Athens Private Tour With Hotel Or Port Pick Up

The Parthenon is the main building of the architectural complex of the Acropolis of Athens, as well as the greatest symbol of the beauty of classical architecture in ancient Greece. Built between 447 and 432 BC, the imposing Doric-style building was created to house a colossal sculpture of Athena Parthenos made of wood, ivory and gold, which had a height of twelve meters. Entrance tickets are optional.

While the Parthenon was the most impressive temple on the Acropolis, the Erechtheion was built to house the religious rituals that the ancient temple it was built on housed before it, and shows the cultural maturity of Athens. It is an intricate temple, designed to accommodate the radically uneven terrain of the site, and to avoid disturbing sacred shrines, such as the altars to Poseidon (Erechtheus), and to Hephaestus, or the place where Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident. The temple is unusual in that it incorporates two porticoes (protaseis); one in the northwest corner which is supported by tall Ionic columns, and another in the southwest corner which is supported by six huge female statues, the famous Caryatids which have become the characteristic feature of the temple, as they stand and seem to casually support the weight of the portico roof on their heads. Entrance tickets are optional.

Built between 426 and 421 BC to replace older temples whose remains are preserved inside the bastion. The small Ionic temple had a frieze carved in relief with different thematic representations on each side. The east side depicted a gathering of gods around Zeus enthroned, while the other sides featured scenes of warfare between Greeks and Persians or Greeks with other Greeks. The south side depicted the victorious battle of the Greeks against the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC, led by the Athenians. Few sculptural remains of the pediments of the temple are preserved. Entrance tickets are optional.

The best preserved ancient temple in Greece, was dedicated to the ancient god of fire and to Athena, goddess of pottery and craftsmanship. It was built around 450 BC at the western end of the city, on top of the hill of Agoreos Koronos, and is a classic example of Doric architecture. The temple has 6 columns on the short east and west sides and 13 on the north and south sides. Its friezes and other decorations were damaged by earthquakes and invasions over the centuries. It is peripheral, with columns surrounding the central cella. On the eastern facade, there are sculptures depicting the labors of Hercules and the battle of Theseus with the Palentines, the fifty sons of Pallas. On the west side, sculptures represent the fall of Troy. From the 7th century AD until 1834, it was an Orthodox church, later a burial place for non-Orthodox Europeans and Philhellenes. In fact, archaeological excavations revealed many tombs. Reconstruction and excavation works are still in progress.

Its construction began in 174 B.C. and was completed by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 A.D. Its unusually tall columns and ambitious layout made the temple one of the largest ever built in the ancient world. The long side featured 20 columns each and the short sides 8 (octastyle dipterous). These were placed in double rows lengthwise and in triple rows on each short side. The columns are topped by highly decorative Corinthian capitals carved from two huge blocks of marble. Inside the cella were gigantic chryselephantine statues of Zeus and of the temple's main benefactor, Hadrian, who was accorded a status equal to that of the great Greek god. The temple suffered over the centuries and much of its material was reused in other buildings, so today only 15 of the columns remain standing. The site shows evidence of habitation since the Neolithic period.

The heart of ancient Athens, the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and cultural center, and the seat of justice. The site was occupied in all periods of the city's history. It was used as a residential and funerary area as early as 3000 BC. After a series of remodelings, it got its rectangular shape in the 2nd century BC, but suffered damage from the various invasions over the centuries and was gradually abandoned. From Byzantine times until after 1834, when Athens became the capital of the independent Greek state, the Agora was redeveloped as a residential area, and work is still continuing. To uncover the entire Agora area it was necessary to demolish some 400 modern buildings. In the 19th century the four colossal figures of Giants and Tritons on the facade of the Gymnasium were restored. The Stoa of Attalos was rebuilt as a museum and the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi, built around 1000 AD, was restored.

Built in white marble between 1869 and 1870, the Panathenaic Stadium is the place where the first Olympic Games of our era were held in 1896. The first stadium that was built in the same place was built in wood, in 330 B.C., for the celebration of the sports competitions that took place during the Panathenaic Games, celebrations in which every four years the goddess Athena was worshiped through different competitions among which were equestrian, athletics, wrestling or chariot races, in addition to musical or beauty competitions. Today it is possible to walk through the marble stands where centuries ago the spectators nervously waved, enter the athletics track to put yourself in the shoes of the ancient athletes, and even climb the podium to have a souvenir photo next to the rings that form the symbol of the Olympic Games.

Housed in an imposing neoclassical building, it is the largest museum in Greece and one of the most important in the world. Originally intended to receive all the excavations of the 19th century, mainly from Attica and other parts of the country, it gradually took the form of a central National Archaeological Museum and was enriched with finds from all parts of the Greek world. Its rich collections, listing more than 11,000 exhibits, offer the visitor an overview of ancient Greek culture from the beginning of prehistory to late antiquity.

Outside view of Benaki Museum. The Benaki Museum was founded by Antonis Benakis in 1930 and later donated to the Greek State. Between 1973 and 2014 it became the most active museum institution in Greece. Spread over nine buildings open to the public, the Museum's collections are very diverse, with four archives, an extensive library and more than 500,000 works of art, books, photographs and rare documents. and rare documents. The Museum welcomes more than 450,000 visitors a year and offers a range of activities to serve a variety of activities to serve a variety of educational and social needs. It occupies a unique place as a truly multi-faceted institution within the wider network of museums in Greece. Each year, the Benaki Museum presents dozens of temporary exhibitions and organizes conferences, lectures and special events on topics related to its collections and its wide range of activities.

Located at the foot of the north side of the Acropolis, Monastiraki is one of the main shopping areas of the city. It has an appearance similar to that of the souks, an area of narrow streets full of small stores offering a variety of items, where bargaining is the order of the day. This is a testament to the Turkish influence on Greek customs. Monastiraki is a highly recommended area to sit on one of its terraces and taste the specialties of Greek cuisine. It is also possible to make some cultural visits; in the Tzisdaraki Mosque you can see the pottery collection of the Museum of Greek Folk Art and in the Library of Hadrian it is possible to see some of the remains that are preserved from the classical Athenian era.

The Plaka is the oldest neighborhood in Athens. Most of the streets have been closed to car traffic and it is now an area of restaurants, jewelry shops, tourist stores and cafes, but it is still one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Athens. If you walk around the Plaka you will find many different types of stores and even the usual tourist stores have amazing postcards that you can send home and make all your friends envious. There are a few galleries and there are several museums in Plaka, like the Children's Museum, the Music Museum, the Museum of Greek Folk Art and the Jewish Museum.