4 Best Sights in Greece

The founder of the last royal dynasty to rule Eygpt, Mohamed Ali, was born in this two-story, 18th-century konak-style house in the Old Town. Considered one of the best examples of Ottoman architecture in Greece, the home now functions as a museum and institute dedicated to intercultural dialogue and exchange between the Middle Eastern and Western worlds. Guided tours take place daily, while educational lectures, conferences, symposia, and exhibitions examine subjects like Islamic gardens, ceramic decoration, regional archaeology, and the origin of the number zero.

Known as the inspiration for the school in John Fowles's The Magus, this institution was established in 1927 as an English-style boarding school for the children of Greece's Anglophile wealthy elite. Until 2010, tourism management students studied amid the elegant amphitheaters, black-and-white-tile floors, and huge windows. Today, the buildings are used for conferences, private seminars, and summer schools. Nevertheless, visitors can still take a peek (free) inside the school and stroll around the fabulous gardens throughout the year.

Discover how the nearby Petrified Forest was created in this interesting museum whose exhibits are scrupulously labeled and clearly laid out. The museum's own patch of the forest transports viewers 20 million years back in time to violent volcanic eruptions. Alongside the giant sequoia trunks there are also unique fossils of animals like the Deinotherium, an early ancestor of the elephant, and tiny vegetation remnants preserved on volcanic rock that resembles delicate Zen art.

In the mishmash of buildings that is Central Athens, this group of remarkable white marble buildings, known as the Athenian Trilogy, gleams with classical elegance under azure skies. The three dramatic buildings, which belong to the University of Athens, were designed by the Hansen brothers in the period after independence in the 19th century and are built of Pendelic marble, with tall columns and decorative friezes. In the center is the University, after which the once highly elegant Panepistimiou (panepistimio means university) Street is named, with its giant colorful mural. To the right is the Academy, flanked by two slim columns topped by statues of Athena and Apollo; paid for by the Austrian-Greek Baron Sina, it is a copy of the Parliament in Vienna. Frescoes in the reception hall depict the Myth of Prometheus. At the left end of the complex is a griffin-flanked staircase leading to the National Library.