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Athens | |
Tours of the City |
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Athens,
Tours of the City Athens is well suited to walking, as most of the sights are centrally located. The ‘Unification of Archaeological Sites’ is a project currently underway to link the city’s ancient sites by a four‐kilometre (2.5‐mile) traffic‐free promenade. The first phase of the route, leading from the Acropolis metro station along Dionissiou Areopagitou on the south side of the Acropolis, has already been inaugurated. The entire project should be completed for 2004. For private guided tours, visitors are advised to contact the Association of Tourist Guides of Athens, Apollonas 9A (tel: 21032 20090), which provides guides for individual and group tours and supplies licensed guides to the travel agencies. It is often more satisfactory to go it alone, armed with a map and a guidebook. Syntagma Square makes a logical starting point. From here, walkers can either advance up Vassilissis Sofias and then left through the well‐to‐do district around Kolonáki Square and on to Lykavittós Hill, or go south along Amalias past the National Gardens, turning right towards the Pláka and the Acropolis. Another route to the Acropolis might start at the bazaar on Monastiráki Square, leading uphill past the Agorá. A wander around the Pláka, using the main thoroughfares of Adrianou and Kidhathinaion for orientation, is equally rewarding. Bus Tours Numerous companies and travel agencies offer tailor‐made tours for groups, whether walking or bus or a combination. For example, Fantasy Travel (tel: 21033 10530; ) offer a condensed half‐day ‘Athens Sightseeing Tour’, which is a bus tour with various stops for walking about, including the Parliament building on Syntagma Square, Hadrian’s Arch, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. They offer this for groups of up to 50, at a cost of &Euro;44.50 per person. |