The trip to Athens is one of those trips that will not leave any traveler indifferent. And it’s not just about the the spirit of a modern European metropolis, the atmosphere of the capital or the sequence of objects you visit. The bottom line is that you touch the pages of school textbooks and books about ancient Greek history and mythology on and on again, and, at the same time, discover a lot of new things&facts for yourself.

Not only history and gods with heroes will fill with special content your acquaintance with the city of democracy, but also a number of pleasant surprises and surprises will open Athens for you . And first of all it will be an acquaintance with the uniqueness and originality of the city, which combines a history of five thousand years with the life of a 21st century metropolis. This amazing symbiosis in Athens does not just mean the neighborhood of the majestic ruins of the 5th century BC. e. with modern trading centers and buildings of the 19th century, built in neoclassical style, but also a special atmosphere in which antiquity meets the era of technological progress.

During a sightseeing tour of Athens, you will get acquainted with the main sights of the center of the capital of Greece. Your path will run along the Kifissos River, which, according to one version, is the legendary Eridanus, where the son of the solar god Helios Phaethon fell into, strucked by lightning of Zeus for the inability to cope with the chariot of his father. You will see Cape Piraeus, where the main port once appeared, Athens, which retains such significance today. And marvel at the size columns of the temple of Olympian Zeus, which can surprise even now. Follow the steps of the Evzones – soldiers of the national guard, carrying guard at the parliament building in the very center of the city. take a selfie in the background of Olympic Stadium Kallimarmaro, where the first Olympic modern games were held. You will follow the paths of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle along the agora of ancient Athens and the path “Peripatos” around the hill of the Acropolis, in the honour of which the Peripatetic school of philosophers was named. Dive into the hustle and bustle of the Plaka – one of the old districts of Athens, conveying the mood of the second half of the 19th century. On the way back, a stop in the Thermopylae Gorge is provided, where King Leonidas and 300 Spartans accomplished a feat that even today is not forgotten not only by the Greeks, but by the whole world.

After your visit to the Acropolis, the tour continues to the new Acropolis Museum, which in 2009 moved from the premises next to the Parthenon to a new building.The layout of the museum building provides transparent floors, so the basement of the exhibition is the excavation of the districts of ancient Athens. On the ground floor there are finds of Athenian pottery, in the first – finds, found mainly during the excavation of the “Persian ravine” – a pit in which were buried details of buildings and sculptural decorations of the Acropolis of the Archaic period of the 6th century BC. after the destruction of the buildings by the Persians in 480 and 479 BC. Also, in the same area, a large number of so-called kouros and koras are presented (statues of young men and women of the archaic period).

The top floor houses the original sculptures of the Parthenon, which are on display in the museum to protect them from the harmful effects of smog, rain and pollution: metopes, fragments of surviving pediments and details of the Parthenon frieze. The Acropolis Museum contains 40 plaques, the British Museum – 56, stolen in 1801-1805 by Elgin.

On the way back, a stop is waiting for you in Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans gained eternal glory.