Spend Sunday mornings in Athens in the slightly seedy area of Plateia Avissynias, as the area comes alive with Athen's notorius Monastiraki Flea Market.

Part treasure-trove, part bizarre bazaar, you'll find trinkets and old junk you never knew you needed, as well as antique shops that are are here all week. Rub shoulders with the locals who get there early to scoop the best buys, and bring your haggling skills.

Cafes and bars bordering the market overspill onto the street at weekends, and add to the festive ambience as you sift through the stalls.

It makes for a colourful, slightly manic morning, and your rummaging may be rewarded with a treasure or two - I came away with some antique pink Turkish bottles, and bags of old ornate jewellery - I managed to resist the ancient gramophone that I was told still works!

Plateia Avissynias & Ermou

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These super-stylish self-catering apartments are only five minutes away from the Acropolis, and are spacious enough for families on a budget, groups of friends, or couples who want a bargain alternative to backpacker hostels.

The open-plan studios are styled with funky furniture and modern art on the walls, and fully equipped with a kitchen, free internet, a flatscreen TV, bathrooms, and air conditioning - a welcome respite from the intense summer heat and city smog.

The bedroom and sitting room both have their own balconies, or you can head up to the rooftop bar for a breathtaking view of the Acropolis as the sun sets. The perfect accompaniments are a well-priced cold bottle of beer and Sheesha Pipes in every flavour from Coca-Cola to Vanilla.

There's also a happy hour from 7-8pm every night with half-price cocktails-the Parthenon Passion is a must!

If you want budget accomodation but aren't quite ready to bunk down in a hostel dorm, the Athens Studios allow you to tackle this frenetic city at your own pace.

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/greece/athens/13617/

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Avoid the scores of tacky tourist shops that spring up in Plaka during the summer months - your friends and family won't miss the miniature Acropolis keyring or T-Shirts printed with 'It's all Greek to Me' you could have wasted your Euros on.

Instead, there are two brilliant places to pick up local and traditional Greek handicrafts.

Oikotexnia is run by the Institute of Social Protection, so you will be helping to preserve and promote traditional Greek handicrafts as well as scoring some top quality souvenirs. Best buys include knotted carpets, fluffy Flokatis rugs, embroidered cushions and tablecloths.

The Centre of Hellenic Traditions is a haven from Plaka's mass-produced tat and sells Greek art, icons, pottery, wood carvings, embroideries, and prints. Best of all, there's a charming cafe on-site for enjoying a view of the Acropolis

Oikotexnia, Filellinon 14, Plaka

Centre of Hellenic Tradition, Mitropoleos 3 and Pandrossou 36 in the Plaka

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An easy stroll up this pine-covered hill offers one of the best views of the Acropolis, and is known as the 'hill of muses' for inspiring poets with its beauty.

A maze of paths winds lazily to the top and is well-shaded - ideal for coping with the blistering August heat. Most people come here for the views of the Acropolis opposite and southern Athens stretching to the sea, but you'll come across many more historic sights on your travels.

Highlights include the cave where Socrates was imprisoned, the Pnyx, a limestone theatre carved into the hillside, and the birthplace of Athenian democracy, and the Neo-Classical Old Observatory.

If you have time, make sure you catch a performance of traditional Greek dance at the Dora Stratou Dance Theatre, and a enjoy a coffee at the Loumbardiaris cafe.

Metro: Akropoli

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Athen's Central Market is packed full of stalls selling mouthwatering Greek food - cheeses, olives and dried fruit, but it is essentially a meat market.

If you really want to eat like the locals, and fancy some cheap and filling fare away from the overpriced restaurants in Plaka, brave the tavernas in the centre, feeding hungry workers and hung-over clubbers with steaming bowls of 'Patsas', tripe soup.

Epeiros and Papandreou are the most authentic, with stoves simmering over with huge pots of chickpeas and all manner of tripe soups, which the cooks swear are cholesterol-free and have medicinal properties.

The science behind that may be sketchy, but a bowl of the soup blasts hangovers away after one too many glasses of ouzo, and the restaurants are incredibly atmopsheric, with tables crammed with loudmouth market workers day and night. I opted for the Mayeritsa which is a tripe soup made with an egg-lemon sauce, and after a few nervous spoonfuls, found myself licking the bowl clean.

If you can't face the tripe, pick from plates piled high with lamb so tender it falls off the bone, roasted potatoes and bottles of delicious red wine.

Between Sofokleous & Evripidou, Athinas 42

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Greece is a wonderful place to visit over the Easter weekend - more specifically, Athens. Orthodox Easter is celebrated in Greece, meaning that shops and restaurants aren't closed in observance of western Easter. Athens is a surprising vibrant and cosmopolitan city. The seaside area of Glyfada is filled with fantastic cafes, bars, shops, restaurants and beach clubs. Psirri, an area in the center of Athens, has a booming nightlife and is full of a bohemian young crowd. There is, of course, also a wealth of historical and archeological sites to visit.

The average high temperature in April is 20.2 C/68.4 F and many locals swim in the sea year-round. There are low-cost flights available from the UK. It's a great place for a long weekend in Europe.

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One of the most trendy fish taverns in Hadjykyriakio. Try the Retsina wine, the shrimps and the best Greek salad made by Lazaros the owner.

Hatzikiriakou 126
HATZIKIRIAKIO
Tel: 210 4514226
www.athensguide.org/athens-restaurants.html

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Listen to the traditional sounds of the underground music scene in Greece (a strangely likable blend of blues and bouzouki) at this little club away from the tourist crowds of Plaka. Rembetiki Stoa Athanaton is a popular place with a fun crowd just north of the Monastiraki flea market. As with much of Athens, things didn’t start warming up until midnight.

Sofokleos 19

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Located in trendy Gazi among lively clubs, Sardelles has fresh Greek seafood at affordable prices. There’s a selection of decent salads and fish dishes, including delicious grilled sardines which are a bit of a specialty and where the restaurant gets its name. Tables on the pavement make it a pleasant al-fresco spot in summer.

Persefonis 15, Gazi

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This Athens hostel has a great location just minutes from the Acropolis. Dorm rooms are cheap, airy and modern. It’s a great base for exploring the historic sights of the city on a budget but also for making the most of the lively nightlife. The rooftop bar has amazing views over the famous ruins and cheap drinks. There’s no curfew so stay out as late as you like!

12 Makri Street, Makryanni, Athens

www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/greece/athens/5734/

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Just below the Acropolis lies this enchanting area of whitewashed cottages which were built by migrant workers from Anafi island when Athens was first established as capital of Greece. Although the city is busy and loud, the old-fashioned style and quiet alleys make Anafiotika feel like a tiny island village.

Between Lysicrates Monument and Kanellopoulos Museum, Plaka.

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Heading to the top of the Hill of the Muses (Museion) offers a great perspective on the Acropolis, Athens’ most famous landmark. There are no large structures between the two hills and fewer coach trips around so it’s the ideal spot to appreciate the sight from a distance – and snap a photo or two.

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Athens got its own 'In Your Pocket' city guide this month. Like every other IYP guide around Europe, it is packed with useful, timely and accurate information about accommodation, restaurants, nightlife, sightseeing, shopping etc.

If there isn't one in your hotel room, you can buy it at foreign press news stands for just €2 or simply download it for free.

www.inyourpocket.com

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Greece has a strong tradition of open air cinema in the summer months, and Athens has a startling number of venues. They can often be a bit shabby, and you'd best bring your own refreshments but with the right movie it can be great. I saw Tarantino's Death Proof on a rooftop in Exarchia, and it's hard to believe it could be better viewed any other way.

www.travelling.gr/helloathens/Cinemas.html

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You can get free maps, useful illustrated leaflets and small books at the GNTO offices in Athens at 26 Amalias Street. You can also download free maps of Greece from several interesting websites.

www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=805&langID=2
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/maps.htm

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A very interesting article about driving to Greece by car. If you plan a driving holiday to Greece read it.

www.in2greece.com/blog/2007/09/england-to-greece-by-car.html

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In the centre of Athens, a museum in a neoclassical villa with collections covering every period of Greek history.

Lots of interesting exhibit types you don't see in the more popular places; not particularly visited by tourists so good to spend time there.

Good little shop with quality souvenirs; cafe.

Admission worth €6 of anybody's money.

Closed Tuesday, Free Thursday and also if you are a family with more than three children - there is a toys and games collection.

Also other collections in annexes around town: for example, one of the most important collections of Islamic art outside the Islamic world. See the website.

1 Koumbari and Vas Sofias avenue (up side of Houses of Parliament just off Syntagma)
www.benaki.gr

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The Temple of Olympian Zeus is one of the landmarks of Athens like Acropolis and Parthenon. Its construction began during the 6th century BC and finished in the 2nd century AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The temple of Zeus is situated next to Zappeion at the junction of Vasilissis Amalias and Vasilissis Olgas Avenues, the main entrance is at Vasilissis Olgas Avenue 1. On the same field you can visit Hadrian's Arch.

www.britannica.com/eb/topic-427981/temple-of-Olympian-Zeus
www.in2greece.com/english/places/summer/mainland/athens.htm

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The National Archaeological museum is the largest museum in Greece. It has collections from all the eras of the Greek civilization from the 6th millennium BC until the late Antiquity. Large collections of sculpture and ceramics from the Geometric Period. The most famous items are the bronze statue of Poseidon, the Mycenaean death Mask of Agamenon, the small marble statue of The Harp player from Keros from the prehistoric Cycladic period, the bronze statue of the Young man from Antikythera, the bronze statue - Boy and Horse from Artemision and many others.

Patission Street 44 Athens
+30 2108217717
odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3249

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Plaka is one of the most popular spots in Athens. Since Melina Mercury cleaned up the area from the noisy bars and night clubs, today Plaka is a quiet small Greek village inside the overcrowded Athens center.

Best time to enjoy Plaka is early spring and late October when the tourist wave has gone. There are many places and museums to visit in Plaka among them the museums of Greek folk art, the Children's Museum, the Frissiras Museum of Greek painting and the Greek music instruments museum. In Plaka you can see also the Roman bath of the Winds and the Lysicrates monument, next to it was the Capuchin Monastery where Lord Byron stayed. Across the Adrianou street and on the steps of Plaka you will find many shops, cafes and restaurants.

www.galenfrysinger.com/plaka_athens_greece.htm
www.remunda.com/travel/review/plaka_athens.html
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/athens-map.html

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