Piraeus

Piraeus has served Athens since antiquity as its vital opening to the sea. The Athenian statesman Themistocles transformed the natural harbour into a fortified naval base after 493 BC, constructing the Long Walls — a corridor of stone linking Athens to the coast — to ensure the city could never be cut off from its fleet. It was from these docks that the Athenian trireme squadrons departed for the fateful Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, where the allied Greek fleet shattered the Persian armada and altered the course of Western civilisation.

Today Piraeus is the largest port in Greece and among the busiest passenger harbours in the world, yet beneath its industrial scale lies a city of genuine character. The Zea Marina, lined with gleaming superyachts, gives way to the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, where the haunting bronze Piraeus Apollo — the oldest known life-size bronze sculpture from ancient Greece, unearthed accidentally by a road crew in 1959 — stands in silent contemplation. The Kastella neighbourhood above the harbour, with its neoclassical villas tumbling down toward the sea and the open-air Veakeio Theatre clinging to the hillside, offers a quieter, more residential face of urban Greece.

The fish tavernas of Mikrolimano — the smallest and most picturesque of Piraeus's three harbours — are among the finest in Attica. Grilled sea bream with lemon and wild herbs, octopus cured on rooftop washing lines and charred over charcoal, and the briny simplicity of sea urchin spread on bread: the menu here follows the rhythms of the Aegean with admirable discipline. The central market off Dimostenous Street, chaotic and aromatic, overflows with salt-cured fish, olives from Kalamata and Halkidiki, and barrels of the pine-resin wine retsina that polarises every first-time visitor.

The position of Piraeus makes it one of the Aegean's great launchpads. The Acropolis of Athens rises just 10 kilometres inland — the metro journey takes 20 minutes — and the UNESCO World Heritage site repays every return visit. Ferries depart Piraeus for the Saronic Islands (Aegina in 40 minutes, Hydra in 90 minutes by conventional ferry), and high-speed vessels reach Mykonos and Santorini by mid-afternoon. Day excursions to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, set on a cliff above the cobalt-blue Aegean, complete one of antiquity's most romantic pilgrimages. Nearby island ports of Symi and Parga, and the anchorage of Nydri on Lefkada, are all reachable on Aegean itineraries.

Piraeus is a major Mediterranean cruise port, with AIDA, Disney Cruise Line, Explora Journeys, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Scenic Ocean Cruises, Seabourn, Silversea, and Tauck all including it on Eastern Mediterranean and Greek Islands itineraries. The Aegean is at its most inviting from late April to early June and again in September — the light golden, the crowds thinner, the sea still warm enough for swimming.