Syntagma Square

Every hour, on the hour, two soldiers in pom-pom shoes perform one of the most meticulously choreographed ceremonies in the world. The Evzones — Greece's presidential guard — march in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with movements so precise and slow that each step can take a full minute. Their pleated kilts have exactly 400 folds, one for each year of Ottoman occupation. Their shoes weigh three kilograms each, studded with 60 nails on each sole so they ring out on the marble. It's simultaneously solemn, theatrical, and completely mesmerizing.

Syntagma means "constitution" — the square got its name on September 3, 1843, when King Otto was forced by a military revolt to grant Greece its first constitution from the balcony of the Royal Palace behind it. That palace, built between 1836 and 1843 for Otto by Bavarian architect Friedrich von Gartner, now serves as the Hellenic Parliament. The Monument to the Unknown Soldier at its base, carved in 1932, features a relief of a dying Greek warrior modeled after a figure from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina.

The square has been the epicenter of nearly every major Greek political upheaval since independence. It saw massive protests during the Greek debt crisis of 2010-2012, anti-junta demonstrations in the 1970s, and liberation celebrations when the Nazis withdrew in 1944. During the German occupation, the Wehrmacht raised a swastika flag over the Acropolis that two teenagers — Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas — famously tore down in one of the first acts of resistance in occupied Europe.

Below the surface, the Syntagma Metro station doubles as an archaeological museum, with artifacts and ancient infrastructure uncovered during its construction displayed behind glass on the platforms.