A journey through time

Welcome to Athens, the historical capital of Europe. Welcome to the birthplace of democracy, arts, science and philosophy of western civilization.  Home of Plato, Socrates, Pericles, Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus.  Athens is one of the world’s oldest cities. It’s recorded history spanning around 3.400 years and it is being inhabited since the 11th millennium B.C. E.  Today, under the shadow of Parthenon, the contemporary urban scenery of the sprawling city reflects its exciting history, its multi- cultural modern personality as well as the infrastructure and facilities.

The perfect Mediterranean climate with the legendary Greek sunlight, the unique combination of glorious history with modern, urban innovation, the coexistence of great culture with astonishing natural beauty, the high standard hotel accommodation, modern means of transportation such as the cutting edge modern metro, the vibrant rhythm of life, the wide choice of opportunities for shopping, dining and night life and of course the warmth of the Athenians people feature Athens as the ideal all year round city break destination. The city of Parthenon is an open air museum. A large part of the town’s historic center has been converted into a 3 km pedestrian zone, one of the largest in Europe. It leads to the major archaeological sites (“archaeological park”), reconstructing – to a large degree – the ancient landscape. Either on foot or by bike, the ‘’Grande Promenade’’ around Acropolis is an unforgettable journey through history.

Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry and more from Ancient Greece.

It is also home to a variety of museums and art galleries.

Here one can find a big variety of all kind of restaurants and cafes. The choices are numerous.

Acropolis

The Acropolis, or Sacred Rock, is synonymous with Athens. It is home to the Parthenon and several other ancient Greek monuments built under Pericles in 5 BC by what was then the most advanced civilization in the world. A UNESCO World Heritage site, this is a must to visit while in Athens.

www.theacropolisofAthens.gr

New Acropolis Museum

Built during the 1990s and open since 2009, the modern Acropolis Museum was commissioned as the existing museum could no longer house the growing volume of archaeological treasures discovered on the site. Its exhibits cover the period from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. www.theacropolismuseum.gr

National Archaeological Museum

The National Archaeological Museum is one of the best in the world, housing artifacts from pre-history to late Antiquity with its Cycladic, Mycenaean and Egyptian collections. Unsurprisingly, it has best collection from Ancient Greece anywhere in the world.

www.namuseum.gr

Byzantine Museum

The Byzantine and Christian Museum offers an impressive collection of Christian and Byzantine art. Exhibits are divided into ancient (4th to 15th century) and modern (15th to 20th century).

www.byzantinemuseum.gr

Benaki Museum

The Benaki Museum has several sites, but the main one is the former Benaki family mansion in central Athens. It houses a diverse collection, including Islamic art from across the Near East, Chinese and pre-Colombian art, as well as a particularly complete and important collection of Greek artifacts from ancient times to the early 20th century.

www.benaki.org

National Gallery

The Greek National Art Gallery focuses on post-Byzantine Greek and European art, with a Renaissance section and a full section from the 17th to 20th centuries.

This includes works from 36 Greek artists and other Europeans, including Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto and French Impressionists through to Picasso, Braque and Mondrian.

www.nationalgallery.gr

Monastiraki Flea Market

Monastiraki counts as the most visited area of Athens, for both Greeks and tourists.

It is one of the most picturesque areas of Athens, neighboring and connected to Plaka.

Its famous flea market ,a paradise for collectors, you can find anything from Greek souvenirs and Greek art shops, antiques, carpets, old books, old stamps and old books, you can even find clothing and helmets from the second world war!

But the best thing about going to Monastiraki is the cafes which on sunny weekends is the best place to enjoy a drink or a coffee or an ouzo while looking at the view of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Agora.

Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium, also known as the Kallimármaro (meaning the “beautifully marbled”), is a multi-purpose stadium used for several events and athletics in Athens.

The Stadium hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the only stadium in the world built entirely by marble and is one of the oldest in the world.

Activities:

• Cruises & Sailing tours
• Day tours
• Half day tours
• Family tours
• Food experience

Ask for the best restaurants and taverns in Athens!

Every year, tourists travel to the Greek capital to hike up the Acropolis, browse countless museums, and seek out tans at nearby beaches. They also come for Greek cuisine, which builds many meals from three key ingredients: olive oil, wheat, and wine. Add in lots of vegetables, fruits, fish, and meat, and a philhellene could want nothing more.

But the Athenian food scene goes well beyond olives and bread. Athens has welcomed immigrants from Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria, who combine their food ways with Greek ingredients and customs in fine dining to street food. In recent years, the city’s chefs have developed new genres of gourmet Greek cuisine, with influences from across the eastern Mediterranean and with help from an up-and-coming generation of cooks who cut their teeth in restaurants around the world.

When in Athens do the thing that everybody in our western society does best. Go shopping! Downtown Athens is a shopper’s paradise. Besides the areas of the Plaka and Monastiraki which are well known to travelers for their large variety of tourist shops, all of central Athens is full of shops for every kind of person and every kind of budget.

• Ermou street – Clothes Shopping
• Athinas street – Food for souvenir ? why not ?
• Monastiraki Flea Market-Antiques – Carpets
• Syntagma square -Music and Computes
• Kolonaki – Voukourestiou for Jewelry

Welcome to Athens! With an urban population of more than 4 million people, Athens is the capital of Greece and the 4th most populous capital in the E.U. with a large, modern mass transit system to serve the needs of residents and visitors. It consists of:

• City buses
• Electric trolley-buses
• Athens Metro
• Athens Tram, and
• Athens Suburban railway.

Athens is connected to even the remotest destinations through the Athens International Airport, ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio, national railway network operated by TRAINOSE and, long-distance bus network KTEL.

METRO

Line 1 (green line): Kifisia – Piraeus

Line 2 (red line): Anthoupoli – Eliniko

Line 3 (blue line): Airport – Douk. Plakentias – Nikea

TRAM

• Line 1 “Syntagma – SEF” linking downtown Athens to the Peace and Friendship Stadium,
• Line 2 “Syntagma – Voula” which runs between the city center and southern suburb of Voula and
• Line 3 “Voula – SEF” running along the coastal zone.