Trips throughout Greece

Athens - Pireaus - Cape Sounion - Poros - Santorini - Zakynthos - Rhodes - Mikonos - Delos - Corinth - Theater of Epidauro - Nafplio - Mycenae - Delphi - Arahova - Ioannina - Vikos Gorges - Meteora - Messenia and Peloponnesus

Other common tourist destination is the Piraeus . It is a part of Athens , but we can consider them separately. It is a cheerful and crowded place with tourists, inhabitants, and sailors from every country in the globe. It is the leaving point towards the islands, very modern and noisy, with many shops and seafood and fish restaurants.

During the classic period it was an important harbour. The Romans sacked and destroyed it. It lost the prominence and it was substituted by the Hermopolis harbour, in the island of Syros. The designation of Athens as the capital by Oton of Bavaria, and the opening of the Corinth 's canal in 1893 contributed to its raising as the most important harbour in Greece.
To reach the Piraeus we took the subway from the centre of Athens , and it arrived in half an hour. It is the best alternative as you avoid the habitual traffic jams.

I will describe 4 zones. The subway leaves you in the first of them, the main harbour . There is a heavy traffics and many huge ships. After several trips that we started from here to the islands, I have to say that I continue having difficulties to know the exact point from where each determinate ferry leaves. My advice is to catch deep information about where the ship leaves from (the dock and code), to arrive in advance with enough time and to think cleverly before starting to walk. Although in a map the harbour seems small, the distances are very long. There is a busy activity in this zone but it is not pretty at all.

When you go out from the subway station the best option to visit the Piraeus is to take a bus that will drive to the interesting spots: the commercial centre, Zea and Microlimano. The first stop is the centre of the Piraeus . I don't remember the name of the streets, but if you let yourself guide by the shop density and the people mass it is easy to find it. In addition to the main streets there are some pedestrian streets full of shops and restaurants for those who like shopping.

The other two spots are small round bays with sport ships, restaurants, fish taverns, pubs and terraces for coffee. The first is Zea , a little bigger than the second, Microlimano .

Any of them is lovely and they worth a visit, a walk and a meal or cup. Zea is a place with great atmosphere during day and night, where the Greek young people gather. Besides, from Microlimano you can reach the summit of the Mounychie hill, where there was once an Acropolis and a sanctuary for Artemis. There is a viewpoint with formidable sightseeing covering the gulf, Athens, the Piraeus and the Athenian Acropolis.

With half day is enough to go shopping and have refreshment or a meal in a terrace at any of the two bays.