Find out why you should escape to Athens and experience a bunch of colourful activities, with the Acropolis as your backdrop at this edited excerpt from discovergreece.com
The Athens of history, culture, festivals, fun and a vibrant nightlife. The city that knows how to live will entice you in with its infectious rhythm.
With so many sights and attractions, monuments, museums, neighbourhoods, colourful markets and bazaars with a vintage feel, you’ll want to extend your holidays here. From the New Acropolis Museum to the Ancient Agora, the memories of Ancient Greece are present in every corner of Athens. Begin with a stroll from Thiseion to Monastiraki and discover the authentic spirit of Greece in little shops filled with treasures from the past; elegant jewellery, vinyl records, comic books from the 1960s and rare volumes from the interwar years.
Walk around and explore the city! Dozens of vendors set up on the streets and squares, flooding the centre of Athens with their unique merchandise. A little further up, in aristocratic Plaka and Anafiotika, you’ll feel like you’re on an island. Walk through the cobblestone streets and discover picturesque corners, grandiose neoclassical buildings, charming cafes and shops with souvenirs. And at night, enjoy the city’s vibrant nightlife and the infinite options for fun and entertainment that promise to etch this experience into your memory forever!
Athens: one big stroll
In a city that boasts more than 2,880 hours of sunlight a year, walking makes perfect sense. Begin your journey in the green oasis of the National Garden, stroll beneath the Acropolis, discover the secrets hidden in the pedestrian streets of Dionysios Areopagitis and Apostolos Pavlos, explore the paths that wrap themselves around Filopappou Hill and enjoy the view, the sunset and the history hidden on Pnyx Hill and in the National Observatory of Athens.
Athens of culture and art
Athens isn’t just monuments and hidden secrets, but living art that courses through the every fibre, sits up and demands your attention; as you’re walking, be sure to turn and look at its walls. On these unique urban canvases, street artists have captured their vision of the city; they are all still ‘works in progress’, to be added to, modified, enriched with new adaptations of the story of this ever-changing city. Graffiti of high aesthetical value brings modern art into the open air, making it an organic and integral part of the city. But if it’s indoor exhibits you are looking for, Kolonaki, Kerameikos and Metaxourgio are the neighbourhoods where you’ll find the most art galleries.
Shopping in the centre of the city
A modern capital inevitably has shopping of suitably high standards. During your holidays here, you’ll have plenty of time to experience the city’s shopping extravaganza. Start in the pedestrian shopping avenue of Ermou and its surrounding streets and move on to the famed Kolonaki. All around you the opportunities open up to browse brand name stores and high end boutiques. Streets such as Skoufa, Patriarchou Ioakeim and Voukourestiou, as well as the surrounding roads, are filled with shops for all tastes and styles, whether couture, classic, trendy or street fashion. If you want to pack your suitcase with the traditional flavours and fragrances of Greece, head to the Central Market of Athens, on Evripidou Street, where you’ll find herbs, spices and products from local producers, giving you the chance to bottle some of the essence of this multicultural capital for your journey home.
Nightlife in the capital of Europe
And when the natural light fades from the Attica sky, and the city is illuminated with the colourful lights of the bars and clubs in the centre, you will experience another side to the city. A bohemian side that emerges in the hot spots of Athens’ vibrant nightlife. A side of the city that is evolving and transforming constantly, in line with the needs of the city and the times. Aside from the ‘classic’ hangouts such as Kolonaki, Exarchia and Gazi, there are other alternative neighbourhoods that are popping up as the new ‘ultimate destinations’ for nightlife in Athens. The latest being Agia Irini Square, vibrant with life and attracting all the hype. New entertainment venues, bars, cafes, restaurants and street food stalls are opening here constantly.
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