Athens

Athens , capital of the Greece. It is a famous town for it’s civilization and empire. Famous landmarks includes Acropolis, Parthenon, and Acropolis museum. We booked a half day tour with Expedia, operated by Key Tours travel company in Athens. We got picked up from Hilton hotel at 8:30AM in the morning.

Acropolis & Athens Sightseeing coach Tour & Acropolis Museum. This tour included

• Acropolis – Parthenon, Erechtheion, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Theatre of Dionysus
• Acropolis Museum
• The Temple of Olympian Zeus (1KM from Acropolis)
• Panathenaic Stadium (750 m /10 mins walk from temple of Zeus)

In the afternoon we got dropped off at Plaka. We had nice Lunch at restaurant in Plaka and followed by Ice cream in a warm waffle cone. Then we started exploring on our own. From Plaka we walked through a Botanical garden to watch changing of guards at city center. Finally reached hotel in the evening.

• Plaka
• Changing of guards at City center
• Botanical Garden

Acropolis Museum

There was still some excavations going on in the ground floor and you can watch how carefully they are trying to excavate and preserve the history. Museum is a multi story building with glass floor. You can watch all the way to ground floor from top floor. Walking around the corridors gives nice 360 views of Athens all around. You can see the Acropolis, city and some old monuments all around. We followed our guide and she gave pretty good details about the high lights of the museum.

Acropolis

Acropolis is a great land mark and monument in Athens. It is located right at the center of the city. It is visible from anywhere in the city. It’s a huge place and you have good hike to the top of the mountain. Along the way you can see the the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the temple of Athena Nike and many more.

There was a long line to even enter the Acropolis. It was very helpful to go with the guide as they got skip a line tickets or groups tickets. Hours of operation : 08:00 – 17:00

• Parthenon
• Odeon of Herodes Atticus
• Theatre of Dionysus
• Temple of Athena Nike
• Erechtheion

The Parthenon

The Parthenon is also called temple of Athena, dedicated to Goddess Athena, Goddess of War and wisdom. It’s a very important temple for Greeks. It is destroyed in the multiple invasions. Govt is trying to restore some parts of the temple.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Is a Roman Theater on the south west slope of the Acropolis of Athena. It’s still functional and can fit 5000 people. There wa some renovation and restoration done for this. It is actively used for musical concerts and some public events now.

Theatre of Dionysus

It is a major theatre in Athens, considered to be the world’s first theatre, built at the foot of the Athenian Acropolis. Dedicated to Dionysus, the god of plays and wine (among other things), the theatre could seat as many as 17,000 people with excellent acoustics,[1] making it an ideal location for ancient Athens’ biggest theatrical celebration, the Dionysia.

Temple of Athena Nike

The temple of Athena Nike stands at the southeast edge of the sacred rock atop a bastion.

Erechtheion

It’s an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens. This temple is dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. The status of women in this temple are replicas at the Acropolis and the originals are at the museum.

Athens

Coming down the Acropolis hill, there are another set of monuments. Temple of Zeus, and Temple of Hephaestus. We drove by those and watched from bus. City center has Changing of Guard at the Parliament Building at Syntagma Square.

“The uniform of a Presidential Guard has a historical meaning. It refers to the uniform of the Kleftes and Armatoloi, two groups of Greek warriors during the War of Independence in (1821) against the Ottomans. In fact, the white skirt of the uniform has 400 folds to represent the 400 years of Ottoman occupation over the Greeks.
The uniform consists of:
– the phareon which is the Evzone’s hat, made from red baize with a black tuft
– the white shirt with loose leaves
– the phermeli, which is the waistcoat and it is the most difficult part to construct, handmade with many shapes wrought on it
– the Greek kilt (or else foustanella), its structure requires 30 meters of white cloth
– the tsarouchia, the traditional shoes of Evzones which are red, made of leather, with a small tuft in front. Each shoe weighs three kilos
– the fringes, blue and white standing for the Greek flag
– the garters which are made of silk – the leather belt
– the inside garnet
-and the gun which is the most difficult piece to carry, not only for its gravity but also for the physical pressure that exerts to the soldier’s body”

Lunch@ Plaka

We were happy after our first Greek lunch. It’s not that spicy, but tasty. BTW.. don’t expect fast serving in restaurants in Greece. People are laid back and they all have very relaxed lunch or dinner. It takes time to get your food and even bill.

We had a ton history and temples in one day. Athens has abundance of history and stories. Even though they are all ruins now, it was amazing to see and talk about the history.

Where to stay in Athens?

We were 5 people and most of the hotels take only 4 people (2 adults + 2 kids) in one room. This reduced our options. We ended up booking an apartment first time near to Hilton in Rizari area. Hilton Hotel Area Renovated Apt next to Metro, 21-A Rizari, Athens 11634 .  Apartments were very clean and well maintained. We stayed in 2 different apartments as we left to Santorini, Mykonos and back to Athens. When we came back to Athens, we got upgraded to recently renovated apartment. This had beautiful decorations and color combinations. There is no help desk, but people were very well organized. They received us and showed the apartment and picked up our call to help few times. Rizari area is close to major attractions and walk able to good restaurants and shops.