This text is part of the article “And the Living is A-Z”, published in Greece-Is Athens, Summer 2018 Edition. By Paulina Björk Kapsalis, Maria Coveou, Nena Dimitriou, Alex King, Maria Korachai, Pagona Lipsati & Alexandra Tzavella.

Athenians love to run. In the summer, they head out early in the morning, before the heat sets in, or in the evening after the sunset for a run in the city center. There are, indeed, few things as awesome as looking up in the middle of a run to see the Acropolis lit up against the night sky.

The city’s coolest trail, without a doubt, is the dirt track crowning the Panathenaic Stadium (the entrance is on Archimidous Street in the Mets district).

Another great route is a 2.5km jog that starts at Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus on Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, moves across Amalias Avenue, and up the pedestrianized street of Dionysiou Areopagitou. At the open-air Ciné Thiseio cinema, take a right onto the dirt path running between the Areopagus and the Ancient Agora; this path leads to the Roman Agora and Plaka.