Acropolis

The Acropolis: Get There at 8am or Accept the Consequences

The Acropolis hill in Athens opens at 8am, and by 10am in summer the path to the Propylaea (the monumental gateway) is a slow procession of visitors moving shoulder to shoulder under the July sun with temperature already approaching 35°C and the marble reflecting the heat back from below. By noon it is genuinely unpleasant. The photographs you want can be taken at 8:30am with clear sightlines. The site at dawn is an experience; the site at noon is an endurance test.

The Parthenon is the most important building of ancient Greece and one of the most important buildings in Western architectural history. It was completed in 432 BCE, converted to a Christian church in the 5th century CE, converted to a mosque in 1460, partially destroyed in 1687 when Venetian bombardment detonated Ottoman ammunition stored inside, and has been under various degrees of restoration ever since. The ongoing project, which has been running since 1975, uses titanium pins to hold original marble in place and new marble (distinguishable by colour and finish) to fill gaps. The scaffolding that is always present is not a temporary condition.

The Combined Ticket

A single combined ticket (€20 standard season, €10 off-season) covers the Acropolis and eight other sites: the Acropolis Museum, the Ancient Agora, the Theatre of Dionysus, the Roman Agora, the Library of Hadrian, Kerameikos, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and Aristotle’s Lyceum. The ticket is valid for 5 days. Buy it at any of the included sites to avoid the queue that concentrates at the Acropolis entrance itself.

What to Look At

The Propylaea at the entrance, completed in 432 BCE simultaneously with the Parthenon, is in many ways the better example of 5th-century architecture, less damaged, with more of the original decorative detail intact. Standing in the gateway and looking back toward the city makes the deliberate theatrical framing of the Acropolis approach comprehensible.

The Erechtheion’s Porch of the Caryatids, female figures carved as supporting columns, is the other indispensable stop. Five originals are in the Acropolis Museum; what you see on the building are casts. The one that isn’t there is in the British Museum in London, removed by Lord Elgin in 1801, and its absence is precisely as awkward as it sounds.

The Acropolis Museum

The museum at the base of the hill is as important as the hill itself, and frequently missed by visitors who come for the Parthenon and leave. The top floor of the museum is designed to hold the Parthenon frieze at original scale and height: the sections in Athens on one side, exact-size casts of the British Museum sections filling the gaps on the other. The arrangement makes the repatriation argument visual and concrete in a way that no amount of political discussion achieves. The five original Caryatid figures stand in a climate-controlled environment at eye level. Allow 2 hours.

Eating Near the Acropolis

Monastiraki, on the north slope, has food from tourist-grade to genuinely good. Souvlaki from the grills on Mitropoleos Street near the square is cheap and correct. Psyrri, the adjacent neighbourhood, has better sit-down restaurants at dinner prices that don’t require Acropolis premium. Kuzina on Adrianou Street is the standard reference for the neighbourhood.

Where to Stay

The Plaka neighbourhood below the Acropolis has hotels at every price point. For proximity, Hotel Grande Bretagne on Syntagma Square is the grand option; various boutique hotels in Plaka run €100-200 for doubles. For a more local experience, Koukaki and Mets (south of the Acropolis) are residential neighbourhoods with good food and better value.