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Visiting Athens

It's easy to reach Athens from most European cities and not only, there are plenty of flights that arrive in the Greek capital. Athens is also the main starting point of many Greek itineraries. Nevertheless, it's a stunning city with much history and not only that must be visited even if part of a longer trip in the country. We arrived in Athens in the evening, so we had the next 2 full days to explore the city.

The first thing tourists do in Athens is, of course, a visit to Acropolis. That's what we did too. We stared at the ancient citadel located on the rocky hill above the city of Athens and at the remains of ancient buildings on the archaeological site.

We then walked on the main streets that encircles Acropolis, Dionysiou Aeropagitou and slowly headed to our next stop.

The theatre was built in 161 AD. Today the theatre is a venue for Athens Festival held from spring to autumn. It's a wonderful feet to attend a show on this restored ancient theatre. Do not avoid one if you are around the place between May and October.

We ended our first day in Monastiraki Square, which is a landmark of Athens. It's a lively square full of people walking up and down. It's also the site of the famous Monastiraki Flea Market, where locals sell souvenirs, local products and handmade products.

We strated the second full day with Hadrian’s Gate. There's no entrance here, the gate is just in the main square of Monastiraki, you can freely admire it. The gate ws built by Roman emperor, Hadrain to separate the new and the old town of Athens. Today it is almost the same. :)

Next to Hadrian's Gate, there's Temple of Olympian Zeus, a temple begun in 6th century BC on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus.

We arrived at Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the modern Olympics. If you have time, you can go inside for a small fee. We just stared at it from outside.

We had enough of history for two days, so we decided it was time for a walk in the beautiful Plaka neighbourhood, in the heart of Athens, just admiring the houses, looking at the shops and finally sitting down at a nice terrace (tehere are plenty of them).