Greece Guide
Around Athens
Attica (Attikí), the region encompassing the capital, is not much explored by tourists – only the great romantic ruin of the Temple of Poseidon at Soúnio is well known. The rest, if seen at all, tends to be en route to somewhere else – the airport or the Peloponnese (both unrelentingly ugly motorway drives) or the islands from the ports of Rafína or Lávrio, a fast and cheap route to many of the Cyclades.
At first sight the neglect is not surprising; the mountains of Imittós, Pendéli and Párnitha, which surround Athens on three sides, were devastated by forest fires in 2007, and in any event are progressively less successful in confining the urban sprawl, while the routes out of the city are unenticing to say the least. Yet a day-trip or two, from the dedicated KTEL bus terminal on Mavrommatéon at the southwest corner of the Pedhíon Áreos Park, or a brief circuit by car, can make a pleasant and rewarding break, with much of Greece to be seen in microcosm within an hour or two of the capital. There is a legendary archaeological site at Eleusis as well as Soúnio, and beaches almost everywhere you turn, though none remote enough to avoid the Athenian hordes. Combine a couple of these with a meal at one of the scores of seaside psarotavernas (fish restaurants), always packed out on summer weekends, and you've got a more than worthwhile day out.