Revisiting Ancient History in Athens at The Parthenon and the Acropolis

We spent the last day and a half of our Greece holiday in Athens. It was more like one full day really. We arrived in Athens from Paros at about 4.00 p.m. Our hotel was a 3 minute walk from the Akropolis Metro station, and about a 5 minute walk to the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

We checked in, dropped off our things and went straight to the Acropolis. We were really lucky, because the weekend we were there, a lot of the sights in Athens were free! So we saved lots of money by getting into the Acropolis, Temple of Olympian Zeus and Ancient Agora all for free.

It was much hotter in Athens than on the islands, probably because it was sheltered from the sea. In the city it was about 30 degrees even at 4.00 p.m., so it made the walk up the Acropolis a bit harder than it would usually be.

The Parthenon and The Erechtheum are just amazing up close, they are surrounded by scaffolding, but they still look stunning, and it's just amazing they have been standing there for hundreds of years. It was also really awesome visiting places we learnt about in Classical Studies at school, and trying to remember all the old Greek myths!

The South slope of the Acropolis

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus or Herodeion

Temple of Athena Nike

The Parthenon

The Erechtheum

Of all the places I thought I might see a wild tortoise... the Acropolis was not one of them. Athens is full of them, we saw about 5 different ones in one day.

View towards the Parthenon from Areopagus (Hill of Ares)

After wandering around the Parthenon for a while, we made our way down the hill towards Ancient Agora. This was the political and administrative center of ancient Athens as well as the place where social, commercial and religious activities concentrated. It's home to the Stoa of Attalus II (Agora Museum) and the Temple of Hephaestus and Athena, who were the god and goddess of the arts and trades (among other things) in Greece. It's really nice to wander around, and we were able to see everything without feeling rushed before they closed the gates at 6.30 p.m.

We could have seen most of Athens in the one afternoon, but we decided to save the Temple of Olympian Zeus until the next day, since our flight wasn't until the afternoon. We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the Plaka area, which is a lovely area famous for its hundreds of shops, needless to say we spent quite a lot of money in Greece overall.

Church of the Holy Apostles 

Looking towards the Temple of Hephaestus and Athena

Stoa of Attalus II or Ancient Agora Museum

The Flying Victory

Temple of Hephaestus and Athena

Statue of Hadrian, the Roman Emperor from 117 - 139 AD

Niki Street!