6 hour tour (Private tour)
(transportation + guidance throughout + guided city driving tour of Athens + guided tour of the new Acropolis museum + guided tour of the Acropolis and the Parthenon + Plaka and Monastiraki)
You will be met at the lobby of your hotel by your licensed tour guide and you will board your private vehicle to start your tour. Driving from your hotel to the center of Athens your officially licensed tour guide will comment on the city's historical elements. While being amazed by the first views of the Acropolis and its Parthenon that you will be having from inside your private vehicle, you will also be impressed by the view of the massive remaining marble corinthian columns of the temple of Zeus which still stand in the triangle between the Acropolis, the Panathenaic stadium and the Zappion Mansion which in 1896 used to be an Olympic Commitee building. If you would like to stop and get off for a closer visit of either the temple of Olympic Zeus or the Zappion Mansion, you could ask your guide to do so. Next comes the Panathenaic marble stadium of the 1896 Olympics where you can stop for photos or even for an inside visit. The sightseeing will proceed passing the Parliament house, the Sydagma square, the Athenian Trilogy consisted by the Academy, the Library and the University buildings, the semi-byzantine building of the first eye clinic building in Europe and the church of St. Dionysios which is the Metropolis of the Catholic church in Athens. The drive will proceed through the Stadiou Avenue and the other side of Sydagma square, the Arch of Hadrian and will either end by the statue of Melina Merkouri and the pedestrians street between Plaka and the Acropolis or closer to either the Acropolis or the museum, depending from where your walking private guided tour will start from.
At the New Acropolis Museum, characterized as one of the best museums in the world, is where you will spend approximately 1 and a half hour, seeing parts of the excavations of the ancient city through its glass floor, an amazing exhibition of "Kores" and "Kouroi" statues, the Karyatides e.t.c. As you will be ascending the different levels of the museum, you will reach the top floor, all glass, where admiring the remaining pediments and frieze of the Parthenon, you will also have an excellent view of the Parthenon itself. This is the next best view of the Parthenon, if any of you for any reason would prefer to not climb up the Acropolis hill.
It is 156 meters(about 600 feet) up to the top of the Acropolis and most of the ancient marble paths are still there, for you to walk on and to "travel" with your imagination, back in the glorious "Golden Age of Pericles", when most of the Classical period monuments you will admire were built. Climbing up you will see and hear explanations about the Filopappos hill, the Herodium odeon, the Dionysius theatre, the Pnyx hill - birthplace of Democracy and the Areopagus hill.
Stopping before the Propylaea, you will have an excellent view of the temple of Wingless Nike and the Ancient Agora, where Socrates, Plato and Aristotle introduced great philosophical schools. Walking through the Propylaea you will reach the top and you will see the breathtaking Parthenon and the Erechtheion temple opposite it, where the Karyatides stood instead of columns to support the roof.
At the end of the private guided tour, you can either enjoy some free time to explore on your own and take pictures of the roof tiles of the buildings in the Anafiotika and Plaka districts below, the Lycabetus hill e.t.c. or you can descend with your tour guide and enter for a walk to the Plaka area. Alternatively you can walk down passing parallel to the Ancient Agora of Athens and end up at the Monastiraki(Flea market) area for some free time to shop, dine or stroll around. Plaka is one of the most famous districts of central Athens and one of the few parts of the city which remain untouched, full of neoclassical buildings where people still reside, as well as several gardens, terraces and squares where small traditional restaurants are serving their specialties. Monastiraki(Flea Market) is a very interesting walk through small shops one next to each other that practically sell everything from Antique items and Art to used clothing and gramophone records. If you are interested, among the many shops that sell leather ancient Greek style sandals, you can also visit one of the most famous, the Melisinos Sandals Workshop, which is located very close to the Monastiraki square. In Monastiraki you will also be able to taste pita gyros, since some of the most famous restaurants of this kind are located next to the square.
The order of the visits on this tour might change, according to your guide's judgment, depending on the location of your hotel, the weather, traffic or other reasons that might affect the timings and your enjoyment, which is our main goal.
Transportation by a luxury type private car, minivan or minibus with a professional, English speaking, non-smoking driver.
Escorted throughout by an officially licensed tour guide.
Food, beverages, gratuities and the entrance tickets to the monuments are not included.
