Athens City Center

Areas In Athens City Center

Athens is the capital city of Greece and it is also the biggest city in Greece. It is one of the oldest towns in the world. It is believed that Athens has been in existence for over 3400 years. Archaeologists say that the first human presence in Athens was found long time ago.

It is one of the biggest economic centers in the southern east Europe, global city. It also consists of a port Piraeus which is the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world. Athens being one of the oldest town it has cool places to visit where one can enjoy with their family. The best time to visit Athens is during the spring and fall, when the temperatures are warm and the tourist traffic is at minimum. While in Athens, it is good to take a tour to some places like presented below;

Athens City Center

Monastiraki

Activities like clothing boutiques, souvenir shops, and specialty store are homed in this flea market. If you are into bargain shopping, this is a place for you to tour and carry some products with you back home. It is strategically located in a square which happens to be a host to the Church of the Pantanassa.

Plaka

Plaka is like a small village in a huge city. It is strategically located on the slopes of acropolis, one of the biggest attraction site in Athens, and has antique buildings that beckon and command attention even when you are not interested. Plaka has several museum where one can visit such as; Jewish museum, Greek folk art museum, Athens university museum, Pavlos and Alexandra kaellopoulou museum, Frissiras museum. Plaka has very strict regulations when it comes to conservation because the social utilities like water are underground in custom-made tunnels.

Temple of Athena Nike

After its construction, this temple has been demolished three times and reconstructed. Nike is the ancient Greek word meaning victory. It was initially constructed due to the cult of Athena Nike, but was later on demolished by the Persians. The reason I find most ambiguous for destruction of the temple is when it was demolished by the Turks so that they could build defense using the stones. Were there no stones available at the moment?

National archaeological museum of Athens

This museum was founded a couple of centuries ago and it houses various archaeological and historical collections including, Mycenean gold cups from Grave IV and V, The Mask of Agamemnon, a gold funeral mask, sculptures, and The Mask of Agamemnon, a gold funeral mask, among others. It was first known as the central museum, before being renamed by Charilaos Trikoupis in 1881, the then prime minister of Greece. The museum managed to stand the Second World War by sealing the antiquities in special boxes and burying them to avoid destruction and theft. To this day, this museum stand in Patission Street, and is worth paying a visit.

Agora: ruins of the ancient market place

Agora is a Greek word meaning gather and orate. From Agora, a short hike is available to the top of the Agora hill from where you get a beautiful view of the Temple of Hephaistos and the ancient Library of Hadrian. At Agora, citizens gathered for sports, politics and any other social activity that brought them together.

Acropolis museum

Most archaeological findings from the Acropolis of Athens are stored in this museum, a good reason you should not leave Athens without setting your feet here. It is an award winning museum with at least six awards. Even though the museum was founded in 2003, it did not open to the public until June 2009.

As part of the top news from Greece, I found this information to be educative so that as you plan to visit Athens, you do not wonder where to start from.