How Did We Get To Athens?

We flew into Athens from Munich with Aegean Airways. A nice easy flight with friendly service and nice food. We had organised a transfer through our hotel and were met by the driver. He was very friendly and informative about Athens during our trip into town.

Where Did We Stay?

Our travel agent suggested the Herodion Hotel as previous customers had thought highly of it. We knew the location was good as it was near the Acropolis and found the staff of the Herodion to be fantastic. From the reception to bar staff and others they were brilliant. The restaurant served wonderful Greek food and the bar had some great wines and beers.

The rooftop view of the Acropolis is a great selling point for this hotel especially at night when you can see it lit up.

Filopappou Hill

On our first evening, we walked to Filopappou Hill and the base of the Acropolis. Filopapou Hill had many ancient ruins covering it and tracks winding around the hill will take you to all of them.

Socrates Prison

Monument of Philopappos

Church of Agios Demetrios Loumbardiaris

Walking Tour of Athens

To get an in depth understanding of Athens more important monuments we booked a private walking tour. The tour took half a day with the main stops being the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Olympic Stadium and an drive through Athens and past other points of interest.

Acropolis

We started at the Acropolis where our guide explained the history of the area and the individual temples. By arriving early we avoided the large crowds that go there, even in winter.

Once our guide had purchased the entry tickets, we walked up the hill towards the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion with it’s Caryatid columns. Behind these temples is the amazing Parthenon. Some of the marble frescoes from here are on display in the Acropolis Museum, while others are in the British Museum in London.

The view from the Acropolis is great with much of Athens visible as well as many other Greek monuments.

Acropolis Museum

This museum contains excavated relics from the Acropolis, which are set out in beautiful displays with excellent explanations.

Athens Olympic Stadium

This was a quick stop as we passed by in the guides car. We had a quick look at the stadium from the first modern Olympics before moving on.

Greek Parliament

The tour took us past the Greek Parliament, where the guards in national dress were on duty. We watched while they changed positions and took some photos.

Temple of Hephaestus

Located in the Agora, the Temple Of Hephaestus is one of the best preserves temples in Greece. With its intact columns and roof , it is an amazing site when compared to other ruined buildings in the area. We first saw the temple from the Acropolis, which is a great view because of its perspective viewing it from above.

Up close, the temple is amazing and a must see when visiting Athens. We arrived at 2:30PM and were surprised to find that the whole Agora, including the temple closed at 3:30. For such a major attraction, we found this unusual, so be careful when planning to visit, that you will have enough time there.

Hadrian’s Arch

Located on Leoforos Vasilisis Amalias opposite Lisikratous  this ancient gateway is near the Temple of Zeus and 300m from the Acropolis.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Only a short walk from Hadrian’s Arch, the Temple Of Olympian Zeus is in poor condition, with not many of its original columns still standing

Bus Tour to Delphi and Meteora

Our tour guide for the first half day from Athens to Delphi was very good. She provided lots of information about where we were travelling to and places we passed through. At Delphi, she gave a guided tour, which although long, considering time constraints, was full of detail.

Delphi

A little over two hours north of Athens by road, Delphi was a significant religious centre for the ancient Greeks. As such it contains the ruins of temples and stadiums as well as treasuries from city states such as Athens which were offerings to the gods.

Travelling by bus, we had a relaxing journey to Delphi, along with a commentary by our guide. On arrival, we found that our time on site was very limited, as our connecting bus was leaving in two hours. We booked a two day tour to both Delphi and Meteora. Those people on the tour only visiting Delphi had more time.

Our guide took us around the archaeological site, providing great commentary. However, we felt that the tour guide did not stop talking, so we broke off from the main group to explore on our own. We walked up to the amphitheater, but were unable to get to the stadium as the track was closed for maintenance.

We made a quick trip to the museum to see  the displays, particularly the charioteer and Sphinx. Had we not hurried, we would have missed seeing them.

Overall, we loved the site and ruins but felt too rushed to take them in properly, because of the time constraints. If you want to see the stadium at the top of the hill and museum, as well as the temple complex, we would recommend a tour concentrating on just Delphi, while ensuring all of the places are visited.

Thermopylae

A brief stop on our way to our overnight stop of Kalambaka, took us to the Thermopylae memorial. A very easy place to find as it is on the main highway and the huge Spartan warrior can’t be missed.

The memorial is to the Spartan defenders against Xerxes Persian invaders.

Many people know of the Spartans who died defending the area, but don’t know much about the rest of the Greeks , who were often neglected. It is great that there is an additional memorial, adjacent to the Spartan one, to honour them as well.

A great place for a quick stop, to remember the defenders and take some photos.

Over night Kalambaka

Bus Tour Day 2

By day two, our patience with the tour guide had disappeared. Although at times providing interesting information, much of what she said was repetitive, and often incorrect. Instead of letting the tour group enjoy the scenery and relax, she was rarely quiet. One person with us timed the longest quiet period at 15 minutes.

We also found the bus cramped and stuffy with poor ventilation and too loud speakers with no volume control (or off switch).

This easily ranked as the worst bus tour we have been on. Don’t get us wrong the destinations were amazing, but the bus trip itself was intolerable.

Meteora

Famous for its mountaintop monasteries, Meteora, provides a surreal landscape, with its scenery. Our bus trip stayed the previous night in Kalambaca, to we were able to start early the next day.

The trip through the mountains has many opportunities for views and photographs of the monasteries. Seeing the buildings perched on the sides of the cliffs is an amazing site.

Our first visit was to St Stephens Monastery. The church and buildings have been recently completed, as the icons and frescos are all pristine, with some still in the process of being painted. This may disappoint some people, but we found it interesting
to see them newly done . All women need to wear skirts that cover their knees, they do provide these free of charge, as part of the tour .

The second stop was at St Barbara’s, a smaller and older settlement. Both places offered amazing views and history.

Small Group Bus Trip

To view Mycenae and Epidaurus, we booked a private tour with a guide. The driver arrived on time, and took us to the archaeological sites, where we met the guide. They were extremely good, and we found that our understanding of the area was much better than if we had gone by ourselves. Being able to ask questions after hearing an explanation of an area was fantastic, because we were able to clarify points of interest.

Although you pay a premium for a guide, the benefit received is huge and is highly recommended. If you want to walk the site by yourself though, there are information boards around the site that provide an exploration of what is there. Most of these boards are in Greek and English.

Mycenae

Our guide met us at the beehive tombs, where we entered Agamemnon’s tomb. There is no proof that this was actually his tomb, as it was empty when excavated, but this it its popular name.

The huge interior, at 15m is impressive, especially considering it is still standing after 3,000 years.

Not far from the tombs are the ruins of Mycenae. Our first stop was the museum, which contains many of the artefacts excavated from the site, although many of the important ones are replicas, because the originals are in the Athens National Archaeological Museum.

We walked around the excavated site, looking at the cemetery, palace and other ruins. The path is well maintained, but goes uphill, so take your time, especially on the way down if the ground is wet and slippery

Epidaurus

Located 55 km from the Mycenae Archaeological area, Epidaurus is a beautiful collection of stadiums, temples and other ruins. Dating from the 4th century BC, the impressive amphitheatre is still used today.

We walked around the empty seats and the views and acoustics of this ancient place are amazing. You are able to hear someone speaking in the centre without a microphone.

The temple complex to Epidaurus is undergoing restoration but still looks impressive. Several areas have been reconstructed, with columns now standing for the first time in over 1,000 years.

The small stadium is also in good condition and was great to see.

Nafplio

We made a lunch stop here and ate at one of the many waterfront eateries available. After lunch we walked along the waters edge and looked out to the prison on the harbour’s island. Walking back to the car park, we had a quick look at the fortifications, before heading back to Athens.

Corinth Canal

A brief stop on our outward journey took us to the Corinth Canal. An amazing piece of construction, it looked impressive from the bridge we viewed it from.

Cape Sounion

Temple of Poseidon

We got to the Temple of Poseidon with a small group tour from Athens. Due to the time of year, it turned out to be personal tour as there was only the two of us on it. The trip only took 90 minutes, so we admired the Greek countryside as we went.

The temple’s fantastic location at the tip of Cape Sounion, gives it amazing sea views as befits a temple to the god of the sea. Only a short uphill walk from the car park, the temple dominates the local area because of its raised position.

During our visit there were not many other tourists, so we had it almost to ourselves. We walked around the temple several times admiring the columns and taking photos.

While there, we sat on the stone benches and had a snack we had brought with us, while looking over the sea and the temple.

National Archaeological Museum

This museum contains the treasures of Greece from its prehistory through to the Greek City States. The vast amount of artifacts on display is amazing, from Agamemnon’s death mask to statues of the Olympian gods it’s all here for you to see.

The museum is very well laid out and descriptions are given in English as well as Greek so you can easily understand the significance of the displays.

Apart from the numerous coins, vases and weapins on display we liked the statue of Zeus and Agamemnon’s mask out of the whole collection.

What Did We Think of Athens?

We loved Athens and the surrounding areas. The city is full of history everywhere you look and the people are very friendly. The hotel was great and we loved the food and wine. Some of the day trips were long, but we we were able to see a huge amount of ancient monuments in a short time.

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