Fingerprints on the Parthenon
Everyone who got their hands on the Acropolis left a mark you can still find. This walk climbs from Dimitris Pikionis's path, paved with the wreckage of demolished Athens, past the Odeon built for a wife whose husband stood trial for her death, through a gate that was never finished, to the Parthenon itself: the sculptor who was tried for putting his own face on the goddess's shield, the engineer whose iron clamps are slowly splitting the marble, and the hole in the Erechtheion's roof left open for a god. It ends where two teenagers took down the swastika in 1941, and in the theater where Socrates stood up in the audience to be laughed at. Eight stops, one hill. Most of this walk is inside the Acropolis site, so you'll need a ticket. Nearly all of it is true. Four things are mine.
What You'll Experience
Plan your walk
Know the route before you buy
- Starts at
- Introduction
- Ends at
- The Reveal
- Walking plan
- 1h 15m · ~0.6 miles
- Schedule
- Start, pause, and resume anytime
Included in the app
- Professional narration
- GPS-triggered stops
- Downloadable tour audio
- Ask the Historian Q&A
- Optional end-of-tour reveal
- All 10 story stops
A taste of what you'll hear
10 stops, each with its own story. Here's a preview.
"You're at the foot of the Acropolis, about to climb to the most famous building on earth, and most of this walk happens inside the ticketed site, so have your ticket ready. The Parthenon has been a temple, a church, a mosque and a gunpowder store."
"The smaller, oddly shaped temple on the north side of the rock, with a porch of six stone women holding up its roof, is the Erechtheion. Those women, the Caryatids, are copies."
"Four of those were mine. Pikionis's rule that no two stones side by side could come from the same demolished house: mine. The path really is built from the wreckage of nineteenth-century Athens, laid by hand, mostly without drawings."
Tour itinerary
Every stop on this walk
Explore the route before you go. Each stop has its own story preview, location details, and place in the larger tour.
- 11IntroductionYou're at the foot of the Acropolis, about to climb to the most famous building on earth, and most of this walk happens inside the ticketed...37.9701, 23.7203 Read this stop
- 22The Pikionis PathsThis winding stone path, and the little church and shelter along it, are the work of an architect named Dimitris Pikionis, and the path is...37.9701, 23.7203 Read this stop
- 33The Odeon of Herodes AtticusThe huge curved stone wall with rows of tall arched windows, built into the slope of the Acropolis, is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a Roman...37.9709, 23.7245 Read this stop
- 44The Propylaea and the Temple of Athena NikeThis is the Propylaea, the great marble gateway to the top of the Acropolis, and perched out on the bastion to its right is the little...37.9716, 23.7251 Read this stop
- 55The Parthenon, West EndThis is the Parthenon, from its west end, the side that greets you when you come up through the gate.37.9715, 23.7263 Read this stop
- 66The ErechtheionThe smaller, oddly shaped temple on the north side of the rock, with a porch of six stone women holding up its roof, is the Erechtheion.37.9721, 23.7265 Read this stop
- 77The Parthenon, East EndAt this end of the Parthenon, look for the cranes, the scaffolding, and the bright white marble set in among the old honey-colored stone.37.9716, 23.7271 Read this stop
- 88The Belvedere and the FlagpoleOut at the far eastern tip of the rock there's a viewing platform with a big Greek flag on a tall pole and the whole city spread out below...37.9719, 23.7280 Read this stop
- 99The Theatre of DionysusBelow the south side of the Acropolis, the half-circle of stone seats climbing the slope is the Theatre of Dionysus.37.9703, 23.7278 Read this stop
- 1010The RevealFour of those were mine. Pikionis's rule that no two stones side by side could come from the same demolished house: mine.37.9703, 23.7278 Read this stop
Stories first
Every stop is built around people, conflict, ambition, and consequences—not a plaque read aloud.
Most of it is true. The extra mischief is just a wink at the end, but the story is what carries the walk.
Have questions? Just ask.
Curious about something you heard? Want to know more about a place? Ask us anything — we have a lot to say. It's more fun when it's a conversation.
Ready?
Download the app, head to the starting point, and press play. The stories start themselves.
Get the AppBefore you go
Quick answers
How much is this tour?
$9.99 as a one-time purchase in the iOS app. The Athens city pack is $14.99 and includes every currently available tour in the city.
Can I use it with spotty cell service?
Download the tour audio on Wi-Fi before leaving. Cached narration plays without streaming; map tiles and other online features may still need a connection.
Do I have to start at a specific time?
No. Start when it suits you, pause for a detour or meal, and resume later. Check the opening hours of any venue you personally plan to enter.
Are admission tickets included?
The purchase covers the Bad Historian audio experience. Transportation, food, and admission to third-party attractions are not included.
Other Athens Tours
Acropolis
Athens in One Morning
Everybody who ever came through Athens tried to put their name on it. This is the first-timer's walk, from Syntagma Square to the marble Panathenaic Stadium, told through the people the guidebook leaves out: the teenage Bavarian king who lost a country in the square outside his own window, a refugee who renamed himself and brought souvlaki back to Monastiraki, a hundred and ninety ballots found at the bottom of a well with the same name on every one, a Swedish writer who watched the Parthenon blow up and carried a book home from the ruins, the hermits who lived on top of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and a water carrier who won the first Olympic marathon and asked the King for a cart. Ten stops, about four kilometers, twenty-five centuries. Nearly all of it is true. Five things are mine. The Parthenon stop plays on the Acropolis itself, so bring a ticket if you're going up.
Plaka
The Village That Appeared Overnight
Almost nothing in Plaka is doing the job it was built for. This walk starts at a chapel with a hotel standing on stilts over it, where, the story goes, a man made the Ottoman army's gunpowder by day and the rebels' by night, and a woman smuggled it out under the dirty laundry. It passes a church with a calendar of pagan holidays over its door, a governor who blew up an ancient column to make plaster, an emperor's olive-oil law that paid informers half, a clock from before Christ with a backup clock inside it, and the house below the Acropolis where a Berlin architect wanted to put the king's palace on top of the rock. It ends in Anafiotika, the island village stonemasons built overnight under the Acropolis, legally, because of a rule about roofs. Nine stops. Nearly all of it is true. Five things are mine.
Fingerprints on the Parthenon
$9.99 · one-time