The Acropolis stands sentinel over Athens. The city was once a showcase of colossal buildings, lavishly coloured and gilded, and of gargantuan statues, some of bronze, others of marble plated with gold and encrusted with precious stones. Now in ruins, the cool grandeur of the bare marble is still breathtaking.
Ancient Agora

The Agora (market) was the focal point of administrative, commercial, political and social activity back in the old days. All roads led to this bustling and crowded place, where Socrates could be heard expounding his philosophy and, later, where St Paul disputed daily in an attempt to win converts to Christianity.

 

 

This establishment was born in 1931, when Antoine Benaki turned his family house into a museum and presented it to Greece. It houses a sumptuous and eclectic collection from Europe and Asia, including Bronze Age finds from Mycenae and Thessaly, and ecclesiastical furniture brought from Asia Minor by refugees.

 

Despite all the pilfering by foreign archaeologists in the 19th century, this museum still has the world's best collection of Greek antiquities. Straight ahead from the entrance foyer is the museum's tour de force, the Hall of Mycenaean Antiquities, which is filled with gleaming gold. The star attraction is the Mask of Agamemnon.The Neolithic Collection includes finds from Thessaly, as well as pottery, figurines and jewellery from Troy. The Cycladic Collection includes a lifesize Cycladic figurine from Amorgos (the largest ever found), while other rooms hold archaic, classical, late classical, Hellenistic and Roman period sculpture, bronze and pottery

 

 

The delightfully shady National Gardens, featuring subtropical trees, winding paths and ornamental ponds with waterfowl, are a nice refuge from the heat of the summer months. Besides the exhibits of the Botanical Museum, there's also a cafe which makes a pleasant spot for a break.