Ardettos Hill in Mets: Athens' forgotten viewpoint above the Panathenaic Stadium

A few minutes on foot from Syntagma Square, set against the marble curve of the Panathenaic Stadium, rises a pine hill 133 metres high that most visitors to Athens never climb: Ardettos (Lofos Ardittou). It is wedged between the Mets and Pangrati neighbourhoods, above the ancient bed of the Ilissos river, and serves as a public park. While Lycabettus and Philopappos Hill fill up with groups and selfies, here in an hour's walk it is easy to cross paths with only the odd resident walking the dog or a passing jogger.

The court and the temples

The name comes from the hero Ardettos, linked to one of the most curious uses of the place in classical Athens: a popular court (dikasterion) gathered on the hill, and the citizens over thirty who acted as judges swore the Heliastic oath here, pledging to vote according to the laws. The area at the foot of the hill, called Agra, was studded with temples, second in importance only to the Acropolis: there were sanctuaries dedicated to Pan, to Hecate, to Hera and above all to Artemis Agrotera, the huntress goddess. The repeated floods of the Ilissos dismantled almost everything, and of that sacred landscape more names than stones remain today.

The Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium is no ordinary neighbour: it was carved right into the natural hollow between Ardettos and the hill of Agra, dug in the time of Lycurgus around 339 BC and then rebuilt entirely in marble by Herodes Atticus in AD 144, the same stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. On the summit of Ardettos, Herodes Atticus had a small temple to Tyche, the goddess of Fortune, erected, whose foundations are still identifiable among the trees; also at the top there is a tomb that tradition attributes to him.

The view

The concrete reason to climb is the view. The trails, partly paved and partly dirt, lead to viewpoints that are almost never photographed. From above you look literally into the Panathenaic Stadium, with its horseshoe of white marble tiers; raising your gaze you frame in a single sweep the Acropolis with the Parthenon and, lower down towards the Ilissos, the columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieion). In the distance the cone of Lycabettus appears. It is the same skyline as the postcards, but seen from an angle few seek out, and with no one competing for the railing. The pines guarantee shade even at midday, no small thing in Athens.

How to get there

Getting there is simple: from the Syntagma or Evangelismos metro stations it is ten to fifteen minutes on foot, skirting the National Garden and then the stadium. The trail entrances open onto the stadium side and from the Mets neighbourhood, with its uphill residential lanes and a few local cafés. The route is short, less than a kilometre and a half with a modest elevation gain: it takes a good half-hour in comfortable shoes. There is no ticket office, it is an open urban park. The best months are spring and autumn, when the Athens heat is manageable and the low, late-day light sets the stadium marble alight: bring water, because there are no fountains or kiosks on the hill.

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