Discover Athens
Visit Athens with a greek tour guide. Athens is one of the most interesting cities in the world with a history and culture that that has clearly left its mark on it. The legacy of ancient Athens is the creation of Democracy, which is the only status that can provide the grounds for free expression, creativity and progress, that are put to the service of man but are simultaneously animated by the noble ideals and the humanistic values which are crucial for the preservation of harmony in organized societies. Athens sightseeing with a local guide can combine different sites, museums and other places of interest. It can be a walking tour or it might require booking a vehicle. A licensed greek guide should be in position to guide you in every site of Athens. The options are endless. Here are listed only some out of many things you can do in Athens. Upon communication more options are given and all possible combinations are discussed.
The New Acropolis Museum
You should definitely book an Athenian tour guide if you are planning to visit the New Acropolis museum.It opened in 2009, it is just opposite the Acropolis and the Parthenon and it is listed today among the best museums in the world and also among the favorite destinations of the travellers visiting Athens. It houses the statues, sculptures, pottery and other artifacts that were found on the Acropolis hill and around it. The Greeks take great pride in this new museum, although there was a long lasting controversy about whether it should be built on the chosen spot. That is because there is a very important excavation in the area, which would vanish under the foundations of the museum. The solution given by the architects was to make the museum stand on pillars. What is more, the floors are made of glass and while we walk in the museum’s galleries we can see the excavation underneath.
The Acropolis and the Parthenon
If it is your first time in Athens, naturally you should not miss a guided visit of the Acropolis, the sacred hill of the ancient Athenians where the most perfect and harmonious edifice of Greek antiquity was built. It is the Parthenon, the temple dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, a miracle of architecture and one of the finest works of human inspiration. As your private guide for Athens I would emphasize on some important aspects of the Parthenon, the so known as “optical illusions and refinements”,that make the building an ensemble of distilled perfection and an unsurpassed architectural achievement until nowadays, 2500 thousand years after its construction.
The National Archaeological Museum
It is an absolute must see, as it houses all the Ancient Greek art the western world is familiar with: the bronze statue of Poseidon, the marvellous frescoes of Santorini, the mask of Agamemnon, to mention only some of the numerous iconic pieces of the museum. As a tour guide in the museums of Athens I give special importance to the visit of galleries with hidden treasures. For example,in the National Archaeological museum there is “the mechanism of Antikythera” . It is the first computer on earth,made thousands of years ago in Greece, found at the bottom of the Aegean Sea by fishermen,as a remnant of an ancient shipwreck. It is probably the most revolutionary discovery of archaeology in our times.
Plaka
As your guide for Athens I would walk you through the old section of Athens, namely the Plaka: plenty of little stores with the local crafts, pedestrian roads flanked with 19th century neoclassic buildings, numerous restaurants and taverns serving tasty dishes of the local cuisine, byzantine churches, ancient classical greek and roman antiquities, remnants of mosques from the ottoman period and generally a blend of elements from all the important periods of Greek history in one of the most scenic quarters of Athens historic center.
The Temple of Zeus
Constructed in the 2nd century AD under the initiative of the roman emperor Hadrian, its impressive Corinthian order pillars still rise as one of the landmarks of Athens’ historic centre.
The Benaki Museum of Athens
Extraordinary collection of archaeological finds, byzantine icons, paintings, traditional costumes and many other exhibits that travel you throughout the history of Greece from the 3d millennium BC until nowadays. The aim of the museum is to familiarize the visitor with the art forms that followed the roman occupation and to prove that advanced cultural and artistic expression did not die with the ancient Greeks. On the contrary it continued to be a fundamental concern of this nation throughout its history.
National Art Gallery of Athens
The most important collection of paintings of Greek artists from the last two centuries.
Cycladic Art Museum of Athens
A very special museum, dedicated to the prehistoric art of the unique and very advanced culture that flourished in the islands of the Cyclades between the third and second millennium BC.
More to see in Athens
The Changing of the Guards in front of the Parliament, the breathtaking view from Lycabettus hill, the Ancient Panathenian Stadium(entirely of marble), the bustling Ermou street with all the modern stores, the aristocratic Kolonaki quarter.
