| Athens Travel Guide: Athens in August
| | Written by Suzy Mcewan on 06 Dec 2006 about a trip in Aug 2006.
Trip was for a family on short break. Suzy Mcewan would probably visit again.
| Athens shopping |   8.0 | | The flea market area in Athens is famous for its wide selection of tourist shops contained in narrow streets from Monastiraki to Plaka. You can still barter with shopkeepers as they are desperate to make a sale. Athens also has cosmopolitan pedestrianised streets, where most of the well known brand name high street shops, present in most european cities, can be found. Athenian women are chic and boutique prices reflect this. Depending on the season, bargains can be had at the carpet and rug shops on the fringes of Monastiraki. The centre of Athens is mostly given over to shops selling the traditional tourist trappings of statues, tee-shirts and bric a brac. The area of Kolonaki offers the up market shopper a different selection. |
Athens restaurants | 6.0 | | Restaurants in Athens reflect a wide and diverse culture. Cuisine from all over the world is represented. There are many traditional Greek tavernas, especially around the tourist hotspots, prepare to pay tourist prices here, around Plaka the waiters can be quite insistent that you sit at their tables. Most of these restaurants display identical menus at identical prices - your choice. Socrates Prison used to be a small, cheap culinary gem 20 years ago. It still is small and a gem but no longer cheap. Booking is advisable. For a very special treat the hotel Grand Bretagne has a roof top restaurant with spectacular views especially at night. If on a budget, you can still eat well from the many souvlaki stalls. Most drinks are european prices. Greek food can become quite repetative, almost causing an aversion to feta cheese if there too long! |
Athens attractions | 10.0 | | Athens is a cultural delight there are monuments and ancient wonders around every corner. The most famous, the Acropolis, is packed every single day. There is now a wide and user friendly path to the top. A variety of tickets can be purchased to reduce the cost of visiting the tourist sites individually and entrance to most museums and parks are free on public holidays. Athens in Summer is very very hot and it is best to plan your sightseeing either first or last thing, thus avoiding both crowds and heat. The Agora, an ancient market place is just down from the Acropolis and with its shady paths very pleasant to stroll around, many restaurants abutt the park. There are many small parks and squares around the circumference of the main tourist area and all are well served by cafes and restaurants. Athenian beaches are a short bus ride away as is the large ferry port of Pireaus serving the very busy island traffic, at its height in Summer but with many services and routes tailing off at the end of September. There are musuems and galleries a plenty and all have been upgraded over recent years and offer a cool refuge from the heat. It would be impossible to single out a particular gallery or musuem as there are so many to choose from. Some monuments can be seen just by strolliong around, for example Hadrians Arch and the Olympian Temple of Zeus. Just a short walk away are the Parliament Buildings at Syntagma Square where the daily changing of the guard is not to be missed. |
Athens day trips | | Many day trips can be purchased from Athens. The most popular are Delphi, the Corinth Canal and Epidavros. Delphi is about 3 hours from Athens and a delight. It nestles high up on a hill with spectacular views. A short distance away is the town of Delphi itself. Two narrow streets, crammed with restaurants, most having outward facing balconies to help you enjoy the breathtaking panorama. Most restaurants offer the same menu and similar price, it is a tourist hotspot so not cheap but not overly expensive.
Epidavros is well worth a visit. The accoustics are astounding but you need young legs to reach the top of the auditorium to see if you can hear what is being said on the stage. Many trips will include the three mentioned sites in a day, the road from Athens is packed with coaches making the daily pilgrimage, so if going under your own steam make it an early or late visit. Many trips from Athens involve a ferry to one of the closer Islands. These are very busy in peak season and are usually very crowded.
Slightly further afield, about four hours by car, lies the little port of Galaxidi. This is well worth an overnight trip. It is unspoilt Greece. Many Athenians come for a short break in August and it would be almost impossible to find rooms without booking first. The small port harbours many luxurious yachts calling in as they cruise around the coast line. The port is lined with many restaurants and a few shops. The beach is disappointing, stony and littered with cigarette ends and lies about a mile from Galaxidi itself. English is not well spoken as it is primarily a greek resort although most places have english menus - the food in all places is very similar - pasta, salads, meat and fish. Galaxidi would be worth combining a trip to Delphi, which is only about 25 kilometers away. |
Athens History and Culture | | | Athens is steeped in history, you cannot miss it. From the Myths of the Greek Gods through Homer and Odysseus and on to the great democracy created, cultural relics survive. All cultural sites are now well maintained with most monuments and buildings extensively signposted and documented on multi lingual information boards. we have always found Greeks to be friendly, more so if you try and use a few words of Greek. They can appear quite volatile but what sounds like a major row is often not, they are expressive and impulsive. Confusingly, an upward nod of the head means no and ne means yes, |
Getting to Athens | | | Athens is a very easy destination to reach. Many low cost airlines fly there, and short break packages abound. It is also very easy to arrange a short break without an agent as Athens is very user friendly. The airport is modern and clean and it is easy to reach the centre by regular bus service. Many car rental companies also operate from the airport allowing you to pick up your car on arrival. |
Getting around Athens | | It is not necessary to hire a car if you are planning a short trip to Athens as all important sites are centrally within a short distance of eaxh other. There are many good buses and coaches operating to the more distant attractions and all are fiercely competitive. Athens is best seen on foot. The streets are flat and well marked, it is only the climb to the Acropolis that can be steep, although the new route up has disabled access. Athens has a good bus and coach system, the buses in good condition and comfortable also timely. There is also a well services metro system, which can get busy at commuter times. Driving in the centre can be quite hazardous, and do so only if in possession of a robust constitution. Some Greek drivers completely disregard the customary rules of the road. Athens used to have many old and battered vehicles charging around but a new found wealth has eliminated the majority of these. |
When to visit Athens | | With trepidation we visited in August. It is very hot, up to and around 39 degrees but because a vast number of Athenians take their Summer break in the first two weeks, the roads were less busy and the notorious nefos, smog, was less evident. All through the high season Athens is full of tourists, a good majority back packers. Athens has a mild climate and would be extremely pleasant in Spring or Autumn. Winter can be a bit wet, although snow is rare. |
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