Exploring Athens - An Ancient City of Greece

Here are the highlights of my recent trip to Athens, the Greek capital

Athens is the capital city of Greece and the world’s most ancient capital, with remnants of a once most powerful civilisation and empire, Ancient Greece. The city boasts beautiful 5th century landmarks and ancient buildings, neoclassical 19th century architecture and plenty of delicious food!

My friends and I chose this destination because of our mutual interests in Ancient Greece and Greek mythology. We stayed for 3 nights, which I personally believe is more than enough time to explore the iconic landmarks that Athens has to offer.

The main highlight of my trip was the exploration of the most important ancient site of Athens, The Acropolis, a citadel and fortified part of an ancient Greek city with remains of three ancient temples of great historic significance including the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike.

My friends and I took pleasure in a 20 minute walk up to the site, wandering through the beautiful Plaka neighbourhood and taking pictures on the way. The Plaka is filled with aesthetic narrow streets, lovely neoclassical styled buildings and traditional tavernas, creating a nostalgic feel of old Athens. You can also find some of the best souvenir shops here!

We stopped to visit the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Herodes Theatre), located at the Southern slopes of the Acropolis. This magnificent ancient open-air Roman theatre was built in 161 AD and is still being used today for special events such as the Athens Art Festival.

Further up the slopes towards the Acropolis is the Areopagus, where we enjoyed a breath-taking 360 view of the city, looking over several landmarks including the Acropolis, Ancient Agora of Athens and Mt. Lycabettus.

To officially enter the Acropolis, we needed to climb steps until we reached the Propylaea, a monumental gateway in ancient Greek architecture.

Once we reached the Acropolis, we were amazed by the stunning view and intricately designed ancient temples that were constructed around 420 BC. These temples were built in dedication to the goddess of Athena, with the Parthenon being the largest of all temples crowning the Acropolis.

My friends and I spent about an hour roaming around the Acropolis before heading back down past the most scared temple of the Acropolis, the Erecthion. This temple was built in dedication to Athena and Poseidon. You can find what it was believed to be Poseidon’s trident mark thrusted into the rock and Athena’s olive tree gifted to the city.

You can’t visit Greece without trying the traditional food and delicacies! My friends and I chose to eat Greek cuisine throughout the whole trip and avoided food that we would usually eat in the UK. I tried Souvlaki as well as kebab dishes, which I highly recommend if you plan to visit Greece.

An unforgettable traditional Greek dessert eatery that my friends and I discovered was Lukumades, where they served traditional Greek doughnuts with toppings of your choice! You have the option to have your doughnuts smothered in Nutella, topped with ice cream or both.

I highly recommend visiting Athens if you have a great interest in Ancient Greece and Greek mythology. You’ll find ancient remains of buildings scattered all across the city, even in metro stations and there are plenty of museums where you can learn about the golden age of Greece.