Athens – Birthplace of the Modern World
Day One: The Acropolis and Plaka
See also: Athens Day Two — Agora, Downtown, Museum, Kolonaki
Few cities on earth offer such a dramatic combination of ancient grandeur and vibrant modern life as Athens. Considered the birthplace of Western civilization, Athens gave the world democracy, philosophy, classical architecture, geometry, history and artistic realism. The intellectual foundations of modern culture were laid here, making a visit both a learning experience and an enormously enjoyable one.
Athens is also a brilliantly modern city, with an extensive pedestrian zone in the center, an efficient metro system and major infrastructure improvements completed for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Three places are essential on any Athens visit: the Parthenon, the historic neighborhood of Plaka, and the downtown pedestrian district. Together they can be covered comfortably in two days on foot, with additional time available for boat trips to nearby islands.
The Acropolis and the Parthenon
The most important site in Athens is the Parthenon, one of the oldest and most recognizable buildings in the world. The site opens early, so arriving in the morning allows for a cooler, less crowded visit that leaves time for the many other attractions the day holds. Still standing after 2,500 years, the Parthenon rises above the center of Athens atop the hill of the Acropolis. Its gleaming white marble columns and triangular pediments are the defining image of the city, representing a classical style that has been copied by buildings throughout the world ever since.
The Parthenon was built as a temple for Athena, the city's patron goddess. In the main temple room stood a colossal statue of Athena, nearly 40 feet high, covered in ivory and gold, created by the sculptor Pheidias, who also designed the many other statues originally displayed on the building. The inner sanctum served as a treasury, and the surrounding friezes depicted people making offerings to the gods alongside scenes of human struggle and triumph.
The statues are gone now, removed or destroyed over the centuries, and most of the interior structure was lost in 1687 when Venetian invaders blew up the temple during their battles with the Ottoman Turks, who had been using it for ammunition storage. Reconstruction efforts have continued since 1837. Scaffolding and cranes are visible inside the building, but they do nothing to diminish the grandeur of the site.
Some of the surviving statues can be seen in the small museum on the Acropolis, behind the Parthenon, though the largest portion of the collection — taken by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century — is in the British Museum in London, the subject of one of art history's most enduring controversies.
Next to the Parthenon stands the Erechtheion, a smaller temple dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon, famous for its six caryatids — female figures carved in marble who stand like living columns supporting the roof, their flowing stone gowns echoing the fluting of classical columns. Excellent replicas are in place on the building, with the originals protected inside the Acropolis Museum to prevent further erosion from air pollution. The museum is well worth the visit and requires only about 30 minutes. Among its treasures is a long section of the Parthenon's original frieze, the other half of which is in London.
The two other major features of the Acropolis are the Propylaea, the ceremonial entrance gate, and the nearby Temple of Athena Nike. From the edge of the hill behind the Parthenon, a panoramic view takes in most of Athens, a city of over three million people reaching to the hills on the horizon. Looking straight down reveals the warm old buildings of Plaka. To the left lies a large open field of ancient ruins — the Agora, the marketplace of classical Athens 2,500 years ago, well worth a visit during the stay.
On the south slope of the Acropolis, the ancient Theater of Dionysus can be seen from above. Drama was invented here by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes and Euripides, and the theater could hold an audience of 17,000 in its open-air hillside setting. Adjacent to it is the Odeon of Herod Atticus, a covered theater seating 6,000 that still hosts outdoor performances each summer.
Plaka
From the Acropolis, the walk down leads to Dionissiou Areopagitou, a broad pedestrian promenade. After passing the ancient theaters, the second left onto Vironos leads directly into Plaka, the oldest neighborhood in Athens and one of the oldest continuously occupied urban areas in Europe. Once the entire extent of the city, Plaka is now a tranquil historic enclave surrounded by the modern sprawling metropolis.
After one block stands an ancient ruin in the middle of the street — the Monument of Lysicrates, a small marble tower built in 334 BC that has survived in place through every era of the city's history, with a restaurant terrace looking over it.
Plaka is a compact neighborhood, roughly eight blocks long and five wide, with no cars and one main street, Adrianou, lined with shops selling souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, sponges and postcards. Like any great old-town district, it mixes genuine history with tourist commerce, and the traveler who ventures beyond the main drag discovers the more interesting side of the neighborhood. The little side streets carry an earthy, authentic residential character that reflects thousands of years of continuous occupation. These back lanes reward exploration — a small corner art gallery, a field of Roman ruins, the Museum of Musical Instruments, and residents going about their daily lives in the shadow of ancient monuments.
One lane worth seeking out is Anafiotika, at the uppermost level of Plaka, a winding residential enclave of whitewashed cubic homes that opens onto a plateau with a remarkable view over the city.
For lunch, the staircase streets of Mnissikleous and Erehtheos offer casual outdoor dining at tables that spill from one level to the next, with vines overhead providing shade. The atmosphere here is hard to beat.
The main pedestrian crossroads at Adrianou and Kidathinaion has attractive sidewalk cafes on opposite corners and is a good place to pause and observe the street life of locals and visitors.
At the far end of Adrianou lies the Roman Agora, the main marketplace during five centuries of Roman rule over Greece. The most notable surviving structures are the Library of Hadrian, an impressive wall with Corinthian pilasters, and the octagonal Tower of the Winds, built to tell time and forecast weather two thousand years ago. The surrounding neighborhood has good dining options, particularly around the small leafy square called Platia Agora.
Just beyond the eastern edge of Plaka stands the Temple of Zeus, the largest temple in ancient Greece, with 16 monumental columns still standing at 60 feet high — a remarkable example of Roman engineering combined with Greek design.
In the evening, Plaka comes alive with music. Several bars and tavernas feature authentic Greek music on the bouzouki — a mandolin-like instrument — and the better establishments offer folk dance performances with costumes representing different regions of the country, providing a complete and memorable introduction to Greek culture.
