Plaka and Anafiotika: the old town under the rock
Neoclassical lanes, a Cycladic island village smuggled onto the slope, and the Roman Agora at the edge. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Lysicrates Monument
Start at the small round marble monument on Plateia Lysikratous — a 4th-century BC prize-trophy for a winning chorus, the earliest use of Corinthian columns on a building's exterior. A quiet corner to read before the lanes get busy.

2. Plaka's neoclassical lanes
Wander up through the 19th-century lanes — pastel houses, bougainvillaea, the odd marble doorway. Adrianou and the streets above it are the spine. Buy nothing, or buy a *koulouri* (sesame ring) from a *periptero* (street kiosk) and keep climbing.

3. Anafiotika
The reason for the walk. A cluster of whitewashed, flat-roofed houses built into the slope by masons from the island of Anafi, brought to build King Otto's palace in the 1840s and homesick for the Cyclades. Blue doors, cats, no cars. Walk slowly and quietly; people live here.

4. Church of Agios Georgios tou Vrachou
The tiny whitewashed chapel tucked among the Anafiotika houses, perched on the bare rock its name means. Push the door if it's open; if not, the lane beside it gives the best framed look back down over the rooftops.

5. Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds
Drop down to the marketplace the Romans built when the old Agora filled up. The octagonal Tower of the Winds — a 1st-century BC water clock and weather vane — is the thing to circle. Readable from the railings for free, or go in on the combined ticket.

6. Hadrian's Library edge
Finish at the long wall of the emperor Hadrian's library, built around a colonnaded court in 132 AD. The Corinthian columns along Areos street are the best-preserved face. Monastiraki and the metro are right beyond it.

Plaka and Anafiotika: the old town under the rock