Athens City Tour With Acropolis, New Acropolis Museum and Cape Sounion

[TOUR CODE #5]

Historical Information In Details About This Tour!

In this one day Athens tour you will enjoy the City tour of Athens, the visit to the New Acropolis Museum, the visit the Pnix Hill the birth place of Democracy and the tour to Cape Sounion where the Greeks from the Ancient time till today pay homage to the divine nature of the Cape where the Temple of Poseidon exists, is the most complete one day activity in Athens.

This Organized Athens Sightseeing Tour emphasizes the artistic and cultural aspect of Athens. During the Athens city tour with one of our luxury buses our guide will explain the important exhibits of all major museums you pass by. You will enjoy a better view of the modern aspect of the city just before visiting “The Acropolis of Athens”.

Temple of Athena Nike

It was formally proclaimed as the pre-eminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments on 26 March 2007.

The Acropolis of Athens is a flat-topped rock that rises 150 m above sea level in the middle of the city of Athens, with a surface area of about 3 hectares. It was also known as Cecropia, after the earliest legendary Athenian King Cecrops, who emerged from the ground half man half serpent.

At the highest point of the Acropolis is the Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). To the north east of the Parthenon is the temple known as the Erechtheum.South of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis of Athens there are also the remains of the most famous open air theatre called Theatre of Dionysus (17.000 spectators, the earliest, one of the biggest), where all famous dramas written by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides were first performed.

A few hundred meters away to the west the impressive Herod Atticus’ Odeum (music hall or opera house), built in the Roman period, reconstructed in the 20th century, holding 5.000 spectators and used every summer for the most important and longest cultural event (music, drama, dancing and singing from all over the world almost every night, info at your hotel reception) in the country the festival of Athens.

View of Stoa of Attalos

It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, admired from the moment it was finished until this very moment for the perfection of its construction and engineering for its architectural refinements and its sculptured masterpieces. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world’s greatest cultural monuments.

The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, which was destroyed during the Persian invasion of 480 BCE. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury. In the 5th century A.D. the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

During the Turkish Rule, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, and it had a minaret attached to it at its SW corner. On 26 September 1687, the worst damage was brought about when during a Venetian bombadment the temple was blown up in the air stuffed with gunpowder by the Turks.

In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed most of the surviving sculptures, with the Sultan’s permission. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin’s Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were purchased in 1816 by the British Museum in London, where they have been displayed since then till this very day. The Greek government is committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece.

Panathinaiko Stadium

The Restauration Project of Acropolis of Athens began in 1975 and is now nearing completion. The aim of the restoration was to reverse the decay of centuries of attrition, pollution, destruction by acts of war, and misguided past restorations.

The project included collection and identification of all stone fragments, even small ones, from the Acropolis and its slopes and the attempt was made to restore as much as possible using reassembled original material – with new marble from Mount Penteli used sparingly.

All restoration was made using titanium dowels and is designed to be completely reversible, in case future experts decide to change things. A combination of cutting-edge modern technology and extensive research and reinvention of ancient techniques were used.
A total of 2,675 tons of architectural members were restored, with 686 stones reassembled from fragments of the originals, 905 patched with new marble, and 186 parts made entirely of new marble. A total of 530 cubic meters of new Pentelic marble were used.

Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, spreading across the Attica territory around 508 BC. Athens was the first known democracy. Other Greek cities set up democracies following the Athenian model, but none of them was as powerful, stable, or as well-organised as that of Athens. It remains a unique and intriguing example of direct democracy where all people did both: they elected their representatives and they themselves and not their representatives voted finally in favour or against new legislation.

The public opinion was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres. Nevertheless, the idea of democratic government is one of the most significant contributions of the ancient Greeks. The city-state of Athens had one of the largest democracies in terms of population.

New Acropolis Museum

Furthermore, you will continue to visit the New Acropolis Museum – not wasting your time on the queue – to admire the exhibits illustrating 5000 years of history and the magnificent view of Athens, lying at your own feet. It is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens.

The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on its feet, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies on the archaeological site of Makrygianni and the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.

The museum was founded in 2003 while the Organization of the Museum was established in 2008. It opened to the public on June 21, 2009. Nearly 4,000 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 square meters. The museum is located by the southeastern slope of the Acropolis hill, on the ancient road that led up to the “sacred rock” in classical times.

During this Athens tour you will have a full view of Athens with its historical sites and monuments such as: The Panathenian Stadium, The National Picture Gallery, The glass Runner, The Megaron Concert Hall, The National Archaeological Museum, The National Theatre, The Omonia Square, The Open Market, The National Historical Museum (Old Parliament), The Syntagma Square, The Plaka Area, The Downtown shopping center, The Flea market, The St. Nikodimos Russian Orthodox, The St. Paul’s Anglican, The National Park (ex Royal Gardens), The House of Parliament (ex Royal Palace), The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Evzones), The Iliou Melathron Numismatic Museum (H. Schliemann’s Home), The St. Denis Roman Catholic Cathedral, The Neoclassical Building of Central Bank of Greece, The Academy of Arts & Letters, The University of Athens, The National Library, The Presidential Residents (ex Royal Palace),

New Acropolis Museum

The Change of the Honor Guards, The Zappio Congress, The Temple of Olympic Zeus, The Hadrian’s Gate, The Dionysus Theatre, The Asclepieum Medical Center, The Herod Atticus Odeon, The Areopagous (St. Paul Acts XVII on Mars Hill).

The Temple of Poseidon perched on a rocky promontory getting out into the open sea – 197 foot overlooking the Aegean Sea. This is the most breathtaking panoramic view in the world, extending all the way to Kea Island and the Peloponnese (Argolis area) on a clear day.
The Temple of Poseidon was built in the 5th century B.C., and many of its original Doric columns are still standing. See the graffiti carved by the hand of the known Lord Byron – an English poet and a leading figure in Romanticism, who died in Greece and whom modern Greeks consider as one of their heroes of the War of Independence – in the early 1800s on one of these columns.

Cape Sounion

According to legend, Cape Sounion is the spot where Aegeus, king of Athens, leapt to his death off the cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea. How did that happen: His son Theseus, prince of Athens had volunteered to go to Crete to kill the dreadful monster the Minotaur in the Labyrinth (now believed to be the Palace of Knossos) and deliver Athens from the blood tax they had to “pay” to Crete.

He had agreed with his father, in case he won, to replace the black sail of his ship with a white one. He forgot and poor and desperate father, waiting anxiously on the rock awake day and night jumped into the sea and drowned himself believing his son had been devoured by the monster.

Back to the tour!

Included on the above price
Entrance fees to museums and archaeological sites
Professional English-speaking licensed guide
Transportation by air-conditioned, non smoking coach
Local taxes

How to book
Click here to pay and book this Athens tour
Or e-mail us at adm@hopin.com
Or call us at +30 210 4285500

Highlights
Acropolis archaeological site, New Acropolis Museum, Panathenian Stadium, Herod Atticus Odeon, Academy of Arts & Letters, University of Athens, National Library, Hadrian’s Gate, Parlament, Change of the Guards, Cape Sounion, Temple of Poseidon

Departures
Daily – All year around
Except: Monday’s (the New Acropolis Museum is closed),
1st January, Greek Orthodox Eastern Day, 1st May, 25th and 26th December

Schedule Details
Duration: 10 hours
Departure Time: 08:30am
As this Athens tour is organized, please be at pick up point 10′ before the agreed time
Return Time: 06:30pm (approx.), to original departure point

Pick up Service
We offer free pick up service from all Athens centre hotels. If you want to see the pick up service from your hotel please click here.

Additional Information
Some departures may be operated by a multi-lingual professional licensed guide

What to bring
Comfortable footwear, Sunblock, Hat, Camera

F.A.Q. Got some questions?
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

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