!Athens is a large modern city, extending over a plain and surrounded by three mountains: Mount Parnitha (1413), Mount Penteli (1109) and Mount Hymettos (1026). Athens is a city that is very alive; a city where things are constantly happening.
It is modern, but it is romantic as well, it has busy streets and squares, places where movement never stops, but one can easily find little alleys in quiet, peaceful neighborhoods, such as Plaka and Mets.
One can choose to visit the museums and the archaeological
sites or just to taste the vibrant, Greek way of life. In the countless shops,
the visitor will find whatever (s)he may need. In the tavernas and restaurants (s)he
can enjoy any taste sensation, Greek, international or ethnic cuisine; in the
nightclubs, pubs, discos and bars (s)he can drink or dance the night away.
Because in Athens, the fun never stops before daylight! If you would like to
know more about Athens, click here!
For a map of the center of Athens, please click here.
Zappeion is within walking distance (approximately 5 minutes) from the Syntagma Square, the terminal for buses from and to the Ellinikon (/elini'kon/) airport.
Athens and its outskirts are linked by a web of bus and
trolley lines. Greek National
Tourism Organization can provide specific verbal info on major routes
as to which "number" bus or trolley to take for your destination.
Zappeion can be easily accessed by bus
or trolley bus from all parts of the City, especially from the Southern suburbs,
that is, from the coastline and Piraeus (/pire'as/), the central harbour. The
nearest metro station is located at Syntagma
Square. At all metro stations you can buy day cards, costing 1000 GDR (ca.3 EURO)
each, which allow infinite trips with all public transportation means.
Bus-terminals to the southern coastline (suburbs Glyfada, Voula, Vouliagmeni and Varkiza) are at about two minutes' walk from the building. There is usually not much traffic on the avenues leading to the coastline. Many buses leave from the northern bus terminal at Academias and Sina St. (ten minutes walk from Zappeion) to the northern suburbs of Halandri, Psyhiko, Maroussi and Kifissia. All buses have their route number and destination on the front.
Piraeus, the central harbour, can be accessed either by the metro (from the Monastiraki station) or by bus (line 040). The terminal of the bus line 040 is at Syntagma Square and within walking distance from Zappeion (approximately 5minutes). Additionally, there are stops at about 3 minutes walk from the building.
Bus and trolley tickets are 120 GDR (0,36 Euro) each and can be purchased at special booths and kiosks near the bus stops. Once you are on the bus or trolley, validate your ticket by asserting it into one of the orange-coloured meters for that purpose; the ticket will be punched and dated. Keep the ticket until you step off the bus, since it's not uncommon to have a ticket-control.
Metro trains run every four minutes during rush hours and no less frequently than every ten minutes at all other times (expect between midnight and 5:30am, when the metro is closed). Metro tickets are purchased at the stations and will cost either120 GDR or 180 GDR , depending on how far you are going.
Taxis in Athens are cheap and easy to catch. You can normally
pick them on the road at any time of the day but you can also call a radio taxi
(numbers for radio taxis
are available). Sometimes, taxis may be the only or, at least, the best
transportation choice (when bus connections are inconvenient, in the small hours
etc). You may find yourself sharing a taxi with strangers... While this is
illegitimate in principle, it is, however, an everyday Athenian little habit.
Also, have in mind that distances in Athens are short and you would not normally
expect to pay anything more than 1500 GRD (around 4 Euro) for moving in the
centre of the town and nothing more than 3500 GRD (around 10 Euro) for moving
from and to the suburbs, the Ellinikon airport included.
The weather at the end of May and the
beginning of June is ideal for visiting Greece: temperatures are not high
yet, ranging around 25 - 29 0C and the nights are cool. For a list of the
average temperatures of Athens per month, please click here.
For a day-to-day weather forecast, please click here.
Whether one wishes to broaden his/her cultural horizon or just to have fun, Athens is the place to be! The days and the nights present the visitor with a dilemma, what to choose: museums, ancient Greek drama or modern theatre, dance, cinema in high tech theatres or in cute little open-air cinemas, listening to music and/or dancing, eating out or clubbing. Musical events range from opera and classical music at the Megaron Mousikis (Athens Concert Hall) to Greek music played at all sorts of different places (tavernas, concert halls, nightclubs), to rock or pop concerts, to Ethnic music events, to Jazz concerts, … everything is there!
What is more, the Cultural Olympiad starts in Athens from January, 2000 to last for four years and turn the City to a heavens for bon-viveurs!!!
Making telephone calls: you can buy telephone cards from the kiosks (there are plenty of them everywhere) for about 1000 GRD(3 Euro) for 100 units. There are card telephone booths in the Zappeion Megaron and everywhere in the town.
Finally, the Central Post Office at Syntagma Square is open
from 07.30 to 20.00 hrs.
If someone would like to have an idea of what is currently happening in Greece, the electronic version of Athens News is most helpful.
For a list of the
Museums in Greece, please click here.
For the fans of sports
and action, these are the sites
to visit!
Athens offers a large variety of shops, from quaint little shops selling antiques, curiosities and jewelry, to fashionable shops selling well-known designers' clothes and objects.
A preview of your possibilities
during your stay in Athens is to be found in a shopping, fun and travel guide of
Athens.
Athens and its outskirts are linked by a
web of bus and trolley lines, and you can get maps of these lines at the Greek
National Tourism Organization as well as specific verbal info on major routes as
to which "number" bus or trolley to take for your destination.
taxis
and how to find them
Taxi fares begin at 200 GDR and all cabs have meters. All taxis also
have charts in Greek and English on their dashboard, explaining the changes
you can expect to incur for baggage, the airport surcharge (only coming from
the airport and not going at), rates between midnight and 5am (charged at a
faster meter rate), holiday surcharges, etc. Tipping is neither expected nor
practiced, though it's customary to round off the fare.
Since taxi fares are considerably low (compared to European, Japanese and
United States standards), participants may make extensive use of taxis.
If you would like
some suggestions for sightseeing tours in Athens, try here!
If you would like
to have a look on a more personalised view on Athens, click here for an Athens
Survival Guide!
The Acropolis hill, so called the "Sacred Rock" of Athens, is the most important site of the city. During Perikles' Golden Age, ancient Greek civilization was represented in an ideal way on the hill and some of the architectural masterpieces of the period were erected on its ground:
It is one of the most important museums in the world. It houses masterpieces of the ancient Greek civilization, dedicated to the most important of the Athenian sanctuaries, the "temenos" of Athena Parthenos.
The Acropolis
museum contains only the stone sculptures from the monuments of the
Acropolis and from the excavations on the site. Since the beginning of the
excavations, the vases and the bronzes have been kept in the National
Archaeological Museum of Athens, while the inscriptions are housed in the
Epigraphical Museum.
According to tradition, the establishment of the sanctuary goes back to the time
of mythical Deucalion. The site was inhabited in the
prehistoric period and the cult of Zeus is attested in early historic times. In
ca. 515 BC, Peisistratos the Younger, began the construction of a monumental
temple which was not finished because of the fall of the tyranny in Athens. Much
later, in 174 BC, Antiochos IV Epiphanes, the king of Syria, attempted to
continue the erection of the temple, which was finally completed by the Roman
emperor Hadrian, in AD 124/125. Inside the temple stood a colossal
chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Zeus.
The most important monuments of the site are:
Temple of Zeus Olympios.
Temple of Apollo Delphinios.
The Court at the Delphinion.
Gates of the city wall of Athens, built by Themistocles in 479/78 BC.
Roman baths, constructed in AD 124-132.
Temple of Panhellenic Zeus, built in AD 131-132.
Temple of Cronos and Rhea.
The triumphal arch lies on an ancient street that led from the old city of Athens to the new, Roman section, built by Hadrian. It was constructed by the Athenians in AD 131, in honor of their benefactor emperor. Two inscriptions are carved on the architrave, one on each side: the first, on the side towards the Acropolis reads "This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus"; the second, on the other side, facing the new city reads "This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus".
It was originally
a natural hollow part of the ground between the two hills of Agra and Ardettos,
over Ilissos river. It was transformed into a stadium by Lykourgos in 330-329 BC
for the athletic competitions of the Great Panathinaea Festivities. Between 140
and 144 AD, Herodes Atticus restored the Stadium, giving it the form that was
found at the 1870 excavation: the horseshoe construction with a track 204,07
meters long and 33,35 meters wide. It is believed that the Stadium had a seating
capacity of 50.000 people. The Stadium was reconstructed for the purposes of the
first Olympic Games,
which took place in Athens in 1896.
For additional information on the archaeological sites (including opening hours) and for more
on archaeological sites or museums in Athens or in Greece in general, please
visit the Greek Ministry of Culture.
The building was erected in 1874 – 1888 and was
designed by the architect Theophil Hansen. It has hosted the first
modern Olympic Games which took place in Athens in 1896. In recent years,
Zappeion Megaron has witnessed important moments in Greece’s political
history: the Treaty of Accession by which Greece became a full member of the
European Community was signed on its premises on May 29, 1979. It normally
serves as an international exhibition hall according to the original plan
of its designers.
Zappeion Megaron is located in the very center of the city,
next to the National Garden and just off Syntagma (/'syndagma/) Square, the
central square of Athens and the Parliament. It is within walking distance from
the major archaeological sites of Athens, the old quarters of the city and the
administrative and business center and, last but not least, close to the central
shopping and recreational areas. The Central Post Office, many banks and a broad
range of hotels are also within walking distance. Thus, the visitors have only
to choose how they would prefer to spend their free time and everything is
accessible on foot!
Syntagma
Square, is the largest and the most important
square in Athens. It houses the monument of the Unknown Soldier, the Parliament
and the most luxurious hotels of the city.
The Athens Academy and the National Library are impressive buildings on
Panepistimiou Street, which connects Syntagma Square with Omonoia Square, the
second most important square of the center of Athens.
The Academy of Athens forms part of the so-called "Neoclassical Trilogy" of the City of Athens: Academy - University - Library. It consists of aesthetically distinct parts that form a harmonic ensemble of built mass. The entrance has elements originating from the eastern side of Erechtheion, on Acropolis. The predominant material on the facets is marble. Overall, the building is a characteristic example of mature Neoclassicism.
It was built in two phases, in 1859-1863 and 1868-1885, based on studies of the Danish architect Theophile Hansen and it is believed to be his most exquisite work in Greece. Hansen himself was also supervising the construction up to 1861 when E. Ziller took over. The main donator to finance the construction was the family of the Baron Simon Sinas, Ambassador of Greece in Vienna, Berlin and Munich. In 1887, the architect Hernest Ziller, acting as proxy of Sinas' heirs, delivered the building complete to the then Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis.
The National Gardens, open from dawn to dusk, is an oasis in the city, with rare flowers, plants and rich greenery from all over the world. It is behind the Parliament and opposite the residence of the President of Greece. On the other side of the park, is the Zappeion Megaron.Designed to be the gardens of the Royal Palace of King Otto and Queen Amalia, it was planted between 1838 and 1860.
You can enter the gardens from one of four gates: the central one, on Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, another on Herodou Atticou Street and the third on Amalias Avenue. The fourth gate connects the National Garden with the Zappeion park area. In the National Garden you will find: a duck pond, a small zoo, a Botanical Museum, a small cafe, and a Children's Library and playground
Plaka,
the oldest neighborhood of Athens, the most characteristic area of the city and
the only unchanged by time. The old houses and the nice neoclassic buildings
have been preserved and have been restored in recent years. A walk through the
quiet narrow streets of Plaka is a walk through the past of Athens, a unique and
charming experience under the imposing monuments of the Acropolis.
Monastiraki,
where the flea market is, is a fascinating area with anything from souvenirs in
all their myriad form, marble chess sets, copper pans, ceramic pots, to junk and
antiques. Old coins and stamps, old furniture, baskets and junk, piled
haphazardly between office furniture, all go to make this area one of the most
fascinating in the city.
Lycabettus,
or Lycavitos hill (909 ft high), sits right in the center of the city and
offers an unforgettable view of the city from its peak.
One can reach it with a cable railway and will find there the tiny Chapel of St.
George (Ai Yorgis) and a restaurant.
It is one of the most attractive points of Athens, especially by night, when
below the large lighted city extends its beauty.
It consists of a group of built masses
that shape up a double "T", with two symmetrical courtyards. The
facade is strictly symmetrical to the arcade of rectangular pillars, set-off by
an Ionian-style entrance. The bases of the columns and the capitals of the
entrance are perfect replicas of the equivalent found in the Propylaea of
Acropolis. The building follows the basic aesthetic rules of early Neoclassicism,
while at the same time is adapted to the Greek Mediterranean climate.
It was built between 1839 and 1864, based on a study drawn by the Danish
architect Christian Hansen. Today the building serves as headquarters of
the University of Athens, housing the
offices of the Rectorate, the Juridical Department, the Archives and the
Ceremonial Hall for official ceremonies of national esteem that refer to the
University community.
