A trip with a wheelchair, in the footsteps of ancient Greece

Brief introduction

I flew to Greece with the goal of visiting ancient sites (a kind of childhood dream) that are inherently not the most accessible. Therefore, it is impossible to judge the general accessibility situation in Greece based on that.

I use a manual wheelchair and hired a local guy (whom Hadar from Wheelerz found) to help me during the day. He helped me get to inaccessible parts of the sites as well. However, all the places I visited have some level of accessibility.

Within Athens, I mainly used public transportation, including buses and an inaccessible subway line, combined with taxis (which were on strike on the second and third days of the trip). For trips outside the city, I hired a chauffeur (a regular car without a lift).

All the sites I was on were free for the disabled person and their companion. Some of them asked to see a disability certificate.

hotel:

Athenian Montaza Hotel

It has one accessible room.

- 3 single beds (2 of which were connected) of normal height (not high).

- Roll-in shower including shower chair

- There is an elevator at the entrance. The hotel employees don't always see that there is someone outside to come and operate it. Sometimes it took them a while to succeed (each time they played with buttons and switches).

- And now for the problematic part. To get from the road to the sidewalk, there is a steep concrete pour. Not sure if even a motorized chair would be able to handle it.

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Hotel wet room

transport

subway

- All stations are accessible (with elevators)

- 2 of the 3 lines are fully accessible

- On the third line (the green line), in most cases the train does not stick to the platform and a large gap is created.

Buses

- There are accessible buses with a manual ramp like in Israel, but in 80 percent of cases I encountered inaccessible ones.

Day 1

Temple of Poseidon - Temple of Poseidon

Right after landing, I went to see the Temple of Poseidon in an area called Cape Sounio - ruins of an ancient temple from which there is also a beautiful view. There is a long and quite steep climb that reaches almost to the temple itself. After that there are a number of steps and then a ramp. This lack of logic surprised me, but after a while I realized that this is how Greek accessibility is.

From there I went to Athens.

Panathenaic

A marble stadium built on the site of an ancient stadium. The place is accessible without steep climbs and proper ramps (a rare sight on this trip). Only a small museum in an inaccessible place (there is a long staircase).

Temple of Zeus - Temple of Zeus

A small park with the remains of a temple in its center (of which a few columns remain) and some less important antiquities of which barely a few stones remain. The paths are mainly a dirt road with a fairly steep descent at the entrance.

Arch of Hadrian

A gate built in the Roman period that simply stands next to the road.

Day 2

Hadrian's Library -

Ruins of an ancient library and church. The paths are a dirt and gravel road with steep climbs. There is a separate accessible entrance and someone has to go to the main entrance to ask for it to be opened. There are accessible toilets on site (I didn't go in to check how good they are).

The Roman Agora

A small area of Roman antiquities. Most of the site is accessible by dirt paths, but they are reasonable. I don't remember there being an accessible walkway at the entrance to the site.

Ancient Agora

A much larger area of antiquities (the second most important in Athens after the Acropolis). The two significant things there are the Temple of Hephaestus and a small museum with finds from the Agora built in the shape of the original structure that stood there.

Only part of the agora is accessible. And even what is requires effort. The museum is completely accessible, including elevators to the second floor. And there are accessible restrooms (I checked them).

To get to the temple, you have to enter through a special gate at the other end of the place. And here I met the Greek "little head". When I was done with the rest of the site, I went to the cashier and asked the employee to send someone to open this entrance. She claimed that there was no such entrance. I won't tell the whole story, but after ping-ponging with several of the employees of the place (including on the phone) I arrived at the long-awaited entrance and the temple, which was the most impressive ancient temple I had ever seen (the temple remains almost intact to this day).

Phone number of the Agora to ask to open that gate (insist and ask to speak to the manager if necessary):

+30 210 321 4824, +30 210 321 0180

Aristotle's Academy Aristotle's Lyceum

Ruins of a school founded and taught by Aristotle. The site is accessible by reasonable dirt paths. Not much remains of it, so it is recommended only for serious archaeology enthusiasts.

War Museum

A small museum with weapons mainly from recent centuries, reconstructions of ancient Greek weapons and some original antiquities.

Day 3

מ

Theater of Dionysus

An ancient amphitheater located under the Acropolis. Preserved in fairly good condition. As far as I remember, there is no accessible way to get to it.

Odeon of

Another ancient amphitheater not far away where performances are occasionally held. It is accessible but entry is only allowed during performances. Therefore, it can only be seen from the outside.

Acropolis Museum

An accessible museum with finds from the Acropolis site (mainly statues). On the ground floor outside you can see the remains of an entire ancient town.

Keramikos

Another ancient site with a museum. The place is closed for upgrades until 2026, but a significant part can be seen from the outside.

Day 4

National Archeological Museum

A huge and accessible museum with ancient artifacts from all regions of Greece. Statues, weapons, gold, pottery (the second floor is mostly pottery), etc.

Hellenic Motor Museum

A different place from everything else on the trip. It's an accessible 3-story museum of antique cars, the museum has accessible restrooms.

Athens National Garden

Nice and accessible park.

Syntagma Square

The most important square in Athens. Next to it is the parliament, where every hour there is a changing of the guard ceremony (in my opinion the ceremony is nice, but nothing more than that).

Day 5

A day outside Athens

Corinth

View of a canal built to shorten shipping lanes.

Ancient Corinth Ancient Corinth

An ancient site where the most impressive structure is the Temple of Apollo, located right at the entrance. You can reach the temple on a completely accessible and paved path. The rest of the site is a combination of paved and dirt roads. There is also a small museum near the entrance, which is also led to by a completely accessible path.

Ancient Nemea and the Temple of Zeus - Ancient Nemea - Temple of Zeus

A site that only has a temple. To get to it there is a path made of stones. The path is narrow and elevated. You have to be very careful not to fall off it.

Ancient Stadium of Nemea

An ancient stadium located very close to the previous site. Relatively accessible except for the entrance, which has a very steep (and unpaved) climb.

Epidaurus

One of the most impressive and accessible sites. Most places can be reached by a paved path, sometimes a bit steep (with a manual chair, fitness is required).

The most impressive and famous site is a huge amphitheatre that is fully preserved. Performances are occasionally held there. It is one of the most impressive antiquities in Greece.

The second site (walking distance from Hampi) is

Day 6

Another day outside Athens

Mycenae - Tomb of Agamemnon

A huge, fully preserved burial structure. It was once thought to be a relative of King Agamemnon (which was proven wrong, but the name remains).

To enter the building you have to climb a step or two, but seeing it from the outside is also worth a visit.

Citadel of Mycenae

Walking distance from the previous site (but I went by car). One of the least accessible sites on the trip. The citadel is not accessible (only stairs). There is a gate that is a highlight of the place called the Lions Gate (it turns out they also have one) but to get to it there is a paved but long and steep climb.

There is a museum on site, but it is not particularly impressive.

Nafplio

The first capital of modern Greece.

The old city (at least the part I was in) is a paradise of accessibility. The area of restaurants, shops, the central square Syntagma Square, the promenade in front of the sea - flat and paved.

There is an accessible museum (of antiquities, of course) in the square, located in a 300-year-old building. You just need someone to come up and ask to turn on the alarum.

I just don't know if and where there are accessible restrooms in the area. The only ones I found were accessible but, of course, with a step at the entrance.

And now for the "fun" part. There is a small island in the sea right next to the shore with a centuries-old fortress (Bourtzi Fortress). To my surprise, I discovered that two years ago they installed an elevator on it that allows you to visit most of the fortress's areas. There are even accessible toilets there. What they didn't think about was that a disabled person would first have to somehow get to this island, and the boats that take tourists there are of course not accessible. The boat operators came out guns blazing and manually lifted me up (I had spoken to them from Israel). They even refused to take payment despite my insistence.

Day 7

Olympia

A famous archaeological site located about 3 and a half hours drive from Athens. The site is home to the original Olympic Stadium.

In addition, it contains the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, inside which stood a giant statue of Zeus, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The trails at the site are a mix of dirt and gravel. At least it's relatively flat. The most sinking gravel is at the entrance to the stadium.

There are also two accessible museums - "Museum of Ancient Olympia" and "Museum of the History of the Olympic Games" (accessible).

Day 8

We have arrived at the last day of the trip.

Some of you are probably wondering how it is the last day and I haven't yet visited the Acropolis of Athens.

About three weeks before the flight, the elevator that goes up there broke down and no one knew when it was expected to be back in operation (there were even several articles in the local press about it). I checked its condition every day until, towards the sixth day of the trip, I gave up. Before leaving the hotel on the eighth day, I decided to check anyway and a miracle happened - the elevator was back in operation!

When you arrive at the entrance to the Acropolis by taxi, you should ask the driver not to drop you off where everyone else is entering, but to continue to the ticket office - which saves time (they allow it if there is a disabled passenger). After the ticket office, you are directed to a vehicle (with an elevator) that takes the visitor to the elevator.

On the Acropolis hill there is a paved path that allows you to see the main Parthenon building up close and from all sides and get closer to part of the famous Erechtheion building with columns in the form of statues (5 of the original columns are in the Acropolis Museum and one in the British Museum in London). And of course, see the view from the hill.

Piraeus

After the Acropolis, I took the subway to the neighboring city of Piraeus. I visited the marina and the maritime museum, which is also accessible.

Lycabettus Hill

The highest hill in Athens. You can't get to the top (there are a lot of stairs), but even from a partial height you can see a great view.

From here I returned to the hotel, collected my suitcase, drove to the airport and said to Greece, "See you next time."