Olympic flame
Ancient Olympia was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and the first games were hosted in Athens in first modern Olympics back in 1896.
Since then, every four years of Summer Games and every four of Winter Games, that makes every two years, Olympic flame lights in Ancient Olympia Stadium and being transferred by torch relay to Athens. From Panathenaic Stadium it is passed to the host country. Responsible for this magnificent event is Greek Olympic Committee (HOC), based in Athens and created in 1894, here you can read its history.
During the ceremony, Panathenaic stadium is open and the Olympic protocol is kept, that is why you should be there. Even if you haven’t a plan to visit Athens during that occasion, you can take the opportunity and run in Plaka!
Olympic monuments of Athens
Athens has Zeus Olympic temple, Panathenaic stadium that are directly related to Olympia. Not forget to mention Parthenon’s architect Pheidias, who was exiled from Athens and opened his lab at Olympia, a space that you can see during your visit at the archeological site.
Moreover, by using metro line 1 (green) from Monastiraki you get to Irini metro station, in just 35 minutes, where you can visit the modern Olympics 2004 Games infrastructure.