Thession (click map to see it larger)

Thession, why and where

• The simplest way to get to Thession is to take the metro to the Thession stop.
• Visitors to Athens already in the Keramicos, Plaka, Monastiraki Sq. or lower Ermou St. areas are only hop, skip and a jump from the Thession neighborhood.
• Alternatively when visiting the Acropolis via pedestrian drag Dionysus Areopagitou, which is the road in the map above which fronts the Theater of Dionysus and Odeon Herod Atticus. (You'll need to turn off it to egress the Acropolis ticket booths and entrance)
• Upon leaving the Acropolis, retrace your steps to where you turned off D. A. street and turn right continuing upon Dionysus Areopagitou and passing the Pnyx on your left hand side as well as the observatory up on the Nymphs Hill until reaching the Thession strip and metro station/park. Thession begins here sandwiched between the green areas you see in the map above (the Aero Pagos and the Pnyx). After leaving the Acropolis as described above it will take you 10 to 12 minutes at a slow walk.

Theseus is the main super hero of Athenian myth and the chap credited with uniting the disparate villages of Attika. In gratitude Theseus (like Lord Byron's Vyronas) gets a whole section of town named after him called Thession.

Theseus also gets his moniker on the beautiful near by temple, called, by most local people, the Thession. Its the best preserved temple in Greece too by the way and in the Athenian Agora. We call it the Athenian agora to distinguish it from the Roman Agora. And most folks call the temple the Thession but some people, archeologists mostly, also call it the temple of Hephaisteos (Vulcan) and they do this because Hephaisteos was not only married to Aphrodite (the goddess of love) but was also the patron God of metal smiths who had their workshops right near by.

So the name of the Temple is either Hephaisteos or Theseus depending on which archeologist is in fashion at the moment. In order to see the temple from Thession you can enter the Athenian Agora, which is quite large, from several entrances, one of which is just by the Thession Metro Station! If you walked through the Agora you could come out in Monastiraki Sq and save yourselves some hiking in the hot sun.

Thession, the section of town however has bars and restaurants which I go into a bit in The Restaurant Guide. Same with Psirri, which is the old leather district that is rapidly becoming gentrified. Psirri even has its own Web site in the Links Directory but its in Greek or was the last time I checked it.

Thession is a pleasant promenade space and has good restaurants and cafes and is worth visiting. There is a small square and several ouzeries, cafes and tavernas where you may eat out side with a nice view at ground level or there are roof top restaurants in the Thession area too where you pay extra to look at the Acropolis.

Also if your hormones are active, and you are looking for companionship, there is a strip in Thession (you cant miss it either) with lots of outdoor tables and bars where people of like mind have been know to congregate! Last time I was there it was a heterosexual and a gay crowd and with the tourists in town it will be more exciting still.