Museum of Mineralogy and Petrology

A nice escape from the city in the foothills of Mount Hymettus. Walking trails. There's a functional monastery one can walk in, and several ruined chapels or basilicas up on the walks.

This venue attracts world-famous artists all year round.

It's one of Greece's main art institutions and features paintings and works of art from some of Greece's and Europe's best from the 19th and 20th centuries. Emphasis is given to popular Greek contemporary artists including Giannis Tsarouchis, Domenikos Theotokopoulos (a.k.a. El Greco), Theodors Vrizakis, Nikolaos Kounelakis, Nikiforos Litras, Konstantinos Parthenis, Maleas, Giannis Moralis and others.

The National War Museum is the only significant surviving public project of the military dictatorship which ruled Greece 1967 - 1974. The museum's displays are old fashioned and biased towards the more successful periods of Greek military history. The tanks, artillery guns and aircraft on display outside the museum form the most interesting part of its collection, and can be visited for free. Perhaps the only internationally famous object in the collection is the portrait of Lord Byron in hellenic dress.

An ancient temple here hosted lectures by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and early meetings of the Athenian Assembly. Aristotle made the temple the home of his school, the Lyceum. It hosted the world's first zoo and botanical garden, as well as a library which preserved classical Greek works for centuries afterwards. Rediscovered in 1996, the site can now be viewed outdoors. Entrance is from the north, from the same entrance as for the Byzantine and Christian museum.