In Athens we will of
course visit the Akropolis, the Akropolis Museum, the Ancient
Agora, the Kerameikos (the ancient cemetery), and the National
Archaeological Museum.
We will also have
time to visit the Cycladic Museum, the Benaki, the museum of
Musical Instruments, the Tower of the Winds. There are many
other smaller sites and collections worth seeing.
We can be flexible,
let me know if you have any other suggestions.
On one of our days out of
Athens we will visit the Byzantine Monastery at Daphni, a
short way out of the city along the ancient Sacred Way (now a
busy main road). This World Heritage Site, described by David
Talbot Rice as ‘the most perfect monument of the 11th century’
is decorated with superb mosaics.
We will continue along the
Sacred Way to Ancient Eleusis where Demeter came in
search of Persephone and site of the Eleusian Mysteries. We will
then take a short ferry trip to the island of Salamina
(Salamis), where in 480 BC the famous battle, which saw the
defeat of the Persian Xerces, took place.
Another day will spend
some time in the port of Piraeus, seeing remnants of the
Long Walls built byThemistokles to protect Athens. There is a
fine Archaelogical Museum here, with some magnificent bronzes,
and the Naval Museum of Greece containing models of the boats
which took part in the Battle of Salamis.