Athens is a fantastic charismatic city best seen from the top of the acropolis next to the Parthenon. From here you can see the entire city in all directions laid out for miles, and the vast Meditteranian stretching out before you. Despite any of the pictures or rumors you may have seen or heard, the Parthenon is far bigger than you will ever expect. It is also definetaly worth it to check out the museum on the acropolis, which will help you piece together what the Parthenon and ancient Greece would have looked like thousands of years ago. The Parthenon is and has been undergoing extensive reconstruction, as it has been smashed and beaten over the years. Leaving the acropolis you will dive into Athens' deep culture and you should try to explore the back alley's and small cobbled streets and shops during the day and night. Take in the candlelit restaurants and barter for items in the local shops. You won't regret the trip.

The Acropolis affords an absolutely amazing view of Athens. You'll need to walk up a decently sized hill and climb a number of stairs to get there, and during the day time it can get excruciatingly hot if visited in the summer - bring water! At 12 euros/person for admission, some might find the experience a bit overpriced considering there is no tour or audioguide to go along with it. What took my breath away was actually the view of the Acropolis at night - the entire monument gets lit up! Restaurants, bars, and cafes stay open well into the night so that tourists and locals can dine and party with this amazing scene in the background. A number of concerts also take place in the open-air amphitheatre, which we didn't get to see but is probably an experience in itself.

Athens is famous for its ruins, just as famous as Rome, maybe. But Athens lacks the atmosphere Rome has. Where-as Rome simply takes your breath away as you look at walls remaining from once standing buildings, you can feel it, you can try to piece together what it must have been one day a long time ago, Athens lacks charm and atmosphere. Its just a big city with random looking walls lying around the place. Preservation of their Greek history and buildings compared to the Romans is poor. You get the impression they almost don’t care. Unless of course its the Acropolis, where large restoration is being under taken to preserve the life of these great monuments. But when it comes to the smaller and more insignificant there is almost no attempt to look after what is left, which in truth is admittedly not much. centuries ago. All in all for Athens, it is just an enormous city with random ruins scattered around the place to make it seem more interesting. Maybe I'm being unfair, the Acropolis is amazing and huge, and well worth the visit as it dominates the skyline around central Athens, only competing with the large castle or fortress perched on top of a large hill a few kms away. As I have said its only the Acropolis that seems to get any real preservation attention and I believe that the Greeks should be doing more to preserve what they have left as one day if they continue to not care the only things they will have left is the Acropolis and Athens could become almost a day trip... Even now its a lot like that for most tourists... one or two days is enough. With a bit of effort something that is dull and hardly remarkable it could become extrodinary

There is hardly a place in Athens where you can't see the Acropolis, so even if you don't actually go and visit the place you still won't miss it! For as long as I can remember I've been interested in Greek mythology and had always wanted to visit the Acropolis. I finally got the chance in 2005, and it far exceeded my expectations! It is such a majestic place. Just walking up the stairs that have been worn away from centuries of visitors was incredible - you actually feel like you're stepping back in time. I loved everything about it - aside from the scaffolding completely covering one side of the Parthenon, but that's for a good purpose - and I can't wait until October when I get to visit it again! Make sure you don't miss out on visitng the smaller theatre at the base of the Acropolis either. There were far less tourists here, with just as much to see and a great view of the Parthenon. And there were dozens of baby turtles walking around, which I didn't expect!

The Acropolis is the highest point in Athens and provides anyone who reaches the top of the hill an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city of Athens. According to our guide, the government made sure that none of the buildings surrounding the Acropolis would be anywhere near its height to preserve the view.

And of course there is the Parthenon, which is the monument most associated with Greece This is a must see for anyone who visits Athens. There is nothing like the sense of wonder one feels upon gazing on the most famous structure from ancient times. Despite the decades-long restoration still being done on the structure, one can still marvel at the ingenuity of Greek architecture. For anyone who loves mythology, this is one of the best structures to see.

There's also the added bonus of having a distant kinship with some of the greatest minds in history as one also gets to walk the path where Greek philosophers used to tread.