Athens

The Acropolis in the morning

Try to climb the Acropolis when the gates open. Early on there are fewer tour groups, and before the sun is high, even the unshaded paths up the hill are easy going. Up top, the Parthenon is what catches your eye first. Work began in 447 BC and was finished just fifteen years later, which means it's been standing here for more than 2,400 years. On the north side, the Erechtheion is a small temple built in 420 BC, and on its southern porch, columns carved as women, the Caryatids, hold up the roof. The figures there now are copies; five of the original six were moved to the museum at the foot of the hill.

The temple, again, in the museum

The Acropolis Museum sits below the south side of the hill. Opened in 2009, it has glass floors in many places, so you look straight down onto ancient Athenian streets, houses with courtyards, wells and workshops. People lived here from the 4th millennium BC to the 12th century AD, and since June 2019 you've been able to walk through the excavation itself. The Parthenon Gallery on the top floor was built to match the orientation and dimensions of the temple's inner chamber. The frieze is set out in the same positions it held on the building, and through the glass walls you can see the temple itself up on the hill. Here and there you'll spot plaster copies; they stand in for the pieces held in the British Museum and other museums abroad.

From the Agora to Plaka

Leave the museum and circle round to the northwest of the hill, and you're at the Ancient Agora. Political, commercial, religious and cultural life in ancient Athens all played out in this square, and the 500-member city council met here too. The Temple of Hephaestus, built in the 5th century BC, stands to one side, and the Stoa of Attalos is a 1950s rebuild of a 2nd-century BC colonnade once lined with shops. Just know that the Agora takes a separate ticket from the Acropolis. Walk east from the Agora and the old lanes of Plaka begin. Above them, right under the Acropolis rock, is Anafiotika. It was settled by workmen from Anafi in the Cyclades, so squeezing between its white walls feels like walking into an island village.

Dinner starts at 9 pm

Athenians eat late. Restaurants are usually quiet before 9, so spend the afternoon in a café and head to a taverna after nine. In the café, order a freddo espresso: espresso shaken and poured over ice. Top it with cold milk foam and you've got a freddo cappuccino. Frappé, made with instant coffee, came about by accident at the 1957 fair in Thessaloniki. For a meal on the street, it's souvlaki. The name comes from the word for skewer, and it's meat grilled over charcoal, wrapped in pita with tomato and red onion. Seasoned pork or chicken stacked and roasted on a vertical spit is gyros. If you want something sweet, try loukoumades, fried doughnuts doused in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. To browse a market, walk the fish market and meat halls of the Varvakios Central Market, which opened in 1884.

Hills at sunset

There's more than one hill to climb at sunset. The closest is the Areopagus, a rocky outcrop about 300 m west of the Acropolis. It's known as one of the best places to see the temple and the city together. So many people have climbed it that the steps are worn smooth, so wear sneakers. From the wooded Philopappos Hill to the southwest, you face the same temple from a little further off. For the whole city, head up Lycabettus Hill above Kolonaki. Its summit rises to nearly 300 m and holds the white chapel of St George, built in the 18th century, and on a clear day you can see across the water to Aegina. On the way down, take the path through the pines; the city looks different from there.

Guards in the square, a marble stadium

In front of the Parliament building, which overlooks Syntagma Square, is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded around the clock by the Evzones in traditional dress. The guard changes every hour, and at 11 am on Sundays there's a full ceremony. About 1 km from Syntagma metro station is the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896. Its stands of white Attic marble wrap around the track, and the €12 ticket includes an audio guide.

One more day: Cape Sounion and the sea

If you can spare another day, head to Cape Sounion at the southern tip of Attica. At the end of the cape, overlooking the Aegean, stands the Temple of Poseidon, built between 444 and 400 BC. It was probably designed by the same architect as the Temple of Hephaestus in the Agora, and its stones still carry the name carved by the poet Lord Byron, who fell for the place in the early 19th century. If you only go once, time it for sunset. To reach the islands, take metro line 1 to the port of Piraeus. It's Athens' main port, and boats to most of the islands leave from here.

What to eat

• Souvlaki and gyros (meat wrapped in pita)
• Meze (small plates at a taverna)
• Loukoumades (honey-and-cinnamon doughnuts)
• Freddo espresso (shaken iced coffee)

Handy tips

• From the airport, the metro is €9 one way (€16 return), the X95 bus to Syntagma Square is €5.50 (about 60 minutes), and a taxi is a flat €40 (€55 from midnight to 5 am).
• If your stay from landing to departure fits within 72 hours, the €20 3-day tourist ticket beats the €16 airport return. It covers city metro, buses and trams for 72 hours from first validation, plus one airport round trip. A 90-minute city ticket is €1.20.
• The Acropolis Museum (€20 general admission) stays open until 10 pm on Fridays (last entry 9:30 pm). Do the hill in the morning and the museum on Friday evening, and you'll skip the midday heat.