What's happening in Athens this week?

Athens this week follows a two-speed day. Temperatures currently sit around 23°C overnight, but by 1pm they tend to push past 35°C with almost no shade on the Acropolis hill. Your mornings before 10am are the only comfortable window for outdoor sightseeing. The Acropolis opens at 8am, and if you walk up from Monastiraki metro station by 8:15, you'll have roughly 90 minutes before the marble starts radiating heat through your shoes. The Ancient Agora, at the hill's northwest base, feels 3-4 degrees cooler under its plane trees. After 11am, head underground or indoors. The National Archaeological Museum on Patission Street and the Acropolis Museum on Dionysiou Areopagitou both run strong air conditioning and stay open until 8pm most summer days.

Monday is Athens' slow day. The National Archaeological Museum doesn't open until 1pm, and several smaller sites close entirely. The Benaki Museum on Koumbari Street keeps normal hours, and the Acropolis runs daily. Tuesday through Thursday feel residential. Athenians still outnumber visitors in neighborhoods like Koukaki during midweek evenings. Varvakios Agora, the central meat-and-fish market on Athinas Street, operates Monday through Saturday from 7am to 3pm. The smell of oregano and hanging lamb hits you 20 meters before the entrance. Friday evening, the weekend crowd fills Gazi's rooftop bars. Sunday morning belongs to two rituals. The full Evzone guard-change at Syntagma Square starts at 11am. Soldiers in pleated fustanella skirts march from the barracks on Irodou Attikou Street. The Monastiraki flea market runs daily but triples in size on Sundays along Adrianou and Ifestou Streets.

Dinner in Athens rarely starts before 9pm in summer. Friday and Saturday push that to 10pm. The Plaka neighborhood below the Acropolis is where most first-timers end up, and to be fair, the rooftop views of the illuminated Parthenon from a table on Mnisikleous Street are worth the 15-20% price bump. For what locals eat, walk west to Thissio instead. To Steki tou Ilia on Eptachalkou Street serves only lamb chops and pork chops on paper tablecloths, about €13 a plate. In Psyrri, groups at the tables along Iroon Square share grilled octopus and cold Mythos by 9:30pm. Athens tipping runs 5-10%, not the 20% North American standard. A €45 dinner becomes a €50 note left on the table.

Open-air cinema season is in full swing right now. Cine Thisio on Apostolou Pavlou Street screens films with the Acropolis lit up behind the screen, tickets about €8. Screenings start around 9pm when the sky finally darkens. The sound of cicadas from the Philopappos Hill pines competes with the dialogue during quiet scenes. Mind you, Athens tap water is drinkable and cold, piped from the Mornos reservoir about 200km northwest, so fill a bottle at any public fountain. The metro runs until roughly midnight Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, trains run until about 2am. At the current rate of €0.88 to the dollar, a €15 taverna dinner works out to about $17.