Port Focus: Athens
Cruise Circle
This week's blog is all about the Greek capital of Athens, where you’ll find a heady mix of mythology, ancient sites and unmissable museums. Culture is clearly the biggest draw, and the city (one of the world’s oldest) has a rich heritage of art, science, theatre, democracy and philosophy at its core. The ancients built a spectacular citadel and people flock today for its layers of history, lively vibe and lovely weather.
Ships dock in the busy port of Piraeus, about 20 minutes from Athens. There are taxis, trains and buses between the two.
Is it the Acropolis or the Parthenon?
The Acropolis, meaning high city, is a citadel high above Athens that dates back to the 5th century BCE. The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, is inside the citadel. Make this your first port of call if visiting Athens for the first time. The architecture is stunning, but the citadel is also hugely important as It was the primary political and religious centre in ancient Greece and as such is considered the birthplace of democracy. If time allows, the Acropolis museum is worth a visit.
Stay with history
Beneath the Acropolis, Thissio Park is home to the Altar of the Twelve Gods, Temple of Hephaestus and the ancient Agora, or meeting place. Once you’re done here, exit into the Plaka, a maze of narrow streets lined with souvenir shops and restaurants where you can grab a bite to eat.
Syntagma Square
This is the most important square in Athens, and possibly in all of Greece. It is the home of the Greek parliament, in what was the former royal palace, and a popular place for demonstrations, not least the one that gave the square its name, which means Constitution. In front of the parliament, the tomb of the unknown soldier is guarded by Evzones, an elite squad of soldiers dressed in shoes with pompoms and pleated skirts who put on a performance of kicks and marching for the tourists every so often.
Some 'off the beaten track' suggestions, if you've been to Athens before...
Take a tour to Cape Sounion
Here, about 40 miles south of Athens, stands the Temple of Poseidon. Built around 700BC and crafted on a craggy cliff some 65m above the sea, the Ancient Greeks would have been hard pushed to find a more beautiful spot. Dedicated to the god of the sea, the peninsula was the last place Athenians would see when they sailed out into the Aegean and Mediterranean – and the first place they’d spot on their way home. Now that’s a welcome back!
Witness an ancient engineering marvel
Head out to the Corinth Canal, a man-made waterway that cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and was dug so ships could sail from the Aegean to the Ionian Sea without going all the way around the Peloponnese.
It opened in 1893, but had been mooted by the ancient Greeks thousands of years previously, and was also a pet project for Roman emperors Julius Caesar and Nero. However, as often happened in Rome, one was assassinated and the other committed suicide before they could do much.
The canal is just four miles long but spectacular - just 81 feet wide at the water’s surface and enclosed on both sides by near-vertical rocky cliffs that tower 300 feet above the sea. Needless to say, big cruise ships can’t fit through but some companies have canal cruise tours instead.
