Koukaki and the Acropolis Museum
The quiet quarter under the south slope, Tschumi's glass museum, and a café street locals keep. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Odos Drakou
Start on the pedestrianised café street that anchors Koukaki — tables out, a slow morning crowd, the neighbourhood at breakfast. Take a coffee at whichever table catches the sun; this is the residential Athens the south-slope crowds never reach.

2. Plateia Koukaki
The little square the quarter gathers around, a few minutes north — kiosks, old men with worry beads, a church on the corner. Nothing to see, exactly; that's why it's worth standing in for a moment before the route turns grand.

3. Acropolis Museum (Bernard Tschumi)
Tschumi's glass-and-concrete building hovers over the excavation it's built above — walk the glass floor over the ancient streets, then up to the top gallery where the Parthenon marbles face the real Parthenon through the windows. Book ahead; go early.

4. Dionysiou Areopagitou
Step out onto the great pedestrian boulevard that curls under the south slope — marble paving, plane trees, the Acropolis above on one side. The finest city walk in Athens with no cars on it. Stroll it slowly; everyone does.

5. Theatre of Dionysus (from the railing)
Where Greek tragedy was first staged, spilling down the slope above the boulevard. You don't need the ticket to see it — lean on the railing and look up at the stone seats. Sophocles and Euripides premiered here; the hill hasn't changed much.

6. Akropoli station and the Makrygianni cafés
End at Akropoli Metro, where Makrygianni's cafés cluster by the museum. Sit with a frappé and the Acropolis still in view, or drop straight down the stairs to the Metro 2 line home.

Koukaki and the Acropolis Museum