When coming to a new city, you always want to comb the area that you will be staying in and find out in time what spectacular sights are nearby. For Athens, it's more than just the case.

O&B Athens Boutique Hotel has created this section of the site as a small guide to the areas around the hotel and the significant sites of Athens. On the spot, our skillful team of professionals at the front desk will become the definite cross-reference guides of what you know and the informers of what you should know: the O&B Team. The O&B Team's urban lore is top notch and its members are always more than willing to provide additional information and recommendations for your stay in Athens and further, as well as tailoring your program according to your needs and wishes.

O&B Athens Boutique Hotel is located in the classical center of Athens, in one of the most modern and yet authentic neighborhoods of the city and lately one of the most popular hot spots of Athens in general.

In just a walk, you find yourself at the gates of the Acropolis and a breath away from Syntagma Square, Monastiraki, Keramikos, the Ancient Agora and Plaka, the old city of Athens. In an area raving of hotels, restaurants, pubs and café, the O&B Athens Boutique Hotel still stands out regarding its location.

Also, being locatedamong the most important archaeological sites of Athens, in one of the most original and full of life areas of the city, O&B Athens Boutique Hotel is the perfect starting point for exploring the Greek capital. Walk the pedestrian street Apostolou Pavlou all the way up to Acropolis and the Parthenon, visit some of the most culturaly important museums of the world located in Athens, do some shopping at Ermou street, walk throughout the narrow streets of Plaka and enjoy the intense nightlife of Psiri and Gazi.

After your breakthrough in such new and variant experiences, a part of our area will become your area; a part of you for years to come...

Psiri area can only be compared to an uncut diamond, since it looks a bit worn out on the outside, but hides gem attributes, glittering lights and cultural colours that only the locals know of and can pinpoint you to.

The area is very safe and accessible by public transportation and has now become one of the most fashionable and trendy choices in the center of Athens regarding hotel accommodation, entertainment and food & beverage hospitality. In Psiri you can find a large variety of restaurants, taverns, café, patisseries and bars for every taste and mood.

Especially if you wish to try local dishes, there are plenty of casual Greek taverns and restaurants to choose from; some of them even indulging your senses further with great roof gardens offering Acropolis view, live nights with traditional Greek music and other happenings. Been the original area of craftsmen and artisans for decades, Psiri is now also a known meeting point for artists and antiquers since there are plenty of theaters as well as several art galleries in the area.

A little bit of Psiri history
 
Psiri was the area of Greeks deriving mostly from Naxos island that were known as “Koutsavakides” or “Manges” in which they created and ruled the underground world of Athens up to the last decades of 19th century. They could be identified by their outfit as they always wore the jacket with one sleeve on, their pointy boots and their long moustaches. They terrorized Athens using Psiri as their base for 50 years. It was during the times of Prime Minister Harilaos Tripkoupis in 1893, that Psiri became a safe area for all the citizens of Athens, by sending “Koutsavakides” back home in shame by having them shave their moustache & cutting the points of their shoes. Psiri turned in the home of leather workshops & small factories, basically a standard situated neighborhood for the working class. It was also the “home” and inspiration of the well known poem “Maid in Athens” by Lord Byron which was about a young lady whose family was accommodating him. The house of Lord Byron is located on the corner of Agias Theklas & Papanikolis Street.

 
Maid of Athens, by Lord Byron
 
Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ.
 
By those tresses unconfined,
Wooed by each Aegean wind;
By those lids whose jetty fringe
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge;
By those wild eyes like the roe,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ.
 
By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone-encircled waist;
By all the token-flowers that tell
What words can never speak so well;
By love's alternate joy and woe,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ.
 
Maid of Athens! I am gone:
Think of me, sweet! when alone.
Though I fly to Istambol,
Athens holds my heart and soul:
Can I cease to love thee? No!
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ.

Heading right on Ermou street from the hotel and in not more than 7 minutes, you find yourself in Plaka.

Plaka is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis and incorporating labyrinthine streets and vast neoclassical architecture. Ancient stands and pillars are lit and ever present to remind all that it is indeed a very old and significant ground they tread on.

Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens, crowning them with its atmosphere of antiquity. It is known as the "Neighbourhood of the Gods" due to its proximity to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites. Plaka is the best place in Athens to enjoy a cup of coffee or do a little souvenir shopping.

Monastiraki means “the little monastery” due to the 10^th century monastery dominating the square. It is an open flea market neighborhood in the old town of Athens and is one of the principal shopping districts of Athens; a real bargain on its own right.

The area is home to different shops ranging from clothing and apparel boutiques to souvenirs and antiques and is a major tourist attraction for money-for-value shopping as well as a very popular local tavern point, especially on the small pedestrian Adrianou street that connects Monastiraki with Thisio. In Monastiraki you will also find the entrances to the Ancient and Roman Agoras of Athens.

At the colorfully stone-paved Monastiraki square, just 5 minutes walking from the hotel, you will find the Metro station that can either take you to the port of Piraeus (line 1) or directly to the airport (line 3).

The name of Thisio comes from the ancient times and derives from the Temple of Hephaestus, also known as Thisio (pronounced [θiˈsio]), as it was, in earlier times, mistakenly considered a Temple of Theseus due to the artful engravings depicting the adventures of Theseus on the fascias of the temple.

It homes very significant archeological sites, such as the Ancient Agora. Thisio is a famous meeting point in the city center.

Its promenades are beautiful to walk and are full of cafés, bars and taverns. At Thisio, you can also find Cine Thisio, which is an open air cinema with view to the Acropolis, open during the summer and was voted one of the world's best by CNN Go travel website.

The Acropolis is the hill and major citadel on which, along with other architectural mastrpieces of the antiquity, one of the most significant ancient building stands, The Parthenon.

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century B.C. and part of it still exists today. It was a temple dedicated to the ancient Greek goddess Athina.

Acropolis means “Edge of the city” and almost every city had one in ancient times for strategic reasons, so that the enemy was seen from far away. It is also called the “Sacred Rock". Acropolis of Athens is only a 15 minute walk from the hotel.

Just take the pedestrian road Apostolou Pavlou Street walking through Thisio and its café bars and enjoy the scenery; as you get closer so does the Acropolis. The Acropolis is open everyday and there are a few National Holidays where the entrance is free. Please note that winter and summer working hours vary so please ask the Front Desk of the O&B before heading to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis Museum opened its gates in 2009 and presents artifacts and findings from the Parthenon and the slopes of the Acropolis hill as well as findings from the temple sites and the immediate area dated from the 5th century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.

The museum has four levels – one an auxiliary hall and three housing the findings, ascending on the first in a manner of ascending Acropolis itself. The Parthenon Hall faces in the same direction with the Parthenon itself and it is a marvel to wonder its collection. As the museum is built over an extensive archeological site, the floor, outside and inside, is often transparent using glass and thus the visitor can see the excavations below.

The Acropolis Museum is only a 20 minute walk from the O&B Athens Boutique Hotel. The same walkway that you will take for the Acropolis is the same going to the Acropolis Museum. Their gates are almost adjacent from each other. It is suggested that you visit the museum first, then visit the Acropolis so as to get a better understanding of its history.

Find out more at our Collections & Museums page.

More than twenty major buildings expanding on the foot of the Acropolis, form the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Agora was back then, the central area of Athens where political issues, commercial and social activities took place and unfolded. It was where the city council members used to meet and discuss a great number of issues.

It was also the center for religious & cultural affairs. The Agora of Athens was the home of the Athenian courts as well as a residential and burial area. It was said that if anyone was in Agora at the time of a trial, he would be forced by law to become a juror.

The Ancient Agora is just 3 minutes from the O&B Athens Boutique Hotel, just by crossing Ermou street and walking across Monastiraki. To enter, you can use the combined ticket from the Acropolis since the ticket grants you the entrance in 5 different major historical sites in Athens.

Keramikos is another unique neighborhood in the center of Athens at a 10-minute walking distance from the hotel. Keramikos is the Greek word for “ceramic” the matterial used for pottery.

The "Inner Kerameikos" was the former "potters' quarter" within the city and "Outer Kerameikos" covers the cemetery and also the public graveyard just outside the city walls, where Pericles delivered his famous funeral oration in 431 BC.

The Keramikos Archaeological Museum houses the most extensive collection of burial-related artifacts in Greece. The stone-paved promenade between the Thisio square and the Gazi district is both ideal and idyllic for a walk at dusk or just before the dawn, returning from the fiery Gazi nightlife.  You may find out more about the Archaeological Museum of Keramikos on our website's Collections & Museums section.