Full -Day Private Tour of Athens

Acropolis

At Acropolis you will see the Parthenon, the temple on the top of the sacred rock devoted to Goddess Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, the Propylaea, the entrance to the sacred rock, the Temple of Wingless Victory which was devoted to Goddess Athena-Nike, the Erechtheum, the most sacred and mythical of all the temples of Athens with its famous Caryatides (female featured statues), the 5000-seat Odeon of Herodes Atticus which was carved into the rock and is still used for music festivals, the 3000-seat theater of Dionysus where the Athenians listened to the immortal works of Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus is a former colossal temple at the center of Athens. It was dedicated to "Olympian" Zeus, a name originating from his position as head of the Olympian gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. During the Roman period the temple, which included 104 colossal columns, was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world. The temple's glory was short-lived, as it fell into disuse after being pillaged during a barbarian invasion in 267 AD, just about a century after its completion. It was probably never repaired and was reduced to ruins thereafter. In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, it was extensively quarried for building materials to supply building projects elsewhere in the city.

Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium or Kallimarmaro "beautiful marble" is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece. It's of the main historic attractions of Athens and it is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. A stadium was built on the site of a simple racecourse by the Athenian statesman Lycurgus at 330 BC, primarily for the Panathenaic Games. It was rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus, an Athenian Roman senator, by 144 AD and had a capacity of 50,000 seats. After the rise of Christianity in the 4th century it was largely abandoned. The stadium was excavated in 1869 and after being refurbished, it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was the venue for 4 of the 9 contested sports. It was used for various purposes in the 20th century and was once again used as an Olympic venue in 2004. It is the finishing point for the annual Athens Classic Marathon. It is also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place.