Today we’re going to visit the Athens Acropolis and its museum.

We’re talking about UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the symbols of the Greek capital. Therefore, I think that a visit to the Acropolis is simply a must during a trip to Athens (especially if it’s your first time in town).
It seems that the Acropolis probably was the most impressive of all the Acropolis of Ancient Greece and, unfortunately, over the centuries it has been damaged and looted numerous times: The first were the Byzantines, whom converted the temples into churches and plundered the treasures; in 1456, under the turkish domination, the Acropolis became a mosque and the Erechtheion was used as the turkish governor’s harem. In the nineteenth century, Lord Elgin, ambassador of the King of England, brought many marbles in his country (now on display at the British Museum).–How To get to the Acropolis: you can arrive without problems by foot, both from Thisio and Makrianni areas and from Plaka and Monastiraki (from these two areas it seems to be less tiring).
– Opening hours: From April to December every day from 8.00 am to sunset; From January to March every day from 8.30 to 14.30;
– Tickets: The full price is 12€ (reduced admission fee: 6€, free admission for children under 18 years old and for Greek university students). The Acropolis is included in the “combination ticket” (30 € x 5 days of validity) of which I spoke a few days ago (the museum is excluded);
– 3 survival tips: use the sun cream to avoid to burn yourself! Already at the beginning of May there was a very hot sun and during summer it will be even worse;
keep a bottle of water in your bag and use the fountains within the site to refill your bottle;  Try to arrive early for the visit, because at a certain point  during the morning hordes of tourists will flood the entire area. The Acropolis, from its hilltop location, overlook the city and the view it offers to you is spectacular: before moving on through the ruins I recommend you take a few seconds to observe the city from above. The visit will not take long, about two hours on a normal pace and, in addition to the landscape, the things to see are different: the Propyleum with the temple of Athena Nike, which dominates the entrance to the area, “above” the steps we all have to climb to enter; then the Parthenon, the symbol of Athens, that I have never been able to see without cranes and scaffolding; the Erechtheion, with the Temple of the Caryatids, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus and the Odeon of Herodes (at the beginning of your visit you will see it from the above). I will not enumerate to you all architectural and archaeological features: I’m not an expert about that and I would avoid to write false things and make a huge gaffe (Yes, I know: I could simply copy from those who have already wrote about that.. But I think that it’s not the right way to do it). Before changing place and topic I give you a dispassionate advice: take your time for the visit! We’re talking about a pillar of history! It deserves a very long time for a good visit and go on the run, along with the ever-present crowd, will not help you enjoy the visit. Now I would tell you something about the Acropolis Museum, which collects several Acropolis archaeological finds. Let’s start with some useful information for your visit: – Address: Dionysiou Areopagitou 15; – Opening hours: Monday 11:00 to 17:00; Tuesday to Sunday: 8:00 to 17:00; – Tickets: 10 € full price; for students is free, you must show a document proving that you are a student (the student card would be perfect because there is also the photo); – Photo and video: for the entire first floor is forbidden to take photos and videos; from the second floor you can take all the photos and videos you want. If you have any doubts, you can ask someone of the museum staff. The architecture, especially outside, is very nice and modern (the museum was built in 2009) and the interiors are very large and very bright thanks to large windows that let in light from outside.  Unfortunately, however, these very big spaces give a feeling of being a little empty. My idea, formulated during my visit, is that probably this is due to two specific factors: 1) The robberies that have been made in the Acropolis have left a few things to be exhibited in the museum; 2) The spaces, in their amplitude, were designed even too large for the quantity of objects to be displayed in them (although, probably, “not intentionally”).  Despite these two aspects, I must admit that the exhibition, in my opinion, is well organized: there are explanations, reconstructions and enough space to be able to enjoy in a better way the exhibition. In this museum you will find 5 of the 6 original Caryatids (the sixth is in London): were moved here in 1979 to prevent these were damaged  even more because of the heavy pollution of the city. We visited the museum, for various choices we made during our stay, the morning of our last day in Athens (at a later time than when we visited the Acropolis) and it took us about 2 hours to visit. We went slowly and, despite this, we still had time to do other tours in town and to have lunch in peace near Monastiraki before returning to take our bags at the hotel to go to take the flight back home. If you want to see the Acropolis and the museum on the same day I suggest you spend more time to visit the Acropolis and to move to the museum only to end your day.
[Side note: I was listening to some guides whose were leading some groups to visit the museum and I discovered that they are trying to make viable the ground in front of the entrance where there are some ancient ruins. This would allow visitors to see them up from a closer spot].