Best Landmarks To Visit In Athens

Inhabited for more than 3,000 years, Athens is widely known as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy. Consisting of a large city center, an urban district and metropolitan area, Athens presents a stunning blend of historical and modern features. Here are just a few of some of the best landmarks to visit.

This marvel of a museum engagingly presents everything you need to know about the Acropolis, its individual temples and the remarkable ancient civilization responsible for it all. You’ll want to make time to see the whole museum, but if pressed for time, take the elevator to the top level to see a veritable recreation of the Parthenon in its heyday, with all the sculptures, columns, metopes, and friezes (originals and plaster-cast copies) in place.

With its low whitewashed houses and steep meandering skinny streets, this 19th-Century neighborhood looks like an island in need of a sea. Which makes perfect sense, since it was built by refugee stonemasons from the Cycladic island of Anafi.

Considered the jewel of Ancient Greece, the Parthenon is an architecturally and historically significant building in the Western World.  It’s an extraordinary sight, especially considering that this intricately carved 23,000-square-foot temple is more than 2,500 years old.

 

Cape Sounion is found on the south-east coast of Athens, on the southern tip of the Attica peninsula. Some of the archaeological items found in this site date from as early as the 8th century BC, while Herodotus affirms that in the 6th century BC, the Athenians used to celebrate a quadrennial festival at Cape Sounion.

This is a replica of the Classical-style stone theatre, built in 161 AD on the southwest slope of the Acropolis, adjacent to the Theatre of Dionysus, which was used as a music hall. The Odeum was destroyed just 100 years after it was built in 161 AD, but in the 1950’s, a wealthy Athenian funded the reconstruction and now today, the Odeum is host to the annual Athens Festival and a popular concert venue throughout the year.

To read the full list of the best landmarks in Athens, please visit: Messonghi