Starting your holidays from your luxurious villa in the Athens area, bear in mind that Athens and the surrounding Attica region have been one of the world’s oldest populated locations, with a recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and earliest human presence somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennium BC.
The Classical Athens of Pericles’ time (450 BC) was a powerful city-state that had emerged in conjunction with the port of Piraeus. A center for philosophy and arts, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, Athens is universally acknowledged as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy.
Today, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and the hub of political, financial, industrial, maritime and cultural life in Greece.
ATHENS’S MUST SEES:
Center
- Visit the world-famous Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Theater of Dionysus.
- Learn more about the Athens history by joining a tour (private or shared) of the Athens Acropolis museum.
- Walk at Ermou Street, Athens’s busiest street full of stores and boutiques, where you can practically find everything.
- Visit the Panathenaic Stadium where the first Olympic Games were held in 1896.
- Watch the Changing of the Presidential Guard in front of the Parliament at Syntagma Square.
- Monastiraki is the place to be if you enjoy flea markets and bargains.
- Drive up the Lycabettus Hill and enjoy the magnificent view of the city.
Southern Suburbs
- Visit the famous areas of Glyfada and Voula.
- Make a stop at Lake Vouliagmeni, famous for its thermal baths.
- Walk by the numerous marinas.
- Have lunch or dinner by the sea.
- Play golf at the Glyfada Golf club.
- Travel to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon.
Northern Suburbs
- Visit the Athens Olympic Sports Center (OAKA) in Marousi, where many sports of the 2004 Olympic Games were held.
- Explore Kifissia, probably the most beautiful suburb in northern Athens, with its rich 19th century villas, residences of the oldest Athenian families.
- Visit the Museum of Natural History with its beautiful exhibits.