Travels to Ancient Athens

This was the largest temple in mainland Greece - started in 500 BC and completed 700 years later. 

My husband and I just returned from a two-week trip to Greece spending most of a week in the city of Athens (and onto Crete - another posting to come). We had last been in Athens in 1985 - quite a while ago. We stayed in an apartment rented through AirB&B away from the tourist areas and enjoyed hanging out in a residential location with true Athenians. We were VERY pleased to find that most Greeks do speak English - at least a little - because we did not make much progress with understanding phrases and translating Greek signage.

I could say so much about this visit but thought I would concentrate on reviewing what we saw based on the DK Eyewitness Travel series book "Top 10 Athens".  We visited many of the sites recommended although we didn't make it to all of the museums - the weather was just too pleasant to spend much time indoors.

The number one attraction in Athens is the Acropolis Area which is right in the center of the city and includes a number of venues including this ancient theatre. 

At the very top of the hill is the Temple dedicated to the goddess, Athena.  We also visited the nearby New Acropolis Museum which is wonderful and we would recommend that you visit it before going up the hill. It provides a great foundation for seeing the actual structures and ruins.

The Agora Area is also on the top ten list. This temple is on top of a hill in the area and affords a great view of the site itself as well as areas of the city center. 

This on-site museum and church features well-preserved frescoes and statuary.  It is also a nice cool place to hang out.

In the first century AD, the Romans moved the marketplace from the Agora area to this smaller location. This was the commercial center of the city through the mid 1900's.

This ancient area featured two major roads - one to a temple and one to a brothel.  We loved the well designed museum on this site.

This hill can be seen from throughout the city. It can be reached by climbing (which we did a lot of - very tiring) but close to the top, there is a quick train that can take you to the top. The views of the city are spectacular and there is a very nice restaurant on the other side of the church.

I have about 1500 photos so I could go on and on and on - this is a lovely city and well worth a visit. We enjoyed outside eating in both the city center and in our apartment's residential area.

Here are a few of our own top ten attractions - enjoy!

We were so impressed with the city and all it had to offer, we may just have to return it to our bucket list for a future visit - that list is getting awfully crowded!