Athens Attractions – Acropolis, Zeus Temple, Hadrian’s Arch

Athens Attractions – Acropolis, Zeus Temple, Hadrian’s Arch

It was Amoli’s birthday and I had to plan a surprise and well I did. Though it didn’t remain a surprise for long as women can be very nosy and men equally bad with keeping secrets! So I had booked a wonderful trip to Greece – for the birthday and also because it was freezing in UK.

Greece – the cradle of western civilisation was on both of our must see destinations. Though many people visit the famous Greek islands, we decided to stick with the mainland – Athens and also a side trip to a surprising beauty – Meteora.

A quick flight from UK and we reached Athens at midnight. Luckily we had booked a taxi online beforehand and the driver was at the airport on time with our name sign.

Our first day in Athens was dedicated to seeing this historic city. We wanted to explore it on foot seeing all the historic monuments and also exploring the real side. However, because of the historic aesthetics of the city and my limited knowledge/interest in history itself, we decided to go for a guided tour. We had booked a tour beforehand – Half a day walking tour covering all the main attractions.

The Best way to explore Athens is on foot – Read more.

We met our guide, a very pleasant local lady with deep knowledge of the city- at the Syntagma Metro Station. We visited the metro museum here quickly to see few of the archaeological artefacts which were unearthed during the construction of the metro.

We then head to the House of the Greek Parliament, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and watch the changing of the guards.

We then head towards the National Gardens and on to the beautiful neoclassical Zappeion Hall.

We then strolled to the Zeus Temple – an ancient Greek temple in Olympia, dedicated to the god Zeus. Not much remains of this ancient temple, but seeing the few columns which stand now its easy to imagine that this was one huge building.

Right across the Zeus temple is the Hadrian’s Arch which was built to separate the old and new cities of Athens. Two inscriptions are carved on the architrave of the arch’s lower level, one centred over the arched opening on either side. On the northwest side (towards the Acropolis), the inscription reads: “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus.” And on the southeast side (facing the Olympian) reads: “This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus”

Next we walk through Dionyssiou Areopagitou to approach The Acropolis from the south slope. Acropolis is an ancient citadel located on an extremely rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon, Erechtheion etc.

• Opening hours – 08:00- 20:00(Summer); 08:00-15:00(01/11-31/03)
• Cost – 12Euro

It’s a gradual steep slope reaching the Entrance of the Acropolis which is simply Huge!

The Parthenon is an ancient temple dedicated to goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens believe is their patron. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and western civilizations and one of the world’s greatest cultural monuments.

The Erechtheion is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. Its the location where Poseidon and Athena had their contest over who would be the Patron of the city.

Also below you can see the Dionysus Theatre, dedicated to Dionysus, the god of plays and wine (among other things). The theatre could seat as many as 17,000 people with excellent acoustics.

Below the Acropolis is the Theatre of Herod Atticus built by the Romans. The audience stands and the orchestra (stage) were restored using pentelic marble in the 1950s. Since then it has been the main venue of the Athens Festival, which runs from May through October each year, featuring a variety of acclaimed Greek as well as International performances.

There are nice views of the city and other monuments from the top of acropolis.

It was now time to say good bye to our wonderful guide. Luckily we were the only people for the tour that day and we had a personal and a very knowledgeable experience. If you need information on the Tour company then please leave me a comment below and will get back to you ASAP.

More of Athens:

But the sad bit was that the Birthday girl wasn’t doing well – a bout of fever and bad throat had just struck in but the spirits were still high.

Read about our entire Greece journey – Click here

If you need any more information please leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you ASAP.