Places/Greece

Attica

Athens

A modern capital under a rock, with better food and worse timing than the myth suggests.

Athens is not a ruin with a city attached. It is a large, hot, argumentative capital that happens to hold the Acropolis. Give the rock a morning. Give the neighbourhoods the rest, especially where people are eating.

Island ferries are a different holiday. Do not pretend Piraeus is a metro stop you can fold into a single afternoon without reading a timetable twice.

See

• The Acropolis at opening

  Book the first slot in summer. Wear shoes with a grip. The marble is polished by other people’s feet and the sun is not interested in your schedule.

• The Acropolis Museum

  Often the clearer explanation, air-conditioned, and the right companion to the rock rather than a rival.

• Pangrati or Petralona

  Lunch in a neighbourhood square. This is the city that will make you stay an extra night.

• A viewpoint at dusk

  Areopagus if you want the classic look back at the Propylaea, early enough to get down in the light. Philopappos for a wider city.