36 Hours in Athens

Photo © Alex J Harris

I received a letter from a reader yesterday asking me what I would recommend she visit on an upcoming trip to Athens. Krista is from Washington DC, and Athens is part of a holiday where she will be visiting lots of countries in a fairly small space of time. It got me to thinking about the number of folks we have met over the years on visits to Europe who really are trying to fit as much as possible into their two week holiday, often visiting seven or eight countries in that space of time. So I’ve decided to put a new page on the site of my favourite things to do in some of the cities we have visited (thanks for the idea Krista!). That will take a little while to put together, so in the meantime, here is some of the information I sent to Krista about Athens, based on what I would spend my time doing if I had between 24 and 48 hours there.

My first stop would be the Acropolis - easily accessed on the metro by getting off at the ‘Acropoli’ station. It’s best to get a day’s pass for the metro if you are only in Athens for a couple days. It will cost 3 Euro a day but you can get just about anywhere (except the airport, which costs extra). The Acropolis is just around the corner from the metro station, and it isn’t called the Acropolis (“high city” in Greek) for nothing! You do need to pay to climb up, but you can get a ticket for 12 Euro that covers many of the Athens attractions, so that is worth considering. It’s free on Sundays and public holidays. The climb is graduated, going up slowly, with lots of ruins to look at on the way up including the the theatre of Dionysus and lots of temples. At the top, the ruins are awe-inspiring (standing in the shadow of the Pantheon is something I will never forget) and the view over Athens is quite stunning. You can see the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, the ancient agora and across to Lycabettus Hill.

(As you come down from the Acropolis, depending on how much time you have and how agile you are feeling, you could stop at Aeropagus Hill. It’s near the entrance to the Acropolis and offers view over the site of the ancient agora. It is quite a climb though and is definitely not a place for anyone who is not sure footed (although there are some metal steps), so you might want to leave it out. I got a real thrill of standing in the steps of St Paul, who is said to have preached from this hill and converted the first Athenian Christians here in 52AD. (Less lovely is the hill’s other use, as a place of trial.)

A must see near the Acropolis is the New Acropolis Museum at 15 Dionysiou Aeropagitou, Athens 117 42 (visible as you come down from the Acropolis). It recently opened to great acclaim and I have to say it is one of the best museums I have ever visited. As you walk towards the entrance, you proceed over glass panels that cover the excavations below. Beautiful mosaics with some of the original colour are visible, along with quite amazingly complete ruins. As for the museum itself, thousands of treasures are housed in an ultra-modern building constructed of steel and glass with great views of the Acropolis itself. Admission is only 1 Euro.

I have heard that the museum café is very good, and it was always so crowded we were never able to get in, so that bodes well. Another wonderful place to eat nearby is Dionysos Restaurant or their café downstairs. We ate in the restaurant and the food was excellent. The views of the Acropolis from the restaurant are incredible as well so it would be good for either lunch or dinner.

I also recommend a visit to the ancient Agora, which includes a small museum in the Stoa of Attalos. The Stoa itself has been beautifully restored - the sheer size of it is almost overwhelming. You can get to this site by walking from the Acropolis, or taking the metro to Monastiraki station. The site is huge and includes so many ruins it is quite incredible - there are temples, libraries, basically a real insight into Athenian civilisation all those centuries ago. In fact, the stones you walk on are actually full of pieces of pottery and even pot handles. (Of course you are not allowed to remove anything from the site.) This is one of the things included in the 12 Euro ticket I mentioned when talking about the Acropolis. It is well worth a visit. In fact, if you could only visit the Acropolis, the New Acropolis Museum and the ancient Agora, you would still get a fantastic taste of the flavour of this very iconic city.

Another place I loved and that you could just about manage to fit into a 36 to 48 hour visit to Athens is Lycabettus Hill, near Sydagma metro station. Now we climbed the hill, which was very arduous, but we were treated to super views of Athens on the way up. However if you prefer a slightly easier way to the top, there is a funicular railway at Aristippou Street. When you reach the top, you are at the highest point in Athens and actually look down on the Acropolis. There is a small chapel (The Chapel of St George) at the top which is very beautiful and also a restaurant and a café both called Orizontes. The restaurant is very formal, but you can have a coffee and a snack in the café and benefit from the super views as well. It’s a bit pricey, but we had the most amazing baklava up here - my son said he would climb the hill again just for that and I think I would too! It’s very filling though as each serving was the size of a slice of pie and was served with ice cream.

Other than that, I would say that my favourite area of Athens was Kolonaki, and the area round Syndagma metro station. It includes the Parliament Buildings, the beautiful Hotel Grande Bretagne and many museums and embassies. If I only had a short time in Athens, I would spend quite a lot of time there. (I would be sure to stop for a coffee - and possibly a cinnamon macaron - in Zonar’s, a lovely coffee shop under the Attica department store too.)

I took three guide books to Athens and the one I used most was the DK Eyewitness Travel “Top 10 Athens”. It’s small enough to fit in your bag, and has easy to read maps.

So there you have it - a whistle-stop tour of Athens! Thanks for your question Krista - hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!

Around Athens and Back to the Acropolis

We visited the New Acropolis Museum again on Saturday and also the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, where we all got a severe attack of the giggles - much to the chagrin of everyone who saw us. I’m still not exactly sure what we were giggling about - something to do with the rain, my very small flowered umbrella and the massive columns of the temple, one of which had sadly fallen over some years before.

It was very busy on Saturday, and we had one too many up close and personal experiences with complete strangers on the metro, so on Sunday we decided to walk instead. Our sojourns earlier in the week had made us realise that Athens is actually not really all that big after all and a walk on Saturday night to the Milos restaurant in the Hilton just around the corner from our own hotel showed us some of Athen’s nicer residential areas. We felt encouraged by this to do a bit more travelling above ground!

(Incidentally, we had a lovely dinner at Milos, a seafood restaurant with a super reputation. It is apparently very popular with Greek celebrities. I don’t know any Greek celebrities so if they were there I was completely unaware, however it certainly was very luxurious. The food was lovely, although incredibly expensive - and it was certainly an adventure actually choosing the fish we wanted to have cooked, which lay complete on ice, their eyes staring out reproachfully at us. More about that on Recipes from the 21st Century Housewife's© Kitchen when I get round to writing about it! )

Anyway, back to our Sunday morning walk. If you proceed along from the Megaro Mousikis metro stop along Vassilissis Sofias Avenue, you pass the Athens Hilton and can then walk along past (or through) the National Garden to Syntagma metro station. Here you will find the historic Hotel Grande Bretange, the Parliament Buildings and a big shopping area. It is the home of Attica, Athens premier (and perhaps only) department store. I was disappointed in Attica, but it is interesting to see, and there are clean toilets on the second floor which is a fact worth knowing when walking in Athens. Syntagma station is also near to Kolonakai, the “posh” side of Athens, home to the wealthy and a place full of little boutiques, cafés and designer shops. You can also get to Lycabettus Hill from here.

We decided to stop at this point and have a coffee in Zohar’s, a very popular coffee shop in the same building as Attica, but accessed by a separate door. I had a lovely cappuccino, my husband had an Earl Grey tea and our son had a hot chocolate that seemed to be more a cup of pure melted dark chocolate than anything else. Zohar’s have some delicious pastries, but we had already had some of those on Saturday from their separate shop located behind Attica. It’s well worth stopping there to pick up some of their macarons, which are almost as good as those from my favourite, Ladurée in Paris - particularly the cinnamon ones.

After our break, we continued to walk from Syntagma towards the Acropolis. One of the very cool things about walking in Athens is that you literally stumble upon ruins tucked away in places you might never expect. Some of them have been covered by roofs to protect them from the elements, particularly those discovered whilst metro stations were being built.



The finding of these ruins resulted in part of Syntagma metro station being relocated. They are just sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk waiting to be (re) discovered.

We made our way back to the Acropolis via some very interesting little side streets, revisiting the area we discovered on Wednesday night. Although some members of our party (ie. our son) were vocally less than thrilled to be climbing the Acropolis for the third time (which led to yet more giggles), I was really pleased to have another chance to visit this amazing place. Incidentally, there are some very nice toilets at the top of the Acropolis, just around the corner from the Pantheon and down some steps. (Just in case you are ever there and need them; it wasn’t a place I was expecting to find them!)

It’s not that I’m obsessed with toilets or anything; it is just that clean and pleasant toilets in Athens can be hard to find, particularly as in many areas the plumbing does not stand up to toilet paper and you have to put it in a bin instead of in the toilet. Needless to say this means that most public toilets are rather smelly and unpleasant to use, so when you find nice ones, you make a point of remembering them!

We headed down from the Acropolis and across the street to Dionysos, a lovely restaurant with a fantastic view of the Acopolis. There is a café upstairs, but the proper restaurant, with the view, is upstairs. It would be even better at night. The food was lovely - in fact I would say it was the best meal of the trip for me - and we shared a super bottle of wine (again more about that on Recipes from the 21st Century Housewife’s© Kitchen in due course). It was a very pleasant way to while away the afternoon.

Eventually it was time to head back to the hotel and pack up, ready for our flight home. It’s been a wonderful visit to this iconic and multi-faceted city, and a lovely family break.

After All These Years

Today I stood in the shadow of the Acropolis in awe. I have dreamed of standing here for so long (seriously, I actually dreamed it nights from the time I was about ten!) and today I climbed the (very big) hill and stood in the footsteps of history. Wow. God is amazing - he does make dreams come true; you just have to have a little patience.

Actually, it was a lot better than I dreamed. I didn’t know I’d be standing there with a wonderful husband and a fantastic son, nor that the light would be so incredible, nor that (as the icing on the cake), there would be a Canadian flag flying at the foot of the columns of the Parthenon when I reached the top. It’s in celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympics which will take place in Vancouver. Four days ago, at Olympia, the Olympic flame began its journey to Canada. I’ve never experienced anything like seeing the gorgeous maple leaf flying proud at the foot of all that history. It was incredible. Okay, where I come from in Ontario is a long way from Vancouver, but I’m still proud anyway. Well done Vancouver - I’m sure it will be an amazing winter Olympics! On most of the street corners on the way down from the Acropolis there are Greek and Canadian flags flying side by side. Real heart-stirring stuff!

I’ve only been in Athens for a few hours, but I have to say I’m really loving it. It is such a beautiful city. We had a quick visit to the new Acropolis museum and I cannot wait to go back tomorrow. There are glass panels over the excavations - and you can walk over top of them. It is like nothing I could ever have imagined. I can’t wait to explore more of this amazing place.