My latest trip covered quite a few countries. I started my solo travel in Greece, then I visited Bulgaria with a friend and I continued solo to Luxembourg only to meet my family in Germany. This all happened during the autumn where the weather can be quite hit-and-miss, but it also brings along beautifully coloured foliage. I wasn’t too smitten by my first solo trip to Liverpool and Manchester, but this time around I really enjoyed it.
Without further ado, I will describe my idea of the perfect four days in Athens. This will be a lengthy article with a lot of photos, so hang tight. I will describe the sights I visited in order of visit. If you only have two days I wouldn’t follow my itinerary, but I’ll tell you which sights were the most worthwhile in the conclusion.
Day 1
Ermou Street
I’m not recommending my hostel Pella Inn Hostel because it has tiny rooms with no storage space and the room only had one ladder for two bunk beds and the staff did not show any willingness to help out with this issue. However, the location at the end of Ermou Street was perfect. This main shopping street served as my base for city explorations. It’s one of those shopping streets which has all the main retail shops and it’s only for pedestrians.
There’s also a cute little church of Panaghia Kapnikarea in the middle of the street. It’s at a lower level, which shows how old the church is because the city used to be a level lower and the church is a reminder of this fact.
Syntagma Square – Parliament
If you continue straight on Ermou Street you’ll run into Syntagma Square where the Parliament building is located in addition to some five-star hotels with great views. I’ve heard good stories about them… but I didn’t visit.
The parliament building is guarded by guards who stand in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Every hour on the hour these guards are changed. It’s worth witnessing this ceremony, because the old guards march with their feet high in slow-motion – it looks like a great pilates exercise – while the clothes of the new guards are checked and corrected by the attendant.
National Gardens
The National Gardens are located next to the Parliament. This park is an excellent retreat to flee from the heat in the summer. During autumn it’s just nice to stroll through it. Bear in mind that it’s like a labyrinth and you could get lost for quite a while. It took me half an hour to find the exit. Some exits close to the minister’s residence are closed by policemen so don’t trust the map and maybe backtrack to your entry if you don’t want to be lost in the maze for too long.
One thing I didn’t like was a swamped compound filled with turtles; I agreed with the statement on the bench next to the turtle which you can see below. Some turtles were roaming around free in the park; but whether these were ones that found their freedom or whether they were released in the park by their owners is unknown.
Panathenaic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium is a short walk from the gardens. It was built in the 4th century BC to host athletic contests, but most notably it was completely restored to host the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Entry costs 5 euro and they give a free audio guide upon entry. To be honest; I listened to three stories and then I decided to explore the stadium by myself. There are no signs to describe the different aspects of the stadium but I thought the sight itself pretty self-explanatory.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
The temple of Olympian Zeus took 700 years to build and now all you can see are the Corinthian style columns. However, the sheer size of the columns makes the sight worth seeing. Without checking the news I bought a 12 euro ticket which covers multiple sights for three days. I could’ve visited the Acropolis with this ticket and some other sights. Normally, entry to the temple is 2 euro. However, the weekend that I visited it was a cultural weekend which meant entry to all sights was free. 12 euro gone to waste…
Dinner and drinks in Psyri
In the evening I had dinner and drinks with an old colleague of mine in Psyri. We had lamb chops and liver in intestines for dinner and I had bird’s nest dessert and mastika and rakomelo as closing of the night. The dessert was delicious but the drinks even more so. It was a very successful first day in Athens.
Day 2
Ancient Agora
The Ancient Agora was located right across the street from my hostel, so I decided to kick off the day there. This used to be the marketplace of the city, the central area where everything happened and today, it contains quite a few monuments.
My favourites are the Temple of Hephaestus which is extremely well-preserved and is a beautiful viewpoint also in the evenings;
and the Stoa of Attalos which has been reconstructed and is now home to a museum with ancient artefacts and statues. I love ancient Greek things!
Roman Agora
When you take the exit near the Church of the Holy Apostles, you end up in the Roman Agora. To be honest I didn’t take in any of the sights there. The Ancient Agora was more than enough Agora for me to satiate my needs and I was on the way to the Acropolis.
Acropolis and Acropolis Museum
Both these sights are so special that I will dedicate a separate article to this story, especially since I was met with quite an adventure when I reached the top of the hill.
Dinner at Plaka
Plaka is the oldest part of the city. One of my favourite old writers (Lord Byron) liked Athens a lot and he seemed to have lived in the Plaka area. There’s a street and a hotel named after him.
In Plaka I had another delicious staple Greek dish: gyros.
Day 3
National Archaeological Museum
On my third day in Athens, I travelled by metro inside the city for the first time. It’s a very easy and cheap system. I travelled to Victoria station which was the closest stop to the National Archaeological Museum, from there it’s only a 10 minute walk.
The museum is absolutely stunning. It’s the biggest Archaeological Museum in Greece and it shows, because sometimes it’s difficult to navigate around. There are clearer museums (for example the one that will feature in my post about Thessaloniki), however, they have less items on exhibit. That having been said the ancient statues are gorgeous!
Sometimes they’re funny, for example this lady with the bashed in head…
… these lion heads without any teeth…
… and this statue which is basically only a torso, a hand, part of a head and feet which are upheld by iron poles.
It was free entry on the weekend that I visited due to the Cultural Weekend. Normally tickets cost 7 euro and 12 euro if you’d also like to go to the Byzantine Museum, which is the next museum I visited on the third day.
Byzantine Museum
From Victoria Station I travelled back to Monastiraki Station and from there to Evangelismos from where the Byzantine Museum is only a five minute walk.
The chronological structure of the museum and the explanations of all the art make this museum a great place to visit. It starts where the Archaeological Museum finishes so these museums are best visited together to get a good understanding of the full history of the city (and the country).
It contains gorgeous Byzantine paintings with a perfect bright orange. I loved this museum.
Day 4
Day Trip – Delphi
When you stay in Athens for four days, you’ll be able to take one day trip. I chose Delphi, and since this location is quite special I’ll describe it in a separate blog post.
Getting to/from Airport and Train Station
Getting to/from the airport is really easy. All you have to do is to buy a metro ticket which is valid to/from the airport (8 euro) and there is only one line that takes you there. When you leave from the airport don’t forget to validate your ticket in the machines above the stairs before getting in to the train.
Getting to/from the train station can be done by metro as well. If you’re staying in Monastiraki you have to take the metro to Omonia and then to Larissa Station. It’s all very straightforward. Single tickets cost 1.20 euro.
Conclusion
Athens is a beautiful city; but it’s most memorable due to the ancient historical sights. The city itself has become a bit derelict and most of the buildings inside city centre are abandoned. That having been said, in the evenings areas like Psyri and Plaka become very busy and everyone is sitting outside the many terraces.
As I promised in the introduction, my favourite sights which in my opinion should be covered in two days are:
Acropolis and Acropolis Museum (in total you’ll spend 5 hours here)
Olympian Temple of Zeus (1 hour total)
Plaka District
Archaeological Museum and Byzantine Museum (6 hours total)
Syntagma Square and the Changing of the Guard (0.5 hour total)
Have you been to Athens yet and what were your favourite sights?
