Tours of the City
Walking Tours
Athens is well suited to walking, as most of the sights are centrally located. The ‘Unification of Archaeological Sites’ is a project currently underway to link the city’s ancient sites by a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) traffic-free promenade. The first phase of the route, leading from the Acropolis metro station along Dionissiou Areopagitou on the south side of the Acropolis, has already been inaugurated. The entire project should be completed for 2004.
There are no organised walking tours as such, although numerous companies and travel agencies offer their own programme of tours and can arrange tailor-made tours for groups. For example, Fantasy Travel (tel: 210 331 0530; website: www.fantasy.gr) do a condensed half-day ‘Athens Sightseeing Tour’, which includes the Parliament building on Syntagma Square, Hadrian’s Arch, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. This runs daily, in groups of up to 50 and costs €43 per person.
For guided tours, visitors are advised to contact the Association of Tourist Guides of Athens, Apollonas 9A (tel: 210 322 9705 or 0090), which provides guides for individual and group tours and supplies licensed guides to the travel agencies.
It is often more satisfactory to go it alone, armed with a map and a guidebook. Syntagma Square makes a logical starting point. From here walkers can either advance up Vassilissis Sofias and then left through the well-to-do district around Kolonáki Square and on to Lykavittós Hill, or go south along Amalias past the National Gardens, turning right towards the Pláka and the Acropolis. Another route to the Acropolis might start at the bazaar on Monastiráki Square, leading uphill past the Agorá. A wander around the Pláka, using the main thoroughfares of Adrianou and Kidhathinaion for orientation, is equally rewarding.
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