The sites:  There are countless archaeological sites in Athens , but be sure not to miss the Ancient Agora of Athens (click here for image taken from a ballon of the Agora ). The civic, commercial, and political center of Ancient Athens, I went there three times (remember, it was free for me) during my first trip and about fifteen times my second trip.  Each visit I spent quite a lot of time too.  It is also highly underrated in most travel guides, save the wonderful information that Pausanias preserves for us, Pausanias 1.3.1 .  I could easily spend another month there if I had had the time.  Though I will not go too in depth about the Agora right now (maybe I can devote more time to this next summer), you should really take a break in the shade at the museum of the Ancient Agora , also known as the Stoa of Attalos .  It is a convenient place to go when a quick shower comes along or if the day is getting to hot, just as it was intended to be!  There is now an unbelievable opportunity for you to go through the entire museum online .  You will need the Quicktime plug in for your browser, but the chance to walk through the whole collection from anywhere in the world is just astounding to me.   In the summer of 1998 I was also lucky enough to visit the current excavations in the Athenian Agora undertaken by the American School of Classical Studies.  The Agora Excavations have just placed their new web site online and it is absolutely stunning!  While we were there, the Agora crew had just recently uncovered a Mycenaean burial.  Their finds from the grave and other information about their 1998 excavations are available online.  You can access some old photos of the Agora online here.

You can see much more information about certain buildings in the Agora by visiting these locations at my site (note, all of these buildings were either constructed, tranplanted, or refurbished during the Augustan era): the Odeion of Agrippa , the Temple of Ares , the Early Roman Podium Temple , the Northeast Stoa , the Altar of Zeus Agoraios , the City Asklepieion , the Monument of Agrippa , the Double Stoa , the Southwest Temple , the Annex of the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios , the nearby Market of Caesar and Augustus (i.e., the Roman Forum), and the Temple of Roma and Augustus on the Acropolis.

Just northwest of the Agora is the Kerameikos , a classical cemetary and neighborhood (here are some old pictures of the cemetary and its monuments).  It has its own archaeological museum which houses many remarkable grave markers and sculptures.  There is a great book by Ursula Knigge, The Athenian Kerameikos, on sale at the museum for only 2000 drx.  My group leader called it "the best guidebook for any site in all of Greece."  The main sculptures you will see outside are reproductions so do not miss that museum!  The entire site was looking much better during my second visit.  Just mowing the grass does a lot.  On an online site, I have seen that the Greek government is planning on linking the site with the Agora as well as continuing access to the Sacred Way west of the Kerameikos.  It is very ambitious and would let people experience the monuments and the ancient city in a way closer to what it used to be like.  There were lots of plants marking the edge of the Eridanos river that made the site much more attractive.  Some were really gorgeous.  The walls of the city and the two gates are both worth the trip out here alone.  The Pompeion is also very intriguing, but the burials are one of the most important reasons to go there.  The public burials there interested me, but the private ones are most revealing.  See the guide book I recommend for more information.  It is too bad I cannot tell you more about it though since (imagine me screaming here) the Greek postal service ripped me off and took some books out of one of my parcels!!!  This is one of the ones they kept.

The Roman Agora of Athens is also very appealing to travelers due to its location in Plaka and especially the oft-photographed Horologion of Andronicos (aka, Tower of the Winds) which is the main remaining monument in the immediate area (here are some great photos of the tower).  Still you might not want to pay for it since you can walk around the whole thing and see through the fence.  Unfortunately I saw a pack of dogs tear apart a poor cat right there in the middle of it.  This is a good place to mention that the stray dogs and cats are a very big problem in Athens (and much of Greece for that matter) and undoubtedly you will run across quite a few.   -  Also, make sure you see the Lysikrates Monument (also known as Demosthenes' Lantern), Hadrian's Library , and the rest of the Plaka, all within short walking distance on the north side of the Acropolis.

Oh yeah, I guess I almost forgot the Acropolis of Athens (you can also read Pausanias' comments, 1.22.4 ).  I went  there a couple times, try going early in the morning.  Give yourself enough time so that you will not pass up The Acropolis Museum .  It holds most of the sculpture found atop the Acropolis, that is, most of the items that weren't filched by Elgin and his like.  Of course you won't want to miss the Parthenon .  It is only the main reason why you climbed up all those steps anyway (Closer to my home, there is a full-size replica of the Parthenon -in Nashville, TN - with a museum in it.  It also has a virtual tour, ancient time-line, and other interesting facts).   If you're interested, there's a great book on how the Parthenon was constructed , and it has some of the information from it online. You can also find out about the reconstruction project currently in progress.

Getting to these sites and museums early is very important since they all close around three p.m. and it's less crowded in the mornings.  While you are at the Acropolis, take time to view the Erechtheion , the most holy site on the Acropolis.  It's also the building I'm most interested in since the architecture was so influential on later generations.  The little Temple of Athena Nike (yes, just like the tennis shoes - Nike meant Victory) has been reconstructed on the lip of the westernmost point of the Acropolis.  A few centuries ago, the Turks had just pushed the whole thing off the edge of the cliff since it looked like such a good place to put a piece of artillery, but we will not broach that subject right now.  Do not just pass by the Propylaea either.  It was elaborately decorated and there is much reconstruction going on there even today.  You will also pass by the Monument of Agrippa , a great big pedestal at the Propylaea entrance.  When you come down, you should not miss the Theater of Dionysus on the South Slope of the Acropolis , as well as the Odeion of Herodes Atticus (try here for some old photos of the Theater ).  I took a sandwich and some water here early one afternoon and had a very pleasant lunch, sitting in the shade of a column broken long ago.  Continuing alongside the hill is the Stoa of Eumenenes and the city Asklepeion above it, amidst all the numerous spotlights that illuminate the acropolis at night.

Another place to get some great pictures of the Acropolis is from the Hill of the Muses (Museion), across from the Acropolis, with its Philopappos Monument (also dating from Roman times).  It is usually quiet there and no modern structures are between you and the Acropolis.  The picture above of the Acropolis at night was taken from the Museion.  Right next to this hill is The Pnyx (which means "the packed place"), appropriate for the site where assemblies were held.

The Temple of Zeus Olympius was the largest temple in all of Greece and took 700 years to make (it is pictured at top).  It is incredibly large and it's part of an even bigger complex, the Olympieion , which Pausanias describes ( 1.18.6 ).  Also at the Olympieion is Hadrian's Arch , dating from the Roman era of the city.  The arch was supposed to mark the extent of the classical city (to the west) and the beginning of the new Hadrianic part (to the east).  Again you can see lots of old pictures of the entire Olypieion (if you look really close in one of them, you can see the hermit's hut, built on top of the Temple of Zeus Olympius, of course now it's long gone).

Away from the central part of the city there are still some important sites.  Plan to give yourself alot of time at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens , north of the oldest parts of the city.   I rushed through it one afternoon and had to come back a couple days, but they do have a little restaurant/rest area so you can pace your investigation of one of the most important museums in the world.  Adjoining the NAM is the Epigraphical Museum , probably only visited by you diehard classicists out there.