Athens
Where the whole Western idea of a city started — democracy hashed out on these hills 2,500 years ago, the Parthenon staring down over the rooftops ever since. Marble ruins wedged between the apartment blocks, tavernas tucked into the Plaka lanes below the Acropolis, and a museum built right over the excavations. Chaotic, sun-baked, and older than just about anywhere.
Top recommendations
3 picks
Acropolis Museum
A glass-floored modern museum built right over the excavations — the Parthenon marbles laid out with the temple itself framed in the windows.
Panathenaic Stadium
The all-marble Kallimarmaro — home of the first modern Olympics in 1896, and the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.
Plaka
The old town's tangle of lanes under the Acropolis — tavernas, painted-canvas stalls and the friendliest sellers in the city.
What to do
4 entriesThe gallery
2 postcards
