Travelling with kids can be a challenging experience especially in Athens, Greece. While you want to spend the day exploring the ancient sites, children will lose their attention quickly. If you’re looking for different way to discover the city of Athens with your family or group, then you need to check out Athens Insiders.
Athens Insiders provide private and tailor-made travel experiences that are a step above the traditional touring company. The Insiders will personalize your travel with unique insights and knowledge so you can experience Athens as a local.
I had the opportunity to enjoy their morning tour, In Pericles’ Times, with my children and my mom. This tour is geared towards families with a focus on keeping learning fun for kids. Insiders Alexandra and Natalie greeted us for a walk through Plaka to the base of the Acropolis. Then, the games began!
The kids became Athenians for the morning. They learned how the ancient Greeks dressed – and rather than just hear about it, the Insiders showed my boys what Athenians wore. Oh yes, they dressed up with headbands, κεκρύφαλος, and each wore one of the two styles of what men and women wore – the tunic, and the chiton χιτώνας.
They then learned how Athenians would be named and greeted by others; it would be the person’s first name, followed by their father’s name and then the name of their city. So I would be Maria of Grigorios of Agrinio. Then they learned how they greeted others when passing by, and what the family traditions were during those times.
What did the Athenians do for fun? The kids then learned how to play some games that Athenians would play. Frozen Statues, or “Agalmata Akounita”, was a popular game.
Another game was the spinning top, used with an hourglass to see time who could spin it the longest.
After playing some games, we left the base of the Acropolis and headed to Πνύκα, Pnyka or The Pnyx. I had never visited this area before and it was lovely because there were no tourists here! I don’t think regular tour guides take visitors this route – the views are incredible from here.
Beginning as early as 507 BC, the Athenians gathered on the Pnyx to host their popular assemblies, thus making the hill one of the earliest and most important sites in the creation of democracy. The steps pictured below were the podium where the Athenians would voice their opinions about matters concerning Athens.
Each citizen had equal amount of time to share their view without interruption. We also learned how the debates would occur. Alexandra and Natalie acted out a debate, both with equal amount of time to plead their case. We then had an opportunity to vote as Athenians would – by writing on pieces of pottery. The votes would then be counted and the winner would be chosen.
The kids also learned about ancient Greek pottery, how pottery was made, and some of the images used to decorate. They had the chance to try their hand at making their own pottery design.
What a fun way to learn about Athens and a lovely introduction to Greek history for my children. I loved the hands-on experience of learning, and knowledge the Insiders’ offered. Alexandra and Natalie were warm, passionate and knowledgeable. They answered our questions and provided interesting historical and cultural context.
Alexandra and Natalie provided us with wonderful insight to the history and architecture, and offered recommendations on best times to visit other sites, good restaurants to visit and other things to do during our stay in Athens.
Make sure to visit Athens Insiders before planning your trip to Athens, and visit Discover Greece for more information on Greek destinations.
Thank you to Discover Greece and Athens Insiders for this amazing experience!
15 Comments
What a fun way for the kids to learn to enjoy traveling a little differently! I’ve always wanted to visit Greece and now I want to take my nieces and nephews to experience everything with me! 🙂
I had no idea they had this kinds of activities for the kids. It’s a great way to let them absorb the culture and basically enjoy the trip as well.
I would absolutely LOVE to take my boys to Greece. Unfortunately they are too young for it now, but hopefully we will visit some day!
Definitely consider when they are a bit older, especially because of the site seeing!
What a great experience for your kids! I am sure this is something they will treasure for the rest of their lives. Great moms like you rock!
Thanks Annemarie! They had a wonderful time and I’m sure they’ll remember this trip.
What a memorable experience for your kids! I love this idea. Greece is on my bucket list!
Great place. I love travel and i want to go there with my kid’s i think we have fun in this place.
Wow! what an awesome idea to get the kiddos involved this way!
It definitely makes it a fun, learning experience for the kids and I think they’ll remember the experience more than a traditional tour.
We always bring our kids whenever we travel. It’s always an opportunity for us to learn about different cultures, places and a lot more. It’s so nice that they have this kind of activities for kids.
I’d love to take the kids. I think it’d be such an amazing experience for them (and for me too!).
Great photos you have here…. I would love to visit Greece someday! Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful way to explore! It looks like a very small group–just your family. Is that usually how the tour works? How do you think this style tour would work with lots of ages of kids–like teenagers down to 5-year-olds?
Yes, Athens Insiders can arrange for private tours. They can personalize the experience for the entire group, so I’m sure they could make it work for teens to school-age kids!