Historical Athens Full Day Tour

Our tour could start with nothing else but with the greatest achievement of the ancient culture of Greece, the Acropolis. Going through the Propylaea, the monumental gate of Acropolis, we get to the possibly greatest architectural monument that has ever been constructed, the Parthenon. It’s a temple built in the 5th century BC by the architects Iktinos and Kallikratis and dedicated to the goddess Athina.

We’ll then visit the Acropolis Museum, one of the globally greatest museums, with considerable awards. It opened to the public in 2009 and exhibits all the findings of the Sacred Rock of Acropolis. It’s a nice opportunity to have a stop for a coffee at the Museum’s cafe to enjoy the view of Acropolis.

Our next site is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is made of the high-quality Pentelic marble. Its founding began by Pisistratus but it was finally completed by Andrianos in approximately 131 AD, who dedicated the temple to Zeus.

Next station is the world’s athletic symbol, the Kallimarmaron (meaning “beautifully marbled” ) Panathenaic Stadium. It was costructed by Likourgos in the 4th century BC and it is the only Stadium in the world built of marble. It hosted the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896.

As our tour goes on, we get to to the Zappeion, which is the first buiding to be erected –in 1888- specifically for the revival of the Modern Olympic Games.

The lagoon formed about 2,000 years ago.It was once a large cavern that collapsed following an earthquake. The outline of the collapsed cavern roof can be clearly discerned from a distance.

The lake has quite unique environmental conditions: it is supplied with warm seawater (28-35ºCelsius) via an underground channel spreading through a network of flooded caves, so its temperature never drops below 18 °C (usually ranges around 21-24 °C), whereas a freshwater spring reduces its salinity to brackish levels

It continues deep inside the mountain in an underwater cave never fully explored, as its end seems impossible to trace even by employing sonar detection. Many underwater expeditions have been carried out in order to chart it, and a few amateur divers have drowned trying.

Our tour finishes with a walk through the Lycabetus hill. At the top of it you can find the church of St. George where you can enjoy a breathtaking view of Athens and take unique pictures.