Acropollis Museum

Those arriving in Athens for the first time generally head immediately for the Acropolis. There are very few visitors who are not already familiar with the image of this distinctive citadel of ancient Athens, perched on its steep flat-topped rock above the sprawling city. It is the spot where Athens, and classical Greek civilisation, began, and the site of a collection of beautiful temples, most dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, Athena. The ruins that remain visible today date from the 4th century BC, most of them erected by Pericles after the Persians destroyed many of the original Acropolis buildings. Visitors toil up the slopes past the souvenir stands and enter the site through the monumental entrance way, the Propylaia, which in ancient times contained an art gallery. (more…)

National Archaeological Museum

This is the largest and most popular of Athens’ many museums, and is usually very crowded. Its vast collection includes treasures unearthed from Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann; a staggering array of sculpture including the earliest known Greek figurines dating from around 2,000 BC; frescoes from the volcanic island of Santorini; and so much more that it is recommended visitors make several visits to absorb it all.
(1585) – This building was first used as a military barracks and later as a university before becoming a museum during the Bourbon period. Its priceless collection of sculptures, bronzes, ceramics, paintings, mosaics, jewellery and other works of art represent the most important periods and aspects of the ancient civilizations (particulary from Pompei and Ercolano). (more…)

National Gardens

If the intense hustle and bustle of Athens gets too much, then a visit to the National Garden is a must. A peaceful, green refuge in the midst of central Athens, this public park was once the palace garden of the royal family. It contains garden, a zoo and small lakes and ponds complete with ducks, swans and a few peacocks. There are also several cafés hidden away!
The National Gardens, open from dawn to dusk, is an oasis in the city, with rare flowers, plants and rich greenery from all over the world. It is behind the Parliament and opposite the residence of the President of Greece. On the other side of the park, is the Zappeion Megaron. Designed to be the gardens of the Royal Palace of King Otto and Queen Amalia, it was planted between 1838 and 1860. (more…)

Kerameikos Cemetary

One of the most beautiful and least visited of the archaeological sites in downtown Athens is Kerameikos, the ancient cemetery of Athens. The area was on the northwest fringe of the ancient city and and is now the outer edge of the areas visited by most travelers. But if you follow Ermou street down from the Monastiraki train station you will easily find it on your right.
When you vist Greece in the summer, the ground around the ancient stones has been baked by the sun and anything that was alive is as brown as the dirt. But in the winter when it rains everything is covered in grass and moss and it gives you a strange feeling like you are in Ireland, in some remains of an ancient Greek or Roman colony. (more…)

Theatre of Dionysos

Anyone who has been to Athens will know the theatre of Dionysos at the foot of the Acropolis ; any Hellenist knows that the dramatics competitions took place during the festivals of Dionysos, the Dionysies. The link between the god and theatrical performances is thus clearly established.
Although it is easy to bring together the satirical drama, the dithyramb and the comedy of the cult – the dionysian cortège, the connection between this very cult and the origin of Greek tragedy gives the opportunity for the emergence of diverging and even contradictory interpretations.
The Theater of Dionysos in Athens could seat approximately 15 thousand in simple stone benches on the slope of the Acropolis. (more…)

Tower of the Winds

In an old Roman marketplace located in Athens, Greece not far from the famed Parthenon stands a structure known as the “Tower of the Winds.�
Constructed around 50 BCE, by the Greek architect and astronomer Andronikos of Kyrrhos, it combined sundials, a complicated internal water clock, and a weathervane many historians cite as the first ever built. The octagonal, white marble Tower stands over 12 metres (46 feet) high with a diameter of about 8 metres (26 feet), resting on a base of three steps.
The Tower was originally topped by a revolving bronze weather vane which we know from historical records to have been of the sea god Triton, who had the head and torso of a man and the tail of a fish. (more…)