Welcome to Athens' historic heart, a district where millennia of history meet modern life. Over the next few hours, we'll wander past the atmospheric Monastiraki and Little Metropolis, exploring world-class collections at the Benaki Museum, Museum of Cycladic Art, and the National Archaeological Museum, before culminating with a view of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
Benaki Museum
1 Koumpari, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 106 74, Greece
One man spent 35 years buying Greek history, then gave the whole lot away.
Little Metropolis (Panagia Gorgoepikoos)
56 Mitropoleos, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 105 63, Greece
Dwarfed by the massive Athens Cathedral next door, this tiny church — just 7.
Monastiraki
105 Plateia Monastirakiou, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 105 55, Greece
Named after a small monastery that no longer exists, Monastiraki is Athens at its most chaotic, layered, and alive.
Museum of Cycladic Art
4 Douka Neofytou, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 106 74, Greece
Five thousand years ago, sculptors in the Cycladic islands were carving human figures so minimal, so abstract, so hauntingly modern that when Picasso and Modigliani saw them in the early twentieth century, they thought they'd found proof that modernism was ancient.
National Archaeological Museum
44 28is Oktovriou, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 106 82, Greece
This is where Greece keeps the really good stuff.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Dionysiou tou Areopagitou, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 117 42, Greece
A Roman billionaire built this theater as a monument to grief.
Temple of Hephaestus
24 Adrianou, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 105 55, Greece
While the Parthenon gets all the postcards, this temple quietly holds a much more impressive record: it's the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world.
Theatre of Dionysus
25 Mitsaion, 1st Municipal Community, Athens, 117 42, Greece
Every play you've ever seen descends from this spot.
Explore 1st Municipal Community with VoiceWalks
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story.