Top 20 Things to do in Athens

Dan and Sam will probably correct me on these. By the time I finish, there will probably be more than 20, as well.

Things to do

• Seeing the magnificent view over Athens from the Acropolis early in the morning as the sun rises over the city.


• Find the pile of artefacts and gravestones behind the Hephaiston in the Ancient Agora


• Discover new archaeological sites (Keramaikos cemetery and the road to Piraeus) even though you've been several times before


• Wander through the Ancient Agora for days on end, finding yet more evidence of a very long period of human occupation, from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Geometric, Mycenaean, Classical, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian (Latin) and Ottoman periods: find pottery from all these periods in the Agora museum


• Try and trace your route up to the Acropolis, viewing from the big flagpole at one end


• See Piraeus from the top of the Hill of the Pnyx


• Find Socrates’ tomb (alleged) with the caves carved into the shape of a triangular roof.


• Walk around the free displays of artefacts in most of the Metro stations (especially Syntagma).


• Lose yourself in the streets of Plaka, finding jewels of shops (and shops of jewels) and ancient sites in amongst the tourist tat.


• Seeing the Parthenon from just about everywhere in the city.


• See the archaeologists at work from opposite the Temple of Olympian Zeus.


• See the finished Gate of Hadrian leading from the Temple of Olympian Zeus into Plaka and beyond, after it had been in scaffolding for the last few times you’d been there.


• Spot as many tripod bases (prizes in classical competitions) as possible.


• Tzatziki at every available opportunity.


• Trace the water system for the bath house in the grounds of the Temple of Zeus


• Walk around the Museum of the Acropolis and marvel at the relics.


• See the Roman Tower of the Winds.


• Souvlaki


• Walk around the city before the sun comes up to see it waking up.


• Sitting in a café bar on the road from Monastiraki to the Acropolis entrance, overlooking the Ancient Agora, taking in the magnificent view and just generally chilling. OK, it was mainly the only way to get Dan to stop complaining because we’d been walking for about 10 hours and he needed alcohol.


• See the tiny church in the middle of Ermou. Nowhere else has a church literally in the middle of a shopping street.


• Eat at the taverna/restaurant opposite the main Cathedral, and ask them for take-away Spanokopita.


• Watch the end of the Athens Classic marathon in the old Olympic Stadium.


• Climb up to the end of the old Olympic Stadium and look back down its entire length.


• Take the Metro to Piraeus and wander around the port – just seeing the road signs to “The Dodecanese”, “The Cyclades” and “Crete” is quite something!


• Watch the changing of the guard outside the Royal Palace in Syntagma and wonder at its bizarre-ness (is that a word?)


• Go to the new Olympic Stadium and see it as a building site and cement works. It makes the TV pictures of the Olympics all the more special.


• Become a tour guide for a party of elderly Japanese women climbing the Hill of the Pnyx


• Sit in the Theatre of Dionysius (avoiding the sleeping dog) and marvel at the architecture and frieze of headless figures that resulted from Roman vandalism and shoddy workmanship (apart from Atlas).


• Watch the turtles in the National Gardens


• Find random art exhibitions in the National Gardens


• Ignore the tourists and scaffolding on the Acropolis, or alternatively get their very early for surely one of the most impressive sites in the world.


• Take the Blue Guide to Athens – it may be 20 years old but is the most valuable guide book there is.


• Getting into the Acropolis for free as it’s a Monday.


• Getting caught up in the middle of (a) anti-something demonstrations (never found out exactly what), and (b) the biggest rainstorms the city has ever seen


• Fail dismally to find any Ethnikos Piraeus football shirts despite that being one of the reasons you went there!


• The airport transport links – compared to the reputation that Athens used to have, it is a paradise for travel now!


• The entertainment (two blokes singing and playing instruments) in a wonderful little taverna in Plaka (up Adrianou towards Hadrian’s Gate)


• Breakfast of a couple of rolls from a street vendor outside the University buildings


• Doing the city in 18 hours so you don’t have to find a bed for the night, but you fly out the same day.


• Having someone waiting at Luton with a Burger King when you touch down.


• Buy a Greek newspaper when its obvious you are English, it gets the owners of the peripstera very confused!

Things to avoid

• Arriving early at the Acropolis to find that you are in the only country in the world where the archaeologists go on strike.


• Ordering Dolmadakia and expecting them to be vegetarian.


• Fail to get to the Archaeological Museum after three consecutive visits.

The very long walk from the inappropriately situated Metro station to the Archaeological Museum to find its closed after all.

• Turn the wrong way out of Monastiraki Metro station and wander towards Omonia through some extremely dodgy areas.


• Walk past the "adult" cinema at closing time (i.e., 5 am) to see the dregs being kicked out, and the person you are walking along with to completely fail to spot anything!


• Stroke random cats that turn out to have fleas. Not much of a surprise there!


• Take some Vaklava home in your rucksack from Piraeus, only to find that it has leaked honey into your camera.


• Attempting to speak Greek at every opportunity and struggling wildly, then when Sam gets annoyed and wants to order in a take-away, she speaks in such perfect Greek that they think she’s a native. She’s too good sometimes!


• Befriend a cat in the Roman Agora as it will follow you around the entire city. Cute though it was.


• Talking to strange Greek blokes at Syntagma who “just want to give you a business card in their bar for when you’re next in town”. You reluctantly go to their bar and decide that it might not be such a good idea once you see the line of ladies at the bar. Time for a sharp exit.


• Man Utd, Real Madrid and Liverpool shirts in Plaka


• Easyjet flights back where they don’t have your flight details, so give you the last numbers and you get the last seat on the flight. Dan, however, goes through first and fails to save you a seat in cabin. Instead, he waits for you to fight your way through the crowd. Crazy fool. He blames it on not knowing the etiquette.