaisteion along the paved path is an open area with a large reconstructed site plan displayed in a case. This gives a clear impression of what it looked like in AD 150. 

10-Monastiráki Square

 

The district revolves around Monastiráki Square (Platía Monastirakioú), always crowded with commuters hurrying to the Art Nouveau metro station, barrow-vendors of fruit and nuts, and itinerant peddlers of pirated films, watches and mobile phones. The originally 11th-century church at its centre – Panagía Pandánassa – was rebuilt in 1678 as the heart of a much larger convent, which has vanished. The south side of the square is dominated by the Tzisdarákis Mosque , , built in 1759 by the Ottoman governor of the same name. Just up Áreos from the mosque stands Hadrian’s Library ⁄, built in AD 132 around a garden-courtyard with an ornamental pool. Only the west wall and a stretch of colonnade are now standing, but after years of desultory excavations the grounds are now partly open to the public (daily 8am–3pm). Currently under construction, the Museum of Greek Folk Art and Greek Folk Music Instruments is set to become the latest addition to the Monastiráki landscape. The new museum constitutes the merging and relocating of two Pláka museums to a site just north of the ancient Greek Agora: the Museum of Greek Folk Art and the Museum of Greek Folk Music Instruments. The former offers an interesting collection of embroidery, lace and liturgical garments, as well as a wonderful array of paintings by the early 20th-century folk artist Theophilos Hatzimihail. Spinning and weaving are also represented, along with traditional puppets, festival masks and costumes. The Museum of Greek Folk Music Instruments will contribute its fascinating collection of instruments and musical recordings. The new, improved and comprehensive museum is due to open in 2018, on the block formed by Areos, Adrianou, Vrysakiou and Kladou streets.