Amongst the Ancient and Contemporary: 3 Days in Athens

Besides being the capital of the Mediterranean country known for its islands and millennia of recorded history, Athens is also the eighth-largest urban area in the European Union. In fact, 30% of Greece’s population reside in the Athens Metropolitan Area. Even more impressive, Athens has been continuously inhabited for over 5000 years, so it is not surprising that the ancient and contemporary exist side-by-side here.

Athens, and Greece in general, has been on my bucket list before I would consider myself to be a traveller. I was obsessed with Greek myths as a child, and am still fond of the myths and ancient history today. So it seems fitting to write about Athens on my 100th blog post on Immersive Traveller. I truly loved the city, despite the high expectations I had, it still exceeded them. I hope you enjoy my account of the three incredible days I spent there.

Preparing for Athens

Known first and foremost for the Acropolis, Athens is a tourist hub for global travellers to marvel at the 5th-century ruins still standing above the city. We knew that Athens would be busy, especially the Acropolis, so we booked our ticket in advance. The official website to book tickets can be difficult to find as many third-party sites rank higher in SEO, so the link to the official eticket website is linked here. We booked the combined ticket for 30 euros which enabled us to enter not only the Acropolis and its Slopes, but also the Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Kerameikos, Aristotle’s School (Lyceum), and Olympieion (Temple of Zeus). This ticket is valid for 5 days from the first entry. General Admission to the Acropolis is 20 euros (10 euros for under 26; free for EU residents under 26). For us, the combined ticket saved lots of money as we wanted to visit most of the sites.

Day 1 in Athens: Greek Bakeries, Temple of Zeus, and Monastiraki Square

We arrived on a Thursday evening from London. We took the metro line from the airport into the city centre which cost 9 euros per person and took about 1 hour. We arrived in Monastiraki close to to 11 pm and grabbed a quick snack from the Veneti Go bakery which was still open. From there we walked to our Airbnb in Thiseio, which took us passed the Ancient Agora and gave great views of the Parthenon on the Acropolis hill.

Our first day in Athens really started on Friday, May 3. We picked up a quick coffee and breakfast at Gregory’s, then made our way through the neighbourhood of Plaka on our way to the Zappeion hall and Athens National Gardens. By our Canadian standards, the morning was already hot. The Temple of Zeus was not open until noon, so after the Zappeion, we walked to the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium was not included in our ticket, and a queue was already growing, so we admired the stadium from outside. We decided to grab lunch a snack before the Temple of Zeus, so we stopped at a cafe in the Pangrati neighbourhood. I got a Greek salad and my partner got a fruit and yogurt bowl.

Next on the list was Olympieion. We arrived shortly after 12 pm and got in without much of a line. We were a little shocked at the sheer size of the remaining columns and tried to image how large the original temple must have been. Near to the temple, but outside the gates there is also the Arch of Hadrian, so make sure to take a moment there too!

Our last stop in the area was the Athens National Gardens. We had to walk around quite a ways to find an open gate to enter the gardens, but inside they are quite beautiful and well maintained. We spent some time here but didn’t dawdle because we had one more archaeological site to see that day.

We walked back through Plaka to Hadrian’s Library. Happy with seeing a good number of ancient sites and ruins, we wandered through Monastiraki and came across the Athens Cathedral. It was full of people. Our host sent us a message around this time, letting us know it was Good Friday and to take a look at some of the customs and traditions that were taking place that day. Athens is full of small churches and people were entering in and out to worship on this solemn holy day.

With this holiday in mind, we realized that the city would be largely shut down on Sunday, meaning we would not be able to see any archaeological sites that day. We had to reorganize our remaining itinerary to accommodate the closure. My main piece of advice is to check the local holidays when booking your trip! Second, be flexible with your itinerary so you can adjust when you encounter the unexpected.

As the sites were closing on Friday by the time we realized our blunder, we decided to continue with our plans to explore modern Athens. We had a late lunch in Psyri, then continued to the Varvakios Central market. This is a large market with fish, meat and produce. We then returned to our Airbnb for a rest before dinner. We stopped at Sin Athina for their rooftop terrace, but I was not able to eat here due to my nut allergy. We caught the sunset over the Acropolis from the rooftop and then walked in the direction of Monastiraki for dinner. All of the neighbourhoods are within easy walking distance which made transportation in Athens very simple.

Day 2 in Athens: The Ancient Agora, The Acropolis, and Fireworks for Easter

For our second day in Athens, time was of the essence. With our Acropolis entry booked for 10 am, we planned to start the day with a visit to the Roman Agora at 8. Unfortunately, the adjusted holiday hours meant the site didn’t open until 8:30 am, when we planned to tour the Ancient Agora, so we decided to skip the former in favour of the latter. The Roman Agora is enclosed with an iron fence, but is visible from outside. We took a few pictures and continued on our way.

The Ancient Agora opened at 8:30 am, and we waited in line for the gates to open. This site is one of the largest (with the exception of the Acropolis), and contains many buildings and temples that were central to public life in Ancient Athens. The Temple of Hephaestus sits above the Agora and is almost entirely intact. There is a small museum held in the Stoa of Attalos with ancient poetry and artifacts. Within the Agora there is also a tenth century church and a few more modern monuments such as the Monument of Socrates and Confucius. The entirety of our time spent in the Agora was punctuated with the ringing of church bells from all over the city. As it was Easter weekend, many rituals were taking place and the bells seemed to ring all day.

We spent around 45 minutes in the Ancient Agora, then began our way to the Acropolis. The walk to the entry is short but steep. We arrived and a large line was already growing. The timed entry to the site includes one hour, with a 15 minute grace period before and after. We entered just before 10 am, but we saw others who bought their ticket at the site turned away as their timeslot was later in the day. So keep in mind that even tickets bought onsite may not guarantee immediate entry.

Entering the Acropolis site was moving along the entrance path with a thick flow of people. We passed the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, where we had an excellent view from above. Once we made our way through the Beulé Gate, the crowd began to thin and we were able to explore the top of the Acropolis hill at our own pace. The hilltop is full of ruins, multiple temples to the city’s patron goddess, Athena, as well as other Ancient Greek and Roman gods and important figures. We spent just under an hour on the Acropolis hill. Major restoration work is ongoing on the Parthenon, so there is scaffolding over some of the columns. The hill also gives a great view of the city of Athens, the surrounding mountains and the sea in the distance.

After descending from the Acropolis, we walked down the Dionysiou Areopagitou towards the Acropolis Museum. Here we did not have pre-purchased tickets, as we needed to present ID for the reduced rate. We had to wait for around 30 minutes for entry, but save 5 euros each for the under 26 rate. The Acropolis Museum holds many of the statues and artifacts found on the Acropolis that were moved inside for preservation. The museum ticket is not included with the Acropolis and must be purchased separately. One of my favourite exhibitions was the small model showing the evolution of the Acropolis over the centuries, from first settlement to present day. I also enjoyed seeing the Caryatid which were all present except the one in the British Museum. The Acropolis Museum keeps a place for the missing statue, hopeful of her return.

After the museum we went in search of lunch. The area is highly touristy, so food was more expensive. We used Greek Salad as a benchmark, and looked for a place with reasonable prices. A typical salad in Athens should be about 6-7 euros, and many of these cafes charged double that price. We found a small Gyro shop, Μικρο Πολιτικο, which offered reasonable prices and great souvlaki and salad. We found a spot in the shade to eat. The sun was hot, and the weather felt summery.

We continued on to see one more site that afternoon, Kerameikos. This was our final archaeological site from the ticket on our itinerary and holds a museum, as well as an ancient cemetery and pieces of the old city wall of Athens. We saw many cats here, as with all the streets of Athens, and a tortoise. After our tour here, we returned to our accommodations for a reprieve from the heat, stopping at the Dimou Bakery for a snack. Most of the bakeries had an easter bread for sale, a circular loaf with a red egg in the centre. We got coffee and some sweet buns.

That evening we went to an Indian restaurant which had disappointingly terrible food, followed by good gelato from Solo Gelato on Adrianou street. We walked through the neighbourhoods of Plaka and Monastiraki which were full of tourists and locals. We returned to our apartment about 10 pm, tired from our early morning and extensive walking. However, around midnight, we heard the continuous ringing of church bells and the start of the fireworks so we went out to watch some of the beginnings of the Easter celebrations. It was very interesting to see the festivities, especially as Easter is not celebrated with such enthusiasm in North American, where the marketability of Christmas has made the winter holiday far surpass the spring in focus and grandeur.

Day 3 in Athens: Mount Lycabettus, Kolonaki, and Feta Cheese

Our final day in Athens was also Easter Sunday. As the archaeological sites and many shops were closed, we went hiking up Mount Lycabettus to see the city. On our way we passed the Hellenic Parliament building and the Church of Saint Dionysius. We walked up the switchbacks to the top of the hill, but there is also a funicular if you are not feeling up to the short, steep ascent.

We took in the view, especially of the Acropolis hill which sits far lower. Then we stepped inside the small blue church of Saint George of Lycabettus and admired the art. We descended the other side of the hill to see the Amphitheatre, then returned to the same side we ascended to come down the hill into the neighbourhood of Kolonaki. Much of this busy neighbourhood was quiet for Easter Sunday, but we found a brunch restaurant where we had lunch.

We decided to make our was to Piraeus for the afternoon. We took the metro there from Kolonaki to Piraeus. The port was also quiet for Easter. We walked for about an hour along the port and the marina Pasalimani. Then we circled back to the metro.

That night we ate in Psyri square and enjoyed live music. I learned I could order a block of feta cheese alone, which was a fantastic discovery (followed quickly in Mykonos by other variations of baked feta and feta with phyllo). We returned to the same gelateria as the night before and were back to our apartment for an early evening as we had to depart at 5 am the next morning. The metro began running again at 5:30 from Monastiraki to the airport, which allowed us to make our way for our 8:00 flight to Mykonos. Security in Athens was quick, with no line, but we found no good options for breakfast in the departure wing of the airport. I would recommend eating before arriving if you have that option!