Grand Promenade
One of the most popular features created in Athens for the 2004 Olympics was the Grand Promenade, a pedestrian walkway meant to beautify some of the traffic-choked streets much favored by tourists. Part of the city's Archaeological Unification Project, the promenade connects fabled ancient sites along a landscaped walkway paved with gneiss cobblestones from Naxos and marble slabs from Tinos. It stretches through several neighborhoods but is often accessed near the Acropolis since its pedestrian ribbon includes the roads around its southern end.
Start out at the Acropolis metro stop, and walk north and then left to find Dionyssiou Areopagitou, the famed road running below the hill. You'll first pass the Acropolis Museum on your left and the Theater of Dionysus and Odeon of Herodes Atticus on your right. You can begin your climb here up to the Beulé Gate entrance to the Acropolis but, instead, take the marble walkway up Filopappou Hill—its summit flaunts Cinerama views of the Acropolis and Lycabettus hill side by side. Head back down to Apostolou Pavlou to find some of the best café real estate in the world.
Farther down the road is the Thissio metro station, Ayion Asomaton Square, and Ermou Street, which heads down to the great ancient cemetery of Kerameikos, and ends on Pireus Street and the Technopolis and the Gazi-Kerameikos district across the road.
Keep the following restaurants and cafés in mind if you want to enjoy food with a view, and not just any old view, but the Acropolis itself: Dionysos Zonars; Filistron mezedopoleio-restaurant (especially the rooftop on summer nights); Strofi restaurant (perfect for a summer post-performance dinner at the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus); Kuzina (for a wonderful view from its rooftop); and Orizontes Lycabettus (seen from another angle, this one from Lycabettus Hill). Last but not least, the café and restaurant of the Acropolis Museum, which can be visited without a museum entry ticket, with its huge glass windows and extensive verandas, is a definite must for spectacular photo ops of the ancient landmark. Some hotels in the area, for example Herodion Hotel, Athens Was, and the Grande Bretagne in Syntagma, also have rooftop restaurants with mouthwatering views.
