In Athens, a sense of history can be found where you least expect it, writes Alexandra Billington.

Aside from the obvious sightseeing attractions (or obligations!) in Athens, such as the Acropolis and shiny new Acropolis museum, for me, having lived in this dusty old city many moons ago, there’s one real attraction I have an ongoing affection for: Plaka. Yes, it’s touristy as hell, a commercialised cliché of Greece, and – yes, yes, yes – the service it often awful, so saturated with tourists is it.  But, despite its commercialism, somehow the pedestrian area of Plaka, at the base of the Acropolis, still manages to maintain a taste of bygone Athens.

Walk around here (right near the easily accessible Syntagma Square) on a late autumn or early spring morning and you will still be able to live the old adage that it some places in the world, time really does stand still.