12 Unique Things To Do in Athens

This one requires an early alarm. Painfully early. But it's worth it. Lycabettus Hill is 277 metres — the highest point in Athens — and at sunrise you'll have the summit practically to yourself. The Acropolis below you goes from grey to gold as the sun comes up. The Aegean's out there behind the city. The mountains ring the whole basin. There's maybe five other people up there with you, six on a busy day. Completely different experience to seeing it at midday with hundreds of others. (Also one of the best photo spots in Athens, for obvious reasons.)

There's a Cycladic island hiding on the Acropolis slopes. Seriously. Whitewashed walls, blue doors, bougainvillea everywhere — it looks like someone cut a piece out of Santorini and dropped it into central Athens. Workers from the island of Anafi built these houses in the 1840s when they came to help construct the Royal Palace, and about 40 of the original houses are still there. Narrow paths, cats sleeping in doorways, the whole thing. Most people walk right underneath it on their way to the Acropolis entrance and have no idea it's above them. It's one of those places that makes you feel like you've found something nobody else knows about.

George won't tell anyone exactly where this is (it would ruin the whole point), but on the way down from Lycabettus summit there's a spot where you step off the main path and suddenly you're looking at the Acropolis from an angle you've never seen in any photo. No signpost, not on Google Maps, nothing in the guidebooks. He takes people there on the Conquer Lycabettus walk, and it's the one moment where everyone goes quiet and just stares for a bit.

This surprises people. Athens has a street art scene that rivals Berlin, and it's not just random tags — we're talking full building facades covered in murals by internationally recognised artists. Psyrri, Exarchia, Metaxourgeio. A lot of it started during the financial crisis as protest art and just kept going. Social commentary, surrealism, photorealism, some of it genuinely confronting. Walk through Exarchia with your eyes up. You'll stop every 30 seconds.

A massive boulder on the side of Lycabettus that looks like something cracked it clean in half. Local climbers have been using it for years but tourists don't know it exists. You don't need climbing gear — it's more of a scramble — and the setting is wild considering you're still technically in the middle of a city of 3 million people.

Athinas Street. Follow the noise. The Central Market (Varvakios Agora) is the kind of place that overwhelms you for about 30 seconds and then you love it. Whole lambs hanging from hooks, fishmongers yelling prices, old guys arguing over saffron by the gram. Out the back there are these tiny restaurants where market workers eat tripe soup at six in the morning. It smells like a dozen things at once. Go before 10 AM or you'll miss the energy — by lunchtime it's winding down.

Everyone piles onto Areopagus Hill (Mars Hill) for sunset. It's packed, people jostling for selfie angles, barely enough room to sit. Meanwhile, Philopappos Hill is a few minutes further and practically empty by comparison. You're at roughly the same height as the Acropolis itself, so you're looking straight across at the Parthenon as it turns gold. Much better. The Hills Climb passes right through here.

If you order a "latte" or an "iced coffee" at a café in Athens, nobody will say anything, but you'll have marked yourself. The freddo espresso is the move. Double shot of espresso, shaken hard with ice until it gets this thick froth on top. It was invented in Greece and you can get one anywhere, but the good ones come from neighbourhood cafés in Koukaki or Pagrati or Kolonaki — not the tourist traps around Monastiraki. Say "freddo espresso sketo" for no sugar, or "me ligi" if you want a little. Then sit there for an hour. That's not laziness, that's how coffee works here. (And yes, the tap water in Athens is fine to drink, by the way.)