Apokries is Greek carnival season: weeks of costumes, confetti and parades that end with Clean Monday, when families head up the hills to fly kites and share Lenten picnics. We picked the days worth planning around, from a costumed parade through the city center to the kids' own parade at the Patras Carnival, plus the hill where Athenians have flown their kites for decades.
The City of Athens' big carnival parade fills the center during Apokries, the Greek carnival season. Costumed kids and adults march, joined by stilt walkers, percussion bands, cheerleaders and folk dance groups.
The route ends in a street party with a DJ, music, dancing and a bubble show. It suits kids who enjoy a loud, packed crowd, less so those who find noise hard.
The kids' parade is the children's part of the Patras Carnival: a parade of the little ones, held one week before the carnival's big Sunday parade. Families come to watch from the street.
It is an outdoor event in Patras, so from Athens it makes a full day out. It suits kids who are fine standing outdoors for a while.
Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) is when Athenians head outdoors to fly kites and share Lenten food, a tradition called Koulouma. For decades, Filopappou Hill has been the city's traditional meeting spot for it.
The City of Athens has welcomed the crowd with its Philharmonic Orchestra, free Lenten dishes and a traditional island music party. Kids come for the kites, so bring one and let them run.
Philopappos Hill, the ancient Hill of the Muses, rises southwest of the Acropolis under pines, olives and cypresses. Stone paths and resting terraces laid by architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s climb to the Philopappos Monument, the 2nd-century mausoleum of a Roman consul.
On the way, kids can look into the rock-cut caves known as the "Prison of Socrates" and stop at the small church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris.
Apokries is Greek carnival season: weeks of costumes, confetti and parades that end with Clean Monday, when families head up the hills to fly kites and share Lenten picnics. We picked the days worth planning around, from a costumed parade through the city center to the kids' own parade at the Patras Carnival, plus the hill where Athenians have flown their kites for decades.
The City of Athens' big carnival parade fills the center during Apokries, the Greek carnival season. Costumed kids and adults march, joined by stilt walkers, percussion bands, cheerleaders and folk dance groups.
The route ends in a street party with a DJ, music, dancing and a bubble show. It suits kids who enjoy a loud, packed crowd, less so those who find noise hard.
The kids' parade is the children's part of the Patras Carnival: a parade of the little ones, held one week before the carnival's big Sunday parade. Families come to watch from the street.
It is an outdoor event in Patras, so from Athens it makes a full day out. It suits kids who are fine standing outdoors for a while.
Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) is when Athenians head outdoors to fly kites and share Lenten food, a tradition called Koulouma. For decades, Filopappou Hill has been the city's traditional meeting spot for it.
The City of Athens has welcomed the crowd with its Philharmonic Orchestra, free Lenten dishes and a traditional island music party. Kids come for the kites, so bring one and let them run.
Philopappos Hill, the ancient Hill of the Muses, rises southwest of the Acropolis under pines, olives and cypresses. Stone paths and resting terraces laid by architect Dimitris Pikionis in the 1950s climb to the Philopappos Monument, the 2nd-century mausoleum of a Roman consul.
On the way, kids can look into the rock-cut caves known as the "Prison of Socrates" and stop at the small church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris.
