October 2013
Today we walked from our hotel to Hard Rock cafe, the Acropolis surrounding area, Aeropagus hill then down Tholou street and back to our hotel. Google calculated a walking distance of 3.4 km. We have no itinerary in Athens and guided by a map we got off the shelf in our hotel and line of sight of the Parthenon, we headed for the Acropolis. By chance, on the way, we stumbled upon Hard Rock. It wasn’t opening time yet so we just took a couple of photos and continued our walk.
The Parthenon
This way to Acropolis.
Front steps into Hard Rock, Athens.
Into the Acropolis area, we arrived in-front of the Acropolis museum. We did not enter the museum but walk ahead till we reached the Herodes Atticus Oden. It’s a stone amphitheatre located to the southwest of the Acropolis. The gates into the amphitheatre were locked but you can still peek in and see the terraced stone seats. Just to the right of this amphitheatre, looking up the hillside, you can see the Parthenon.
Acropolis museum.
Front of the Herodes Atticus Oden and to the top right is the Parthenon
A peek into the Herodes Atticus Oden and you can see the terraced stone seats.
Onwards we walked towards Aeropagus Hill and we can see from afar the Temple of Athena Nike. Tourist are packed up there while down at the entrance leading to the Acropolis, it is full of tourist lining to go up.
Crowded up at the The Temple of Athena Nike.
Even more crazier queue downhill at the entrance gate.
Forget about the crowd, we are not joining them. We proceeded to Aeropagus Hill and climbed this small hill. What a magnificent view of downtown Athens. From here, we could see the Ancient Agora with the Hephaisteion and Stoa of Attalosin in the distance. After an hour or so, we walked downhill through Tholou street and returned to our hotel.
View of Athens from Aeropagus Hill. In the distance, to the left is the Hephaisteion and to the right the Stoa of Attalos.
Way downhill to the Ancient Agora.
Our walking route around Acropolis.
