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Uncover a distinct facet to Athens with these enjoyable, uncommon issues to do within the Greek capital…
Athens. One of many world’s oldest cities, a spot the place the traditional world collides with the fashionable – and the place a number of layers of historical past and tradition coexist in a chaotic jumble.
Historic structure emerges everywhere in the metropolis centre: seen in metro stations, beneath public squares, or integrated into fashionable buildings. And all of the whereas, the long-lasting Parthenon on Acropolis Hill overlooks the town’s skyline.
However past the historical past the town is so well-known for, Athens is a pulsing and fast-evolving metropolis present process a radical city transformation. As soon as-impoverished districts are being reclaimed as inventive centres, full of vibrant road artwork, fashionable boutique outlets, and bars & eating places to swimsuit each style conceivable.
When you’ve checked off the principle sights in Athens, it’s time to immerse your self within the metropolis’s quite a few personalities. Dive into fashionable native nightlife hotspots, search road artwork between Byzantine buildings, beach-hop your manner alongside the Athens Riviera, or people-watch on the bustling metropolis centre markets.
These are among the extra uncommon issues to do in Athens – that will help you get beneath the pores and skin of the town and expertise it a bit extra “like a neighborhood”. Don’t have time to learn the entire article? There’s additionally a map and a brief model of the checklist on the backside of this web page. Get pleasure from…
Really useful Athens Excursions
Whether or not you need to discover the principle websites in Athens or get off the overwhelmed monitor, there are some nice excursions on Get Your Information. These are among the top-rated…
Uncommon Issues to do in Athens
In a rush? There’s a map and a brief model of the checklist on the backside of this web page! Use the contents menu above to skip forward if that you must.
1. Don’t Miss the Historic Websites in Athens
Athens is known for its historical websites – particularly the long-lasting, hilltop Acropolis which will be seen from throughout the town. These don’t actually matter as “uncommon issues to do” as they’re so well-known, however they’re undoubtedly must-sees while you go to Athens. So right here’s a short checklist of the “high” historical websites you shouldn’t miss:
- The Acropolis and the Parthenon. For a extra uncommon take on Athens’ most well-known sight, take a look at this Acropolis Mythology Tour.
- The Acropolis Museum
- The Historic Agora
- Odeon of Herodes Atticus
- Temple of Hephaestus
- Panathenaic Stadium
- High tip – you possibly can purchase a Combo Ticket for entry to the entire following: Acropolis, Historic Agora, Roman Agora, Temple of Zeus, Aristotle’s Faculty, Hadrian’s Library, and Kerameikos Historic Cemetery. Click on right here for particulars and newest costs.
RECOMMENDED TOUR: Acropolis, Parthenon, & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour (from €57pp)
2. See Athens with a Native on an Various Athens Tour
Once I visited Athens, I took a strolling tour with a incredible native firm referred to as Various Athens. They’re simply among the best tour corporations within the metropolis, providing small-group strolling excursions led by professional native guides – all of which intention to take you past the traditional vacationer websites and provide help to get to know the actual, genuine Athens.
Various Athens runs a number of distinctive metropolis excursions, together with meals excursions, a Homosexual & Lesbian Nightlife Tour, and a Avenue Artwork Tour. I took the Sudden Athens Orientation Tour, which runs every day at 9:30am, takes 4 hours, and prices €49 per particular person.
It’s the right introduction to the town, taking in many of the most important websites in addition to among the metropolis’s quirkier districts. Plus, your information will be capable to share numerous insider suggestions for locations to eat and drink throughout your journey to Athens. You simply can’t beat a suggestion from a neighborhood!
3. Watch the Altering of the Guard at Syntagma Sq.
Syntagma Sq. appears like the guts of Athens: a bustling sq. on the pinnacle of the busy excessive road Ermou.
It’s dwelling to the Royal Palace, a modest neo-classical constructing courting from the 1830s when Greece lastly gained independence after centuries of Ottoman occupation. At the moment, the palace homes the Greek parliament.
Don’t miss the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in entrance of the parliament constructing: a memorial devoted to the fallen troopers of Greece’s wars. The tomb is consistently guarded by troopers wearing conventional livery, together with Tsarouhi: massive, clog-like footwear with studded soles and fluffy pompoms on the toes.
The Altering of the Guard takes place each hour, a drawn-out course of involving all of the pomp and fussiness you’d anticipate type such a ceremony. It’s free to observe and is nicely price together with in your Athens itinerary. On Sundays at 11am, the Grand Change takes place: a bigger model of the ceremony involving extra troopers and much more pomp!
4. Hunt down the Avenue Artwork in Athens
Followers of road artwork and concrete artwork will love exploring Athens’ historic sidestreets and quirky hipster neighbourhoods. There are murals, installations, and vibrant items of road artwork in all places!
Psirri, Monastiraki, Gazi, and Metaxourgio are among the greatest districts to go road artwork looking. Higher nonetheless, take a guided tour with a neighborhood professional that will help you discover the very best road artwork in Athens. I’d advocate considered one of these two:
5. Hunt for Bargains at Monastiraki Flea Market
Monastiraki is a historic neighbourhood near the Historic Agora recognized for its quirky buying scene and vibrant road artwork. The labyrinthine community of slender streets is full of incredible eateries and bars, artisanal boutiques, and funky classic outlets.
Don’t miss the well-known Monastiraki Flea Market. That is held each Sunday morning within the space between Monastiraki Sq. and Avissynias Sq.. Stalls right here promote every thing from damaged Barbies and surplus military gear to vintage furnishings and outdated cash. There are sometimes road performers and busking musicians, too, giving Sunday mornings a celebration vibe!
Though the market is simply held on Sundays, the entire space is crammed with vintage outlets and strange boutiques which are open all week. So even for those who’re not visiting Athens on the weekend, it’s nonetheless price exploring the Monastiraki Flea Market space for some window buying, people-watching, and bargain-hunting.
6. Uncover Athens’ Up to date Artwork Scene at TAF (The Artwork Basis)
Housed inside a fantastically crumbling Ottoman mansion with a central courtyard, TAF is an modern cultural centre in Athens’ Monastiraki district. They host worldwide and native group exhibitions, in addition to cultural occasions, workshops, performances, and movie screenings.
It’s price visiting simply to discover the constructing itself – however this cultural hub can also be dwelling to a recent artwork gallery, a store selling native designers, and a energetic courtyard cafe-bar.
7. Witness 4 Eras of Athens Historical past at Monastiraki Sq.
From Athens’ well-known Monastiraki Sq., you possibly can get pleasure from a view that takes within the 4 main eras of the town. There’s the red-tiled dome of the Ottoman Tzisdarakis Mosque, the Roman pillars of Hadrian’s library, the fashionable metro station, and the Historic Greek Acropolis above.
It’s an important picture to summarise Athens, the place the layers of the town’s previous are chaotically intertwined creating a posh, vibrant mishmash of various eras, architectures, and influences.
8. Take a Greek Meals Tour in Athens
In my view, one of the best ways to get to know a tradition is thru meals. I attempt to take a meals tour in each metropolis I go to. It’s the right approach to discover the native flavours (each actually and figuratively. There are some incredible meals excursions in Athens to select from – these are my high picks:
9. Uncover a Roman Tomb inside a Zara Retailer
Head to the Zara retailer on Stadiou Avenue for a real hidden gem in Athens. On the basement degree, you possibly can see the ruins of an Historic Roman tomb!
These are protected by a glass wall, and have a glass ceiling so you possibly can look down from the ground above as you enter the store.
Athens is Europe’s oldest capital metropolis, with recorded historical past courting again over 3,400 years, so there are a lot of traces of the previous buried beneath the fashionable metropolis. It appears you possibly can’t begin digging within the centre of Athens with out discovering one thing, and lots of fashionable buildings have needed to be distorted throughout constructing to protect the previous. This is only one of many examples: but it surely’s free and straightforward to go to so nicely definitely worth the detour!
10. Swing by the Archaeological Web site inside Monastiraki Metro Station
Main on from the above, there’s additionally a small archaeological website contained in the Monastiraki Metro Station. A number of archaeological finds have been uncovered in the course of the station’s development, courting way back to the eighth century BC. It’s additionally free to go to – so cease by earlier than you catch your practice!
11. Spot Neo-Classical Structure on Panepistimiou Avenue
Take a stroll alongside Panepistimiou Avenue, a significant road working from Omonia Sq. to Syntagma Sq., to discover a treasure trove of neoclassical structure.
Probably the most well-known buildings right here type the so-called “Neoclassical Trilogy”: the Academy of Athens, the Nationwide and Kapodistrian College of Athens, and the Nationwide Library. These are thought-about three of the very best items of structure within the metropolis and are completely gorgeous.
There are a number of extra buildings price noticing alongside Panepistimiou Avenue. Don’t miss the Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, inbuilt an elaborate Neo-Renaissance model.
The pink-bricked Athens Ofthamiatrio (Public Eye Hospital) has an fascinating historical past. Supposedly, it was constructed to deal with the large quantity of eye issues that sprang up within the nineteenth century, attributable to the mud from all of the constructing work as Athens was remodeled from a tiny metropolis of simply 10,000 residents into the new capital of Greece.
12. Soak Up Ottoman Structure and Hipster Vibes in Psirri District
From the mid-Fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century, Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire, and earlier than that was beneath Byzantine rule. These centuries of occupation left as a lot of a mark on Athens as the sooner Historic Romans and Greeks did.
To find a few of these traces, head to the colorful, historic district of Psirri (additionally referred to as Psyri) – one of many metropolis’s oldest neighbourhoods. A maze of winding alleyways and sloping streets designed to channel rainwater, Psirri is crammed with crumbling Ottoman Mansions and Byzantine church buildings.
Nowadays, it’s considered one of Athens’ trendiest neighbourhoods; recognized for its energetic nightlife and nice foodie scene. There’s a number of road artwork round, with work and murals tucked into nearly any accessible spot. Trendy tradition and hipster vibes blended right into a fantastically vintage neighbourhood – what’s to not love?
RECOMMENDED TOUR: Psyri Neighborhood Graffiti Self-Guided Sport & Tour – from €10.99
13. Be taught In regards to the German Occupation at Korai 4
In newer historical past, Athens was topic to a different occupation: this time by the Germans throughout WW11. Initially an workplace constructing, Korai 4 was requisitioned because the headquarters of the Gestapo in Athens between 1941 and 1945.
Visiting Korai 4 is without doubt one of the extra uncommon issues to do in Athens, but it surely’s an enchanting and chilling perception right into a horrible chapter of the town’s historical past.
The slender, basement-level air-raid shelter – claustrophobic behind steel air-lock doorways – was transformed right into a “non permanent” subterranean jail. Short-term within the sense that almost all prisoners have been solely saved there for a matter of days earlier than being transported to a camp or executed.
Inside, you possibly can see imprints of the tiny cells on the flooring. The partitions are scarred with writing and drawings etched by the prisoners. Some left their names and the dates of their incarceration, others scratched out doodles or self-portraits.
14. Dive Into the Stylish Gazi District
Athens is consistently reinventing itself, and nowhere is that extra obvious than within the trendily grungy, industrial-chic district of Gazi.
The gasoline works that stood right here till 1989 as soon as pumped out a lot air pollution that the encompassing space was referred to as the “Fuel District” (Gazi). At the moment, the now-silent chimneys and the rusted skeleton of the outdated gasoline holder nonetheless dominate the realm – however now they’ve been repurposed into Athens’ coolest nightlife district.
The outdated gasoline drums have been transformed into eco-friendly places of work, whereas the previous gasoline works now homes Technopolis, an industrial museum and a significant cultural venue. The encircling streets are full of cafes, eating places, bars, and golf equipment – together with some incredible LGBTQ+ golf equipment – and the neighbourhood has grow to be referred to as among the best locations to celebration in Athens.
RECOMMENDED TOUR: Bar Crawl with Free Drinks and Membership Entry – from €26.70pp
15. Take a Sip of Historical past on the Oldest Distillery in Athens
Within the coronary heart of the historic Plata district, you could find the oldest bar and distillery in Athens: Brettos. The distillery was based by Michail Brettos in 1909, who produced ouzo, brandy, and liqueurs based mostly on outdated household recipes from Smyrni (modern-day Izmir in Turkey). You’ll be able to nonetheless pattern these identical liqueurs at present for an actual style of historical past!
Over a century outdated, this atmospheric bar nonetheless seems to be nearly precisely because it did at first of the twentieth century. The partitions behind the outdated wood bar are coated with shelf upon shelf of vibrant bottles, lit from behind to create a shocking impact.
RECOMMENDED TOUR: Greek Wine & Olive Oil Tasting at Brettos – 2 hours, from €110pp
16. Take an Olympic Work Out within the Historic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium is without doubt one of the most iconic websites in Athens. It was constructed (or re-built) as a duplicate of an Historic Greek stadium which as soon as stood on the identical website and which hosted the Panathenaic Video games, a non secular and athletic pageant celebrated each 4 years in honour of the goddess Athena.
The stadium we see at present was reconstructed for the primary fashionable Olympic Video games in 1896. It’s additionally the one stadium on the earth constructed fully of marble.
These searching for extra uncommon issues to do in Athens ought to take a look at this distinctive Olympic Video games Exercise expertise (from €55pp). You’ll get the possibility to run across the stadium – in addition to attempt among the traditional Olympic sports activities like javelin, shot put and discus.
17. Watch an Historic Greek Theater Efficiency
Deliver the tales and myths of Athens’ historical buildings to life with this distinctive expertise. In a rooftop theatre overlooking the Acropolis, you possibly can watch an excellent Historic Greek Theater Present.
Actors put on conventional costumes and use masks to depict completely different characters, precisely as they did in historical occasions. The play, ‘Medea and Different Buddies I Made in Athens’, is a humorous tackle the traditional Greek myths – so it’s a good way to be taught a bit of the historical past behind the town’s iconic ruins. From €25 – click on right here to purchase tickets.
18. Or Catch a Movie at an Open Air Cinema in Athens
Talking of performances – how about an out of doors cinema? In summertime, open-air cinemas are a BIG factor in Athens, with over 60 scattered throughout the town. Right here’s my choose of among the greatest:
- Aegli – the oldest open-air cinema within the metropolis, set throughout the gardens of stately Zappeion Corridor.
- Cine Dexameni – on the roof of the Historic Roman Hadrian’s Aqueduct.
- Cine Thisio – views of the illuminated Acropolis at night time.
- Zefyros – historic, bohemian cinema showcasing traditional & artsy movies.
19. Store with the Locals at Varvakios Market
Varvakios Central Municipal Market is the largest and liveliest market in Athens, so it’s an important place to expertise an genuine facet of Athenian life.
The historic constructing, courting from 1886, is full of stalls promoting contemporary meat, fish, olives, herbs, spices, and all method of scrumptious Greek produce. It’s an important place to people-watch and pattern some native flavours. Be warned, although, the sections housing the meat and fish will not be for the faint-hearted!
RECOMMENDED TOUR: Half-Day Final Meals Strolling Tour – 4 hours, from €69pp
20. Discover the Seafront of the Athens Riviera
Athens could also be greatest referred to as a metropolis break vacation spot, however you can too have a seashore vacation right here!
If you wish to see one other very completely different facet of Athens, head south to the coastal space referred to as the Athens Riviera. The riviera stretches round 60km from the swanky marina at Paleo Faliro to Cape Sounion. All alongside it, you could find stunning sandy seashores, bustling ports, posh “yachtie” haunts, and hidden coves.
Don’t miss the well-known Temple of Poseidon, the therapeutic mineral waters of Vouliagmeni Lake, or the superb seafood eating places round Piraeus.
21. Take a Greek Cooking Class
For one more enjoyable and strange exercise in Athens, take into account taking a cooking class. This can be a nice approach to meet different travellers, uncover some scrumptious native meals – and perhaps be taught a bit about Athenian tradition whilst you do it. Right here’s my choose of the very best cooking lessons in Athens:
Uncommon Issues to do in Athens: Quicklist and Map
Don’t have time to learn the entire put up above? Right here’s a fast checklist of the very best uncommon issues to do in Athens – plus a helpful map that will help you navigate.
- Don’t Miss the Historic Websites
- Take a Strolling Tour with Various Athens
- Watch the Altering of the Guards at Syntagma Sq.
- Hunt down the Avenue Artwork in Athens
- Hunt for Bargains at Monastiraki Flea Market
- Uncover Athens’ Up to date Artwork Scene at TAF (The Artwork Basis)
- Witness 4 Eras of Athens Historical past at Monastiraki Sq.
- Take a Greek Meals Tour in Athens
- Uncover a Roman Tomb inside a Zara Retailer
- Swing by the Archaeological Web site inside Monastiraki Metro Station
- Spot Neo-Classical Structure on Panepistimo Avenue
- Spot Avenue Artwork and Ottoman Structure in Psirri District
- Be taught In regards to the German Occupation at Korai 4
- Dive Into the Stylish Gazi District
- Take a Sip of Historical past on the Oldest Distillery in Athens
- Take an Olympic Work Out within the Historic Stadium
- Watch an Historic Greek Theater Efficiency
- Or Catch a Movie at an Open Air Cinema in Athens
- Store with the Locals at Varvakios Market
- Discover the Seafront of the Athens Riviera
- Take a Greek Cooking Class
Learn Extra
Paros off the Overwhelmed Path
Have you learnt any extra hidden gems or uncommon issues to do in Athens? Scroll right down to share your high suggestions within the feedback!
