Athens & Santorini – 5 Days & 4 Nights

Arrival at Athens International Airport.

• You will meet our staff just outside the terminal and assist you with your belongings.  We will transfer you to the 4-star hotel, where you will be checked and start the tour.

Tour Highlights:

• Syntagma/Constitution Square
• Greek Parliament
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
• City Link Gallery
• Numismatic Museum
• Museum of the City of Athens
• Bank of Greece
• former Agricultural Bank of Greece
• Catholic Cathedral of Athens
• Saint Dionysos Areopagite
• Ophthalmic Clinic
• Trilogy of Athens
• Arsakion School of Athens
• Klathmonos Square & Old Parliamen

With this tour we are going to explore the Neoclassical Athens. After your pick-up from your hotel by your licensed professional English-speaking guide we head to Syntagma/Constitution Square, which is fundamentally connected with the first official Greek Constitution and the political developments in the 19th and 20th century. As we stand at the upper part of the square we see right in front of us the Greek Parliament which used to be the Old Palace for the ex-Kings and Queens of Greece until 1922.

We cross the road to get closer. In front of the Parliament House, there is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We get back to the Syntagma square, cross the road and get to Panepistimiou street to tell the story of the luxurious Grande Bretagne Hotel. We will pass the old historic Ζοnar’s café on the ground floor of the modernist building owned by the Greek Army Pension Fund and cross the magnificent City Link Gallery there. Then we will see the nearby neoclassical Numismatic Museum built by the famous German architect Ernst Ziller. We will see the outside of the building as well as the back and the garden, the nearby Athens Archeological Society, the Bank of Greece, the (ex) Agricultural Bank of Greece, the Catholic Cathedral of Athens, Saint Dionysios Areopagite and the Ophthalmic Clinic of Athens, one of the oldest specialized clinics in Europe.

Next stop is the famous Τrilogy of Athens comprising the iconic buildings of the University, the Academy of Athens and the National Library built by the Danish architects Theophilos and Christian Hansen thanks to generous donations by Greek living abroad. On the opposite side of Panepistimiou street we visit the pedestrianised Korai street where the Nazi’s had their detention centre. We pass in front of the iconic Arsakion School for Girls, constructed thanks to the donations of another visionary Greek from abroad, Apostolos Arsakis.We cross the Stoa Orfeos/ Orfeus Gallery and then turn on the left to Stadiou street towards the Klathmonos Square and the Museum of the City of Athens, the first royal residence for the first royal couple in Modern Greek history in 1836.

Now it houses the Lambros Eftaxias’ collection of about 40.000 Athens related items.Walking up towards Syntagma square, we will see the PaliaVouli/Old Parliament building, our last stop at Kolokotroni Square, where the imposing statute of Theodoros Kolokotronis, one of the most distinguished leaders of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Turks, stands. Τhe Old Parliament was built in 1875 by the French architect Francois Boulanger, housed the Greek parliament for 60 years and now houses the National Historic Museum. After our professional English-speaking guide will accompany you to your location.