Athens Has Cats Everywhere and the Acropolis Is Still the Best Thing There

Athens has somewhere between one and two million stray cats. Nobody knows the exact number. They are in every neighborhood, on every staircase, in every square. The city feeds them collectively and mostly ignores them individually. The cats return the favor.

The Acropolis sits on a limestone hill 490 feet above the city and has been there in one form or another since the fifth century BC. The Parthenon at its center is one of the most studied buildings in human history and also one of the most photographed. Getting a shot of it that does not look like every other shot requires either a different time of day or a different foreground.

The Cat Nap print is both. A cat in the Plaka neighborhood, the old town directly below the Acropolis, with the Parthenon visible in the background. The cat is in focus. The Acropolis is not. The result is something that reads as Athens without looking like a postcard of it.

Both the Acropolis Sunset acrylic and framed prints are also available, along with the Cat Nap in acrylic and framed versions. Free shipping on orders over $80.

The best time to visit the Acropolis is early morning, when it opens at 8am, before the tour groups arrive. The light at that hour is better anyway.