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There has been a church and monastery on this site since at least the 10th century. The current church was built in 1678. The monastery once owned many of the surrounding buildings, which were later destroyed, but the area’s name (Monastiraki means “little monastery”) still derives from its glory days. Currently, the church is being restored and should reopen in early 2006. The square and metro station reopened in 2004.

One hundred years ago, Omonia was among the largest, most gracious and important central squares in Athens. These days, while still large and central, it is also the hang-out spot for prostitutes, porn peddlers, drug addicts, street hawkers and bewildered tourists, as well as a constant chaotic tangle of traffic and construction. Having said all that, in preparation for the 2004 Olympics, Omonia underwent a major renovation, with art installations brought in, a pedestrian walkway created and a scheme to restore its once-beautiful Neo-Classical façades.

If Socrates was the forerunner of Western philosophy, Plato was the foundation. His works, from his early dialogues reprising Socrates’ teachings, to later masterworks such as the seminal Republic , comprised the backbone of every major intellectual movement to follow.

The cool, sleek decor at Plous Podilato complements an innovative approach to seafood.

This is where the student demonstrations in 1973 (see Omonia and Exarcheia) began. And in front of the Polytechnic there is a marble statue of a youth lying on the ground – a monument to the fallen heroes of the uprising. Every year on 17 November, all of Greece’s politicians turn out to put flowers at the memorial.

Overlooked by most tourists, Poros is famous for its fragrant lemon groves. Pass over Poros town to walk in the dark woods and bright groves of Kalavria.

The god of the sea was Zeus’s brother – and sometimes his greatest rival.