The Ancient Agora

Having visited the Acropolis, we also went to the equally if not more interesting Agora, or ancient city center market, with the temple of Haephestus. While smaller in size to the parthenon, the temple of Haephestus, completed in 415 BC, is the most intact temple of its kind in existence.

There is a small but impressive museum in the Stoa of Attalos, a modern reconstruction of the ancient colonnaded structure, which contains early artifacts, pottery shards and most interestingly, a collection of circular bronze disks which were election ballots used in early democratic Athens.

The Stoa Recreation

It is such an interesting contrast between ancient Athens and modern Athens, but the ancient and modern seem to coexist. It seems there is nowhere where you are not within sight of the Acropolis. Restaurants offer seating overlooking classical ruins, and the Agora is probably the only archaeological site with a train running through it.