33 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Athens - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Athens

Antikythera Mechanism

2000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.

The Athenian Agora

This ancient Greek place of assembly and marketplace is being revealed layer by layer below the modern Athens cityscape.

Magic Sphere of Helios

This mystical orb covered in strange symbols is thought to have been used in ancient Greek magical rituals.

Hadrian's Reservoir

This ancient hydrological marvel is now the base of a modern outdoor cinema.

Lycabettus Funicular

The railway carts travelers to central Athens's highest peak, which offers stunning vistas of the city.

Tower of the Winds

An ancient octagonal weather station named for the eight Greek gods of wind.

Dromeas (The Runner)

A sharp sculpture made of thousands of pieces of jagged glass.

Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art

Large collection from the 3rd millennium BCE.

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Unique Food & Drink in Athens

Patsas

This offal soup is a classic Greek hangover cure.

Spinialo

This Greek dish maintains an old fisherman's tradition of preserving one's catch in bottles of seawater.

Atlas Obscura Trips

Forgotten Greece: Ghost Cities & Sinking Ships

Explore the ghost cities, abandoned industrial buildings, and mountain villages scattered throughout the rugged region of Peloponnese in search of a truer, more contradictory Greece.

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Stories About Athens

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The Makeshift Mosques of Athens Are About to Disappear

The Greek capital will soon open an official place of worship for the city's 200,000 Muslims.

by Demetrios Ioannou