Has anyone been to Athens or live there?

Not sure if this is the right section or not but here goes anyway...the wife and I are taking our honeymoon to Athens in april. Any suggestions on must see attractions besides the typical touristy stuff we aren't really into that type of thing we'll go see the major sites but I'm talking about the places off the beaten trail or maybe not as well known but still beautiful to visit.

I plan on bringing my XT, a flash, 10-22, 50, and 17-70 trying to travel light and not lug around a 70-200 which I'll barely use. I've never been to europe do I need to worry about being a target carrying around expensive gear?

I'd definitely make sure you get to Lykavittos Hill, and you could spend a couple of days wandering through the Plaka, stopping at cafes for a drink or snack and some people-watching. We were there in October and only got to the Agora on a weekend, when it was packed, but once you got away from the central area it thinned out a bit. There are actually a lot of smaller museums covering more recent Greek history not too far from downtown. You can take the subway, bus or light rail into the center of town, say around Syntagma Square, and walk (if you like walking) to many of the sights. Figure on being at Syntagma Square early on Sunday morning to secure a spot for the Changing of the Guard at 11. They have a guard change every hour every day, but most days the Evzones are wearing their basic uniform; on Sunday they're in full dress. We weren't able to make it on a Sunday; the photo below's from a "regular" day.

I wouldn't be too sure about barely using the 70-200; I used that on my 20D for about 1/3 of my photos; the 24-70 on the 5D did most of the rest, but I did need to resort to the 15-30 for some. Virtually none of the museums will let you use flash, although available light photography's fine. I had to check my bag at the National Archaeological Museum (although I was able to take both cameras and the 3 zooms inside), and we were told we wouldn't be allowed to take big bags into the Acropolis (but mine made it through). I wasn't worried about my gear, even when we were off on our own away from the tour group.

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Sure, see the temples and olympic stadium, etc., etc. ... but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - go on day tours of the Greek Isles. Any Isle - the colors are Gorgeous and the people are soooo friendly. Much nicer to visit than Athens (which I found dirty and smog filled - lots of stray animals as well). I visited 9 years ago and Wished I had the camera I do now... my photos could have captured the beauty. Anyway, have a nice trip and please send photos along when you return - I'd love to see them.

I spent two weeks in Greece, A week in Athens (including running in the Athens Marathon), and a week in the islands and Adriatic coast - but one of the things I remember best was the day we rented a car and drove from Athens up to the Shrine of Apollo at Delphi. Along the way there are glorious scenery and quaint villages.

Yes, Delphi and Arachova are pure magic.

GregFarz78 wrote in post #4991713
Not sure if this is the right section or not but here goes anyway...the wife and I are taking our honeymoon to Athens in april. Any suggestions on must see attractions besides the typical touristy stuff we aren't really into that type of thing we'll go see the major sites but I'm talking about the places off the beaten trail or maybe not as well known but still beautiful to visit.

I plan on bringing my XT, a flash, 10-22, 50, and 17-70 trying to travel light and not lug around a 70-200 which I'll barely use. I've never been to europe do I need to worry about being a target carrying around expensive gear?

Hi Greg,

Let me give you some inside info, being a native Athenian! Let me start from the photo stuff (and forgive my English... it's not my mother tonge)

First of all, do not worry about carrying around lenses, photo gear etc. You can always see sooooo many visitors around carrying cameras, that you would not be an exception. Especially in places like the Acropolis or Plaka, it's very very frequent to see visitors with all these L lenses etc.

For the sake of utmost secrity though, I would urge you to just keep an extra eye in places like the the Monastiraki bazaar, ONLY IF you go there in Sunday mornings where it's too crowded. In all other cases there should be no problem.

Secondly, I agree that the 10-20 and a 17-70 would be the most useful lenses. However, in your case I would tend to also brind a 70-200 in case I wanted to zoom into monuments far away, or for details on them. If you also visit the islands, they may come handy for isolating their beauty.

As for the places now:

I am missing the critical parameter here: how many days?
In Athens, I would surely pay a visit to Acropolis (typical) and at the evening I would get my evening walk at Plaka and the old Agora. (also typical and touristic).

Inside info: When the night falls I would opt to ascend a small rock just oppposite the Acropolis, where there is a magnificent view of the whole of Athens in front of your eyes. It may be slippery to ascend but it's worth it.

I would also take a stroll around "Dionysiou Areopagitou" str. It has been paved and there are no cars there. It's a very nice 1 hour walk, starting from the one side of the Acropolis and if you follow it you will end up in a circular way at the other side, where Plaka and Thisseion is. It's a very pleasant way to have a walk around probably the best and the most historic place in Athens. You will pass in front of Herodion ancient theatre. Pick the Thisseion cafes or restaurants. The walk is level and very easy to do at a leisurely pace.

Additionally, at half the distance of this walk there is a path leading you to a hill called "Filopappou". (ask for it). There is a very pleasant winding walk around the hill (no more than 20') that also leads you to a place where Acropolis is just opposite of you. An exquisite view. Some magnificent scenes are there in the evening.

(click hereto see a photo of mine from there!)

Additionally, at the root of Acropolis, there is a very special neighbourhood called "Anafiotika" that looks like an Aegean island. It's very each to reach from Plaka. Actually it was made by inhabitants of a small island (Anafi) that came to live at the root of Acropolis at the beginning of last century. Some different views are there. Click on the thumbnail for some of my photos from Anafiotika.

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April is a wonderful time to be in Greece, you should definately arrange to be out of Athens for day or few day excursions. The islands are wonderful and all accessible by ferry or hydrofoil. While not off the beaten track completely, Delphi and Arachova are beautiful. There is a monastary near Delphi (can't remember the name at the moment) as well as a quaint seaside village (Glyfada) nearby if you will have a car. There are plenty of bus tours to Delphi, it is about a 2-3 hour trip from Athens depending on the route.

Cape Sounion is close to Athens and also beautiful.

We have been to Greece, loved it. My wife and plan to go back soon. People have given you some great ideas in this thread.

Cape Sounion is beautiful at sunset. The Temple of Poseidon is located there and makes for great photo ops.

Someone mentioned a day trip to the islands, well worth the day spent. We visited Aegina, Poros and Hydra.

Delphi is great, again worth the time. The museum their is very good.

Travel over the Corinthian Canal.

A must is The sanctuary of Asclepios at Epidaurus.

Visit the Mycenaean Acropolis with the beautiful Lion's Gate.

And at the end of each day relax in the Plaka with a cold Mythos

We spent two weeks there and didn't do everything we wanted.

I forgot to mention we're staying at a hotel right in the plaka walking distance from the acropolis. I thought of renting a car but not sure how that works with an american drivers license does anyone know? We definitely want to take 1 day and go see one of the nearby islands, the wife hates boats though hope its not too rocky for her lol

Aegina is the closest island, it is not far at all, maybe 20 minutes on a ferry? It is very nice and picturesque, you don't need a car to get there and once on the island you can rent mopeds or vespas and see the whole thing. Most places like Sounion or Delphi have regular bus service so again you don't have to rent a car, but if you want to you can with a US license, ask your travel agent. I would concur about going to Hydra, it is really fantastic. They have a hydrofoil to the island but I don't recall how long the ride is.

How long will you be there?

GregFarz78 wrote in post #4999185
I forgot to mention we're staying at a hotel right in the plaka walking distance from the acropolis. I thought of renting a car but not sure how that works with an american drivers license does anyone know? We definitely want to take 1 day and go see one of the nearby islands, the wife hates boats though hope its not too rocky for her lol

Get an International Driving Permit, which is essentially a translation of your license, from AAA (authorized to issue them by the State Department) for $15 or so and good for a year. But study up your routes in advance - including what place and street names look like when spelled out in Greek. And have the co-pilot actively looking out for them. Major attractions will have signs in both languages, but a lot of smaller places won't. If you do rent, don't bother doing so until you're going to be outside Athens. Parking and driving are hellacious in Athens. And if you're in the Plaka, you're close to most of the attractions, or at least handy to the subway and bus lines.

Great thanks for all the suggestions keep them coming. We'll be there 1 week, not nearly long enough but don't want to break the bank especially with the exchange rate being so horrible right now for USD The wifey has been there 2 times already so she's a little familiar with some places. The metro and bus lines are within blocks from the hotel, I hear public transit has gotten a lot better since they had the olympics there a few years back.

There was no subway to speak of before the olympics, getting to an island is as easy as taking public transit to Pireus (the port area) and hopping on a boat. Aegina is a day trip as are Sounion and Delphi, with the latter being the farthest from the city.

Since I've been to Athens quite a few times, I'd like to share some photo advice:

• While Athens is a huge metropolis now, it wasn't so 100 years ago. In fact, it was a tiny town with 30000 inhabitants back then. What does this mean? Well, don't expect massive old buildings or wide spread imperial infrastructure like in most other european towns of the same size. Yes, there's syntagma, and of course the ancient stuff, a few very nice museums, but not the stuff you'd expect from such an old town with currently 2.5 million people (5 million if you count the suburbs)
  
• Athens has fairly decent public transport and horrible car traffic. As Jon already mentioned, do not even think about renting a car for trips within Athens. If you need to get somewhere and think public transportation doesn't do it for you: get a taxi cab. These take you across town for a few Euros.
  
• Because of this immense car traffic you have smog. Lots of smog, so watch out before you use a tele lens lest you get pictures with no color and no contrast
  
• One nice motive you'll find outside of Athens in spring is fields full of shining dark red poppy seed. In fact I've never seen such a dark saturated red in wild flowers of that kind before. Try to make some compositions with this.

Wow, reading all of the comments, makes me want to go back to Greece. It is beautiful. One thing I wanted to mention (after reading), Aegina had the BEST chocolate filled croissant - the BEST! If you visit and love chocolate, you need to pick one up! Also, on either Hydra or Poros, pick up some Pistachios - again the BEST. Have fun and don't forget to post when you return.