Athens

Athens is the cradle of Western civilisation and a city where a 2,500-year-old hilltop citadel still commands every sightline. The Acropolis and its crowning Parthenon remain the defining image of Greece, but the city below is equally rewarding. The Ancient Agora preserves the marketplace where Socrates and Plato debated, anchored by the remarkably intact Temple of Hephaestus. Plaka, the oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood in the city, wraps around the Acropolis north slope with pedestrianised lanes, neoclassical houses, and tavernas that spill onto cobblestone squares. Beyond the ancient core, Athens is a modern capital of contrasts: the Monastiraki flea market trades antiques under the shadow of the Acropolis, the Exarchia neighbourhood pulses with street art and independent cafes, and the coastal Athens Riviera stretches 50 km south through seaside suburbs to Cape Sounion, where the Temple of Poseidon stands on a 65 m cliff above the Aegean. The National Archaeological Museum holds one of the world finest collections of Greek antiquities, while the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center brings contemporary architecture and public parkland to the southern waterfront.