The Lemon Fool

Off to Athens shortly for a week. Staying in a city centre hotel - Tivani Caravel.

Any tips, places to avoid, must see etc....

Experience from 2016, hopefully not out of date.

- The tourist transport ticket is good value, buy it at the airport and it goes you a return airport journey plus unlimited travel in the city for a number of days.

- If you're a walker, walk to, and up, Mount Lycabettus to catch the sunset. Stunning.

- At the Central Market, the fish stalls are a work of art.

- Dine on a rooftop terrace for a night-time view of the Acropolis. We went to Cafe Avessinia but there are many.

- And of course the usual unmissable stuff, the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, Ancient Agora, the parade at Syntagma Square if it's on.

Scott.

Thanks swill453,

herewith an update after a week spent in Athens.

The tourist bus system in excellent and I believe good value for money. We used it for the Athens Line (city centre), Riviera line (takes you along the coast) and the Pireaus line (the port). Plenty of hop on and hop off stops on all routes.

Dionysis Zonars Bar was a treat at Bus stop A4 by the Acropolis.

Fish, Veg, Spice and Meat markets were indeed very good. Not something you see in the UK.

Things to note....pickpockets are active and they are clever! We were on it having had a bag nicked from my wife in Barcelona.

Taxies...give them a miss, a disgrace really. Zillions of them and they are a law unto themselves. I used the taxy driver who took us from the airport if I needed one. Quick call and he appeared!

Poverty...plenty of it on view and expect to get gentle pestering wherever you go.

Food....to many fabulous restaurants to mention. The Greeks also have excellent wines.

Quite different to Rome which we did last year but would thoroughly recommend a visit. Athens Airport is modern which puts some of the third world hovel airports in the UK to shame.

flyer61 wrote:Poverty...plenty of it on view and expect to get gentle pestering wherever you go.

Yes there is, and loads (and loads) of graffiti.

But there was a lot of money being spent too, we were surprised how rammed the bars and restaurants were, with twentysomethings, on a Monday night in autumn.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:

flyer61 wrote:Poverty...plenty of it on view and expect to get gentle pestering wherever you go.

Yes there is, and loads (and loads) of graffiti.

But there was a lot of money being spent too, we were surprised how rammed the bars and restaurants were, with twentysomethings, on a Monday night in autumn.

Scott.

Probably digital nomads taking advantage of the low prices.

John

Had a lovely w/e in Athens one October a few years ago. No trouble walking around the major attractions (Parthenon &c). Chatting with a guide I was was warned to avoid sightseeing on Thursday - it’s when a lot of the cruise ships arrive. Don’t know if that’s still true, but you might want to consider it.

flyer61 wrote:. Athens Airport is modern which puts some of the third world hovel airports in the UK to shame.

Bit of an odd statement. I've only been to a couple of developing world airports and they were generally ok. I've never been to a hovel like UK airport but then I haven't been to every one. Do you have any examples of which one's to avoid? Generally speaking I'm ok with airports in the UK being functional but plentiful. I don't want to hang about there. In the front out the back and vice versa.

flyer61 wrote:Any tips

Take one of the ‘free’ walking tours that start in Syntagma Square - ‘free’ as in if you like it leave the guide a tip at the end and if not then slip away early in the tour.

Such walking tours operate in most European cities and are normally done by students and because they get paid on results are usually more interesting and less dry than more formal tours.

Certainly in Athens I got taken on a route that I wouldn’t have walked otherwise and seen things and views that might not have stumbled on if I had been following a guide book.

Dicky99 wrote:Generally speaking I'm ok with airports in the UK being functional

“Functional” - you have never been to Luton airport then. Trying to get through passport control is utterly dysfunctional.

Hey
Nice to see that you are coming here.
The places to see and the places to avoid are as follows.
"Tourists should avoid visiting the outskirts of Athens and don't stay in Omonia Square (and the surrounding area, up to Keramikos), Metaxourghio station and Exarchia. Try somewhere like Planka instead which is great for first-time visitors to Athens or if you even Syntagma if you want to be close to the central square" and must give importance to mama's advice and implement on advisingmama because mama always right.