I was so excited while traveling forward Athens because I finally had the opportunity to visit the city where the people I learned about in school in philosophy class actually lived and I couldn't wait to arrive there and visit the famous places in Athens and thanks to our tour guide Ljuba we learned a lot of interesting facts that we didn't know about those people and places we visited,he always gave good advices on what to visit during our free time(especially restaurants) so my travel tip for you is to always carefully choose your guide🤗.

ABOUT ATHENS🫒

Athens or Αθήνα is the capital of Greece and the prefecture of Attica and one of the most famous cities in Europe, as well as the largest city in Greece and Europe's oldest capital city. The city was named after the goddess Athena.It is also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and other notable philosophers and writers from Ancient Greece.

THE ACROPOLIS

The Acropolis is recognized as one of the best examples of classical Greek art and architecture.It is a rocky hill(a lot of people confuse the Acropolis with the Parthenon which is the building), an ancient sanctuary dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, protector of the city of Athens⛰️.
The most celebrated myths of ancient Athens, religious festivals as well as other important events in the city's history,so basically everything is connected to the magnificent Acropolis.

In the fifth century bce Pericles made a project that lasted fifty years and the most important buildings that can be seen on the Acropolis today, the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike were built, but it was only a reconstruction of the buildings that were there before and were destroyed.

Before we went to the Acropolis we climbed on the Philopappos hill. Socrates' dungeon is located on that hill, there I learned a lot of interesting things about his life. He was a Greek philosopher and he openly opposed the democracy, he didn't believe in the Greek gods and he also he didn't really like working, he would usually go to the town only to talk to other people to and because of that he constantly argued with his wife.The funny part is that we got really tired while climbing on the hill,and the only thing that I was thinking about was how I am suppose to handle the hikes and walks all day long, when I am exhausted at the beginning. But I did it after all😂
After we went to the top of the hill and observed the view of the whole city🏙, we admired the acropolis which was the most beautiful thing you could see from there. Then we went up there to the Acropolis and unfortunately we didn't have that much time, only 30 minutes, and the only bad thing about it was that there were too many people,
but it was a really great experience .

THE PARTHENON🏛

The Parthenon is definitely the most impressive building from the Acropolis. Dedicated to Athena Parthenon, built as part of Pericles' great construction project, this so-called Pericles Parthenon (Parthenon III) replaced an earlier temple in marble (Parthenon II), which was built after the Battle of Marathon which the Persians destroyed,Parthenon II replaced an even earlier one, the first Parthenon (Parthenon I), which was built around 570 BC. Interesting,right?

Although the rectangular Parthenon in white marble has been damaged over the centuries and most of the sculptures that decorated it have been destroyed or disappeared, its basic structure has remained intact but most likely you will see scaffolding around it if you visit it🏗.

The Parthenon was used as a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Turks conquered Greece, it was used as a mosque and at that time it also had a minaret⛪️🕌.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, on September 28, 1687, a Turkish ammunition depot inside the building was hit by Venetian shells. The resulting explosion significantly damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures

THE ERECHTHEION

The Erechtheion Έρέχθειο is an ancient Greek temple located on the north side of the Acropolis, it was built in exchange for an earlier temple dedicated to Athena Polias, the so-called "Old Temple".

SYNTAGMA

Syntagma, also known as Constitution Square, is the city's main square and the most important streets and boulevards of Athens lead from it. At the head of the square is the building of the Greek Parliament.
It is an exciting and memorable experience watching the Changing of the Guard which is happening 24 hours a day, year-round through a special dance. The guards wear traditional costumes complete with pleated skirts, leg tassels, and pompom shoes. They are called Evzones or Evzonoi, they were historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army and today, they are the members of the Presidential Guard which are not allowed to react to the crowd around them,you can also take pictures with them.

PANATHINAIKO

The Panathinaiko Stadium also known as "Kalimarmaro" is an athletics stadium in Athens, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of a stadium from Ancient Greece, and is the only stadium in the world built entirely of white marble and it's the first thing we visited in Athens🏟.

ERMOU STREET

Hermes or Ermou Street is a one and a half kilometer-long road in central Athens, Greece.In this street we spent almost the whole day, we went to various shops, watched the clothes just like girls always do and also our favorite hobby👛👗. After some difficult decicisions we bought bags and dresses and then we went to have lunch for Greek kebabs which were very tasty but also they also had a very interesting taste for us, because they were made of mixed meat,I think it was pork and beef,but here where we live, we usually eat kebabs made of only pork. And what goes after a hearty lunch? Dessert of course!
We parted and my friend Anastasia and I decided to take a walk through the streets of Athens and suddenly we saw a small pastry shop near the center. We stood in front of the window for 15 minutes and just looked, we couldn't decide what to eat, and we knew we had to take only one thing because we were full and we didn't have that much time left. She took a snickers cake and I, of course as always, the perfect combination , chocolate and cherry cake. We sat down at the table and at the same moment we tried the first bite. We just looked to each other and we didn't say anything except a loud "MMMM", the people who were there looked at us and started laughing, but we felt like we weren't present, we weren't interested in anything else but the cake in front of us. Honestly, on the list of reasons why would I visit Greece again, the food is at the top🌯🍰. After we ate the cake, we headed for the bus and went back to Loutraki.