Athens Tours

Greece Athens sightseeing around the city

Piraeus Athens is the main harbor of Athens, situated alongside the Saronic Gulf, just 12 kilometers from the city. There are many attractions in Piraeus Athens for tourists, including Athens excursions and sightseeing tours; and you can combine all of these activities and enjoy Athens shore excursions. Athens shore excursions are more than just tours of Athens, they allow you to experience all of the beauty and history of Piraeus Athens as well as the city of Athens itself.

Athens Tours are one of the best ways to experience this historic city and when you first enter the port, you may be amazed by the abundance of boats to be found there. Once you begin your shore excursion onboard one of the many boats docked here, you will take a trip across the Saronic Gulf, where you can see some of the most famous ancient buildings in the world, including the Tower of the Winds, the Agora and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Knowing the sort of trips that are available from Piraeus Athens, you may be curious about the history of the ancient buildings that you can see while you are taking Athens shore excursions - we will look at the Ancient Agora first.

Located northwest of the Acropolis, the Agora was formerly occupied by private homes until 6 B.C., when Peisistratus decided to redevelop the area as the seat of city government. A drainage system was installed, trees were planted and there was a great deal of construction. Temples were erected to Hermes, Hephaestus, Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite. Other structures and monuments built there during this time include the Stoa of Poikile, the Altar of the Twelve Gods, the Peristyle Court, the monument to the Eponymous Heroes and many more besides. Visitors to Athens are often astonished by how many of these buildings are still standing.

The Tower of the Winds is a marble tower built somewhere between 50 B.C. and 2 B. C. The tower stands twelve meters high and is eight meters in diameter. While it is now gone, when it was built the tower was topped by a statue of the god Triton which indicated the direction of the wind.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus was once the largest in all of Greece and housed an enormous statue of Zeus, the supreme god of the Greek pantheon. Construction on the temple began in 6 B.C., but the temple was not completed until 638 A.D.

Now that you know a little more about some of the sights you can see while you visit Athens and the history behind some of the many incredible historic sites in the city, you are prepared to book your trip to Piraeus Athens and see it all firsthand.

Athens Tours

Discover Athens through this selection of sightseeing travels beginning from its port. Piraeus, Athens port, certainly is the entrance for vacation cruise ships to the rich ancient Greek culture. From here you can check out some of the highlights of Greece such as Acropolis, and also other fascinating sites of the greek capital mixing the history and present-day life of the town.