What to Do in the Kolonaki Neighborhood of Athens
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Many people tend to associate Athens with its ancient past, but there is so much more to the city than that. Nowhere is this felt more strongly than in the Kolonaki neighborhood of the city! Much of the neighborhood covers the slopes to the south and southeast of Lykavettos Hill, which is Vassilisis Sofias Avenue. Aside from that, you’ll know it when you arrive here.
The buildings appear stately, and it is clear that there was (and is) some money pumping through this neighborhood. The American Embassy is also located in this neighborhood. There are also plenty of sites to explore here, and visitors can easily spend more than one day in this neighborhood alone exploring what it has to offer. Here are some things you can do while here:
Visit a Museum
There are several well known museums that are located in the Kolonaki area of Athens and they’re all worth a visit. These include the Benaki Museum, which is known for its beautiful collection of Greek art, the National War Museum, which is founded by the military dictatorship that was in power from 1967 to 1974, the Greek National Gallery, which has an impressive collection of art that spans several centuries, and the Museum of Cycladic Art, which focuses on art from the Cycladic Islands group. If you don’t have more than one day, you may want to select only one to spend your time, since they all have collections that are worth taking your time perusing.
Take a Walking Tour
Besides the museums, this is a pretty neighborhood to take a walking tour in order to learn about its history and take a peak at some of its more opulent homes. In fact, there was a time when this was considered one of the best Athenian neighborhoods for walking. Although this has changed somewhat in recent years thanks to an increase in auto traffic, it is still fun to walk through the streets while learning more about this historic section of the city. If you truly want to avoid the traffic, though, try to walk through the area when the traffic will be fairly low.
Go Shopping
One of the ways that this area really shines is that there are are some excellent shops and boutiques here that are worth browsing through. Unlike some of the more touristy areas in the city, shopping at Kolonaki is a bit more high end. Enjoy browsing through galleries, upscale clothing boutiques, and jewelry shops that are selling more expensive items than what is typically found in the shops geared towards tourists. Even if many of these items are out of your price range, it is still fun to window shop.
No matter how long you are spending in Athens, you will find that the Kolonaki neighborhood is worth a visit. As one of the richest neighborhoods in the city, you will find that there are endless areas to explore. Whether you visit a museum, walk through the streets admiring the architecture, or perusing through one of the boutiques and galleries, you certainly won’t run out of things to do!
Categorized in: About Athens, Greece, Greek Travel Guide
This post was written by Greek Boston
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