Every year we do an article for all of you that will be staying in Athens over the summer. We decided that it is finally time to write the official guide for all of you that will be visiting this year, or even the next one. Trust us; the Art Stories Athens Guide is going to hold up nicely over the years. It’s time to ditch Tripadvisor and have a real Greek experience.
So here are ten places you should go, before you start looking anywhere else for suggestions; The Art Stories guide to seeing Athens.
- Acropolis & The Acropolis Museum
Okay, we promised a real experience. The first thing you should see is what everyone will ask you about when you get home. The Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. Might as well do it before anyone comes your way full of questions.
2. Basil & Elise Goulandris Museum
Athens has a new museum since late 2019 and it is splendid. It is only in very few museums in the world that you can see Monet, Pollock, El Greco works all together along with an exhibition filled with works of children made during the COVID-19 lock down in Greece.
3. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre
It hasn’t been more than five years and the SNFCC has become a place that Athenian’s hold dear to their hearts. Due to COVID-19 restrictions you can’t attend the concerts that would normally be in everyone’s agenda. You can still have a promenade in the garden and enjoy the view to the Acropolis and Piraeus from the top of the building and have a great time nonetheless.
4. Ancient Agora
Embed from Getty ImagesAncient Agora might be the most underrated spot in the middle of Athens. There is no other place where you can familiarize yourself with what Athens was in the past. The view to the Acropolis is beautiful and the maps that you’ll find all around the place are all you need to get a grasp of what it meant being in Athens B.C.
5. National Archaeological Museum of Athens
It is undoubtedly the best and oldest museum in Athens. You simply can’t miss this one. From prehistoric antiquities to Cypriot and Egyptian antiquities and sculptures, this museum has the biggest collection of all museums in Greece, with around 11.000 exhibits. If you are a history brat you will love spending a morning there, admiring what people worked on thousands of years ago.
6. Temple of Zeus Olympian & National Garden
Embed from Getty ImagesThe best way to pass time this summer with the schorching heat is by taking a walk at the National Garden and the Temple of Zeus Olympian really early in the morning or just before closing time (which is normally around sunset).
7. Benaki Museum
This museum is a case of its own as it spans across several buildings and offers completely different experiences from one to the other. We suggest going to its Vassilissis Sofias building for a unique taste in greek civilization from prehistoric times till the twentieth century.
8. Explore a neighboorhood of your choice
Athens has a lot of neighborhoods that are worth exploring; such as Pagrati, Petralona or Koukaki. Don’t hesitate to take the public transport and get lost. We strongly suggest you take the 11 or 2 trolley line and hop off at Plastira Square. Then take Archimidous street and enter the big garage door that hides nothing else but Panathenaic Stadium. It’s your chance to see a beautiful view and enter the stadium free of charge. There is a caveat: you cannot actually access the Stadium. You are only allowed to wander around from its back entrance.
9. Museum of Cycladic Art
Another beautiful museum, with a really nice cafe inside, because who doesn’t like a good coffee? The Museum of Cycladic Art’s main exhibition focuses on none other than cycladic art. Sleek and minimal, you will be taken aback by the statutes and figures the Cycladic civilization produced.
10. Latraac
There is no other place quite like it in the city. Latraac is a skatepark. But it also has a cafe and turns into an open bar when the skatepark is closed. With different underground dj’s almost every day of the week and a greek island vibe, you won’t believe you are in a city. Skate and booze, could anyone ask for more?
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