Leigh Travel Club

Providing you avoid city in the peak summer months, when many shops and restaurants are closed and unpleasantly hot, Athens is a great destination in its own right, or it makes a tempting stop- over on the way to the Greek Islands.

Inhabited since the Neolithic age.

At night go up the Lycabettus Hill and let the view take your breath away.

Changing of the guards takes place every hour in front of the Monument of the Unknown solider in Syndagma Square. A few steps away is the city’s green oasis, the National Garden which has rare species of trees from all over the world.  

Plaka, is Athens oldest district. This tiny neighbourhood is crammed with ancient monuments, Byzantine churches, mosques etc. and is one of the liveliest places in Greece, best visited at night and from time to time you can see the Parthenon through the buildings.

From Plaka you can take the stone steps up to the Acropolis.

There is extensive work – plans to put a plastic cover  over it to save it from the pollution. Check opening hours – usually 8.00am -8.30am. Get there early to avoid queues in backing hot sun.

Started off as a fortress owned by a local lord. Later the king of Athens consecrated the Acropolis to the goddess Athena.

Loads of monuments on the site.  The most famous is the Parthenon, built between 447 – 432 BC on the highest part of the rock.  Masterpiece of optical illusion, the base is not horizontal but on a slight incline to make the columns look more slender.

Erechtheion – Temple on the left of Parthenon- These have been replaced by casts – 5 are behind glass in the Acropolis museum