First-time guests to Athens are inclined to flock to the Acropolis the place the long-lasting Parthenon takes heart stage on the hilltop. Maybe the Acropolis Museum, the Nationwide Archaeological Museum, the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the traditional Agora. However for anybody on the lookout for a special expertise, listed below are three distinctive methods to discover the town that we just lately loved, because of the aptly named Various Athens.
Coaching for the Olympic Video games
In addition to being identified for its historic historical past, structure, democracy and philosophy, Athens is synonymous with the Olympic Video games. Town hosted the primary fashionable Olympic Video games in 1896 and has an extended affiliation with the traditional and fashionable Olympic Video games. What higher technique to immerse your self in Athens than on an Olympic-inspired exercise tour with an authorized sports activities coach? On this tour, you’ll uncover the true essence of the Olympic Video games, visiting locations related to actual Olympic occasions alongside the way in which. We began this expertise in one of many metropolis’s most lovely neoclassical landmarks, the Zappeion Corridor, and the primary fashionable purpose-built Olympic facility.
Right here we began with a run across the constructing and a few warm-up workouts, earlier than studying how the Olympics began, what function the traditional video games performed in society, how athletes educated and what disciplines have been concerned, how the video games developed. Our subsequent cease was the close by nineteenth century gymnasium, the place we tried a few of the earliest sports activities comparable to javelin, shot put and lengthy bounce. Do you know that the lengthy bounce was once carried out from a standing place, with out operating?
After which comes the finale – a go to to the Panathenaic Stadium, the one stadium on the planet constructed completely of marble, which hosted the primary fashionable Olympic Video games in 1896. Right here we had the possibility to compete in a race earlier than ending the tour and exploring the remainder of the stadium at our leisure. Bear in mind, it is not nearly successful – truthful competitors, respect to your opponents and displaying good sportsmanship are the qualities that make an ideal Olympian!
The whole lot it is advisable plan your journey in 2024
Athens avenue artwork tour
Artwork isn’t restricted to museums, and Athens is the very best instance of that. The Greek capital is without doubt one of the world’s hottest locations for graffiti artists, and avenue artwork has turn out to be an integral a part of its city material. Stroll the streets and you may see every part from big, commissioned murals to shabby indicators. Store partitions, shutters and even folks’s houses should not proof against graffiti. And autos typically turn out to be victims of a layer of spray!
Our tour with Nikos, himself a graphic designer and tour information, took us via the historical past of graffiti and the event of the road artwork scene in Athens, some of the vibrant in Europe, fueled partially by the Greek monetary disaster. We have been guided via cool neighborhoods that help and show avenue artwork and have been advised the tales between the artists and the artworks.
Take Loukanikos, for instance; this stray canine grew to become a logo of resistance in the course of the financial disaster in Athens. He was typically seen on the entrance strains in the course of the metropolis’s riots, and he received the hearts of the Greek public along with his fearless presence. Seen by many as an icon of hope and loyalty, it’s portrayed via avenue artwork, with this specific instance – present in Psirri on the nook of Riga Palamidou and Sarri streets – serving as a poignant reminder of the social and political turmoil the town has endured.
Different examples we noticed handled points such because the warfare in Ukraine and the prepare crash catastrophe believed to be the results of a long time of mismanagement within the Greek rail business.
We additionally noticed a number of examples of the work of INO (Apostolos Kyriazis), a avenue artist extensively identified for portray black and white work with splashes of blue. His 90-meter-long model of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Final Supper’ highlights the social inequalities brought on by the Greek political system.
This different tour is one to not be missed and is a really distinctive technique to discover Athens. It will provide you with the chance to find cool neighborhoods and achieve a deeper understanding of the town’s tradition, the way in which folks assume and a few of the points which can be near their hearts.
Scrumptious Athena
They are saying only a gentle breakfast earlier than this tour; we determined to skip it utterly and we certain did not! Greek meals isn’t solely central to the native tradition, but additionally presents a improbable technique to see one other aspect of Athens, by becoming a member of Greeks in one in all their most passionate pastimes… meals! We begin with some Greek classics – spinach pies and baklava – earlier than shifting on to tasting olive oil and Greek espresso, all of the whereas studying about culinary strategies and the significance of provenance.
Our tour additionally takes us via , the bustling Varvakios market, the most important and hottest fish, meat and vegetable market in all of Athens.
And there’s a must-stop at ‘Kostas’ for conventional pork souvlaki served with contemporary tomatoes, onions and a bit of paprika, all wrapped in a heat pie. It has been serving souvlaki since 1950 and is without doubt one of the locations the place you possibly can go to for an actual style of Athens avenue meals.
We might have actually stopped at this level, however there was one final cease on the tour, on the delicatessen for a choice of scrumptious Greek meze. Nevertheless, this journey is not only concerning the meals; it is a distinctive technique to expertise every day life in Athens and see the town in a special gentle.
Disclosure: This put up is sponsored by Various Athens.
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