Author: Athensguide

Three days in Thisseio

Three days in Thisseio

Posted by | , , , , , |

Although I’m a Pagrati girl to the core, every once in awhile I get a chance to go on vacation in Athens, heading across the historical center, and landing at a lovely, romantic Neo-Classical home just off the Grand Promenade which wraps around the Acropolis and Ancient Agora. Recently we spent three days and three nights in Thisseio, visiting our longtime favorite restaurants, and exploring parts of the neighborhood we didn’t know so well. It was an activity packed, food filled midweek break that reminded me of what a great base Thisseio makes for exploring the heart of Ancient...

Read More

Athens Best Kept Secret IMHO

Posted by | , , , , , , |

The Athens “First Cemetery” (Protonekrotafio) is one of Athens’ best kept secrets. Don’t confuse it with the Ancient Cemetery at Keramikos, which incidentally was also one of Athens best kept archeological secrets until very recently. Understandably a place of human sorrow, it is also provides, though, a fascinating window into the history of Greece from the nineteenth century through to the present day. Among the thousands of graves, there are hundreds of Greece’s foremost politicians, military leaders, revolutionaries, benefactors, academics, tycoons, artists, actors and actresses, and churchmen –many of them household names. Even more importantly the cemetery is the country’s largest repository of sculpture, as the funerary monuments date back to the 1830’s. The cemetery is truly a sculptural garden through which the various artistic currents present in Greece can be appreciated, from the temple-like tomb of Heinrich Schliemann (designed by Ernst Ziller, who is also buried in the Athens First Cemetery) to the most recent, “modern” monuments, including the grave of actress and former Minister of Culture Melina Mercouri, whose tomb is often sought out by Athenians and tourists in the know. The cemetery has two Greek orthodox churches, as well as a Catholic church, but it also a Jewish section and a Protestant section. While the majority of those buried in the Protonekrotafi are Greeks, the cemetery is also the final resting place for a number of...

Read More
Options for August Full Moon at the Acropolis

Options for August Full Moon at the Acropolis

Posted by | |

Full Moon Eclipse over Parthenon, originally uploaded by greek58. UPDATE FOR 2011 –  Lots of sites will be open on August 13, just not the Acropolis! See the latest post for a complete list. The Acropolis after dark? Check out the August Full Moon Festival Every August, on the eve of the full moon, several archeological sites in Greece stay open late for a full moon festival. This year, 2011, due to the large crowds that showed up last year, the Acropolis itself won’t be open. But there will be other activities in the area so you can enjoy...

Read More
Ten things to do in Athens with children that don’t involve old rocks

Ten things to do in Athens with children that don’t involve old rocks

Posted by | , |

Traveling with children should be a fun experience, but all too often parents forget that kids don’t always like the same things we like, or that they don’t always move at the same pace as the grown-ups move. There’s alot of archeology in Greece, and you have traveled far to see it. But to your kids, (and to some adults) after awhile all those ruins look the same. A common trip to Greece includes a quick stop in Athens to admire the Parthenon, followed by a whirl through Plaka and then a race to the port for the ferry to Mykonos and Santorini...

Read More

Open Walks in Athens: 18 museums with free admission

Posted by | , , , |

OpenWalkAthens 4 Free Museums in Athens Sunday, November 2 11:00 AM -4:00 PM Come and discover the wealth that hide small museums in the city: 18 Museums Guided tours, interactive exhibits, screenings video, activities for children and families, educational programs, personal narrative experiences, workshops Free entry to all museums OpenWalkAthens (OWA) : an open promenade that invites Athenians to experience aspects of the city, its history and its people. This is the 4th Open Walk Athens, and this one highlights all of those ‘little museums’ that you may pass by on a daily basis but didn’t even know existed! So, this Sunday, November 2 from 11 am to 4 pm, 18 museums will open their doors and lead us to their treasures. Included are historic sites like the Mosque in Monastiraki, and freshly opened places like the Museum of Greek Gastronomy in Psyrri, take a ride on an authentic Athenian neighborhood in the mid-20th century, learn firsthand about life on the islands political exiles. An open conversation with mathematicians, historians, artists, artisans, folklorists, play with interactive exhibits, the Jewish religion and traditions, how to make the famous figure of Shadows.Forgotten watermills, unique jewelry, rare minerals, ceramics, fine textiles, manuscripts, paintings, musical instruments, paintings and three-dimensional works of children, rare scientific instruments and the banner of the first University of Greece waiting for you to discover different worlds. And all these old mansions, neoclassical buildings...

Read More

Browse Bar

Pin It on Pinterest