Athens - City Tour....

Although we’ve been in Greece for almost two weeks now we actually haven’t seen anything of Athens, so today we did!


From the apartment we walked directly through the city centre, starting at the National Library, which along with The National & Kapodistrain University and the Academy forms part of the so-called “Neoclassical Trilogy” of the city.
Built between 1887 and 1902 it houses the most complete public library in Greece.

From the University we walked through the main shopping streets to the Parliament Building. This Neoclassical styled building was built between 1836 & 1840 originally served as a palace of Otho, the first king of Greece.
In 1884 & 1909 it suffered fire damage and was later abandoned by the Royal family.
It wasn’t until 1935 that the National Assembly moved in and today it still serves as the seat of the Hellenic Parliament, containing offices, the National Assembly room, the President's Office, the archives and other such services.

From the Parliament we walked into the National Gardens which consist of 15.5 hectares of peaceful gardens, something which is very rare in Athens! However Grigoria’s parents’ apartment is very near the second and biggest garden in the city (Pedion Areos).

The National Gardens are located between the Parliament building and the Zappeion, they are the home to duck ponds, a small zoo, botanical museum, a small café and childrens' library and playground.

Further on we came across to the neighbouring Zappeion Exhibition Hall, which is considered to be one of the finest examples of late Athenian classical architecture.

The initial purpose was to act as an exhibition hall in conjunction with the first modern Olympics. Over the years it has been associated with significant events in Greek history and today it is used by the Greek President on formal occasions.

Onward down the road we came across the Panathenaic Stadium, which is widely recognised as symbolic to Greece & particularly Athens.

It was first built for the athletic competitions of the Great Panathinaea Festivities 300-329 BC. Its natural position sites between the hollow grounds of two surrounding hills, Agra & Ardettos.
However the horseshoe shaped construction was later formed between 140 & 144 AD by Herodes Atticus, giving it a track length of 204.07 metres and width of 33.305 metres with a seating for 50,000 spectators.
During the Roman times the stadium was used as an arena, later at the end of the 19th century (1896) it was restored to host the first modern Olympics.
Today it is more of a heritage site, although the cleanly laid track surface did suggest that it could even still be used.

After all of this site seeing it was time for lunch and at non other than one of Grigoria’s favourite cafes. After the delicious food we headed back to the apartment for a very restful evening.