Athens Attractions
The oldest city in Europe that never stopped being lived in, and it has almost never demolished anything — it just hands things a new job and carries on. We walk you past the guidebook to what really happened; a few things are ours.
Landmarks
Anafiotika
This is Anafiotika, and you've just walked out of Athens and onto a Greek island. Whitewashed cube houses with flat roofs, blue doors and shutters, pots of geraniums and basil on every step, lanes so narrow two people have to turn sideways…
Hadrian's Library
That long grey wall with the row of tall columns standing in front of it is the outside of Hadrian's Library. Count them — seven left of the original fourteen, standing clear of the wall with nothing on top.
Mnesikleous Street, Plaka
This is Mnesikleous Street, the stepped lane where the cafés set their tables right on the stairs, under bougainvillea, with the wall of the Acropolis rising above.
Monastiraki Square
This is Monastiraki Square, and you can probably smell it before you've taken it in.
Syntagma Square, Parliament and the Evzones
This is Syntagma Square, and the big cream-colored building at the top of it is the Greek Parliament.
The Ancient Agora
Below you, past the railings, is the Ancient Agora, the square where Athens ran its daily business, and most of it is ankle-high: foundations, stubs of walls, outlines of rooms in the grass.
The Arch of Hadrian
The tall marble gateway standing by itself beside the avenue is the Arch of Hadrian. It's a gate with no wall, with nothing on either side of it but traffic and air.
The Areopagus
The bare, shiny hump of rock just below the entrance to the Acropolis is the Areopagus, the Hill of Ares, and the stone is a lot slicker than it looks.
The Belvedere and the Flagpole
Out at the far eastern tip of the rock there's a viewing platform with a big Greek flag on a tall pole and the whole city spread out below it.
The Cathedral and the Little Metropolis
There are two churches in front of you, and you want the small one. The big pale cathedral is the Metropolis, the main cathedral of Athens.
The Church of Agia Dynami
This is the church of Agia Dynami, and it's easy to walk straight past, because there's a hotel standing on top of it. Find the little domed chapel tucked under the overhang, between two big square pillars.
The Church of Kapnikarea
That small domed church sitting in the middle of Ermou Street is Kapnikarea, and the street splits and goes around it on both sides.
The Erechtheion
The smaller, oddly shaped temple on the north side of the rock, with a porch of six stone women holding up its roof, is the Erechtheion. Those women, the Caryatids, are copies.
The Gate of Athena Archegetis
Four thick marble columns holding up a plain triangular roof, with a fenced field of ruins behind them: that's the Gate of Athena Archegetis, the front door of the Roman market of Athens.
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus
The huge curved stone wall with rows of tall arched windows, built into the slope of the Acropolis, is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a Roman theater nearly nineteen hundred years old. It still works.
The Old University
The long, low house on Tholou Street, with its wooden upper floor jutting out over the lane and heavy stone walls underneath, is one of the oldest houses in Plaka.
The Panathenaic Stadium
This is the Panathenaic Stadium, and every part of it is marble: the seats, the steps, the whole long bowl. It's the only stadium in the world built entirely that way. Look at the shape, too.
The Parthenon
At this end of the Parthenon, look for the cranes, the scaffolding, and the bright white marble set in among the old honey-colored stone. That white marble is new.
The Pikionis Paths
This winding stone path, and the little church and shelter along it, are the work of an architect named Dimitris Pikionis, and the path is worth looking down at, because almost nobody does. Look at the paving under your feet.
The Propylaea and the Temple of Athena Nike
This is the Propylaea, the great marble gateway to the top of the Acropolis, and perched out on the bastion to its right is the little temple of Athena Nike. Before you go through the gate, look closely at the big blocks in its walls.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus
Those giant columns standing in the open field are what's left of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Fifteen are still standing out of a hundred and four, and at about fifty-five feet, they're the tallest columns on any Greek temple anywhere.
The Theatre of Dionysus
Below the south side of the Acropolis, the half-circle of stone seats climbing the slope is the Theatre of Dionysus. Look at the very front row.
The Tower of the Winds
The eight-sided marble tower is the Tower of the Winds, and it's one of the cleverest buildings in Athens. Look up near the top. Each of the eight sides has a carved winged figure flying sideways across it, and each one is a wind.
The Tzistarakis Mosque
On the corner of Monastiraki Square, the low building with the arched porch and the small dome is a mosque, built by the Ottoman governor of Athens in seventeen fifty-nine.
Hear the stories behind these places
Self-guided audio experiences that are actually entertaining. Press play and walk.