london_paris2011

My husband and I will be traveling on the Navigator of the Seas in August. We will only have 5 hours in Athens and I would love recommendations as to what to see/do. I don't want to book an excursion through the ship because I want to experience what I can of the city on foot and not through the windows of a bus. The Acropolis is a must visit for us and I think that will be our first stop. Do you have suggestions on what else to visit? We generally like historical sites/ruins and food. I am not familiar with Athens at all and I will be picking up a guide book but I wanted to see if anyone here had ideas. Thanks!

brotherleelove2004

Because you only have 5 hours I recommend you visit the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis and then go to the New Acropolis Museum below the southeast corner of the Acropolis. It's fantastic. That will take up just about all of your time. There's a very nice restaurant at the museum. After the museum you can take a taxi back to your ship.

yiassas

Agree with brotherlee, there is barely enough time to do both the Acropolis & the museum when you take into account getting to & from Piraeus & finding time to eat.
By all means study a guide book & see if there is anything you would prefer to do, but if there is it would mean missing the museum which would be a real shame.

clausar

As brotherleelove said, 5 hours isn't enough time, if you decide to see the Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum, you won't have any time left for anything else
After you are done with the Acropolis and the Museum, you could follow the pedestrian walkway all the way down to Thisseion station, where you can take the green metro line to go back to Piraeus ( or take a taxi from there).
Walking down to the metro station you will see some fantastic spots with great views over the Acropolis, you should calculate about 40 min walking to the station....
If you decide to mskip the Museum, i would recommend to go to the Plaka, you could walk down to there through Anafiotika, an amazing area build under the Acropolis, that looks like a small Aegean village or you could have lunch at Dionyssos, near the Acropolis, with an unforgettable view. ( not the cheapest restaurant, but worth any euro because of the view)

telechick

We're just back from Athens & our first trip to the New Acropolis museum. It is lovely, especially the top floor and the restaurant is very nice with a great view and surprisingly good food. The Acropolis is definitely worth a visit. Plaka is good if you want souvenirs (some of very questionable taste).

Just try to find out if the taxis or anyone else are on strike. That might require that you change your mode of transportation (metro as opposed to taxi).

Enjoy. I may be in the minority, but I love Athens.

clausar

that makes 2 of us, i love Athens too !!!!
and i know that Athens is much more than just the Plaka the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum !!!