ATHENS, Greece — When visiting Athens, go for the old.

And the very old. Athens has been a city for 3,400 years.

Part mythic (thank the gods), part modern and famously gritty, many visitors make only one stop — at the Acropolis — before hopping a ferry to the Greek islands.

That's changing. A $55-million urban renewal, launched for the 2004 Olympic Games, is busy creating an "archeological park" across the city.

Ancient sites, monuments, green areas and squares in Athens' historic center are now linked along a two-mile pedestrian walkway. Meandering around the great limestone base of the Acropolis, visitors walk past fragrant olive and pine trees up the ancient approach to the Parthenon itself.

In central Syntagma, major museums such as the Cycladic Art, Benaki and National Archaeological Museum have expanded and been renovated, And around the city, scores of neoclassical buildings have been given a facelift. Athena, the city's patroness, would be proud.

The most famous renovation of all, that of the Parthenon (finished in 432 B.C.), dominates the skyline. Visible from almost everywhere, visited by 13 million people each year, the Parthenon is as astonishing in real time as it appears in photographs. Big as it is, the temple seems light, graceful. And from this rocky outcrop, the old neighborhoods of Plaka and Monastiraki reveal yet more temples, archways, columns, statues and amphitheaters.

Traffic roars around many of these famous sites; in the city's back streets, the graffiti is depressing. But stroll through the ancient Greek Agora, and you walk in the footsteps of merchants from 2,200 years ago. Pass beneath the Roman emperor Hadrian's marble gateway and imagine him entering the city.

If you ignore the crowds, the mopeds, the dust and the noise, it's possible to step back 2,500 years to Pericles' Golden Age of Athens before taking off for hedonistic Mykonos or lovely Corfu.

PARTHENON'S A MUST-SEE, BUT DON'T STOP THERE

Athens is famed for its museums, gardens and outdoor cafes

Even a short stay in Athens is enough to explore the city's old quarter, easily navigated on foot. Or you can take the metro — in this city of temperamental drivers, it's best to leave the driving to the locals.

FIRST, THE RUINS: The temples on the Acropolis, built in the late fifth century B.C. to honor the goddess Athena, top every sightseeing list. Going early is best to beat the energy-sapping heat and big tour groups. And the climb is pleasant, past the Theatre of Dionysus, the limestone caves, the great amphitheater of Herodes Atticus (still used for the Athens festival) and the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon itself. Few sculptures remain (most are in the New Acropolis Museum), but on the temple's north side, casts of the famous hard-working caryatids support the roof of the Erechtheion temple's Porch of Maidens (the originals were removed in 1979 to prevent damage from pollution).

Visitors wander the summit freely but may no longer walk through the Parthenon itself. One ticket gets you into the Acropolis, the ancient Agora, the Theater of Dionysus, the Kerameikos Cemetery, the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Roman Forum. Tickets are 12 euros ($16.50) (students 6 euros, or $8) and can be used for up to three days. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, April to September; 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. October to March. www.culture.gr.

NEXT, THE TREASURES: When you've seen the Acropolis, head down to the city's sleek New Acropolis Museum at the foot of the rock.

Praised as "one of the highest-profile cultural projects undertaken in Europe in this decade," Athens opened its $180 million showpiece last month to world applause.

New-York-based architect Bernard Tschumi designed the museum to allow the exhibits to be seen in natural light, but with a climate-controlled interior that protects them from the famous Attica sunlight. Five floors contain some 4,000 artifacts; the ground floor, which is largely glass, looks directly down into an excavated fifth-century B.C. settlement.

The museum's upper-level glass-walled gallery and balconies look directly across to the Acropolis. This is where visitors can see the treasures from the Parthenon, then turn to gaze at the ruins of the temple itself. A pristine empty wall is reserved for the museum's famous missing exhibit: the Elgin Marbles, removed from the Parthenon in 1801, and now in the British Museum.

Athens' hottest ticket is also its cheapest. Admission is a single euro ($1.40) but will increase to 5 euros ($7) next year, officials say, "when some global recovery is in sight." 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; closed Mondays and holidays. www.newacropolismuseum.gr/eng/.

CAFE CULTURE: Sitting at an outdoor cafe people-watching is a requirement when visiting Athens. Cool down with a frappe, cappuccino or espresso blended with crushed ice, or a beer.

Outdoor cafes are everywhere, and especially good at the foot of the Acropolis where local musicians entertain for a modest tip. Dine on grilled octopus, moussaka or a plate of pita bread and tzatziki, the delicious Greek yogurt-and-cucumber dip. Skip the retsina and drink ouzo if you must, but a local-brewed cold beer is best.

WALK IN THE NATIONAL GARDENS: Off Syntagma Square, the commercial center of modern Athens, the National Gardens offer the city's best escape from heat and noise. Once the private grounds of Greece's long-deposed royal family, the gardens' leafy walks amid cypress, pine and palm trees lead you to duck ponds and a small botanical museum.

Walk through the gardens to the imposing Parliament building, where you can view the guards (evzones) dressed in traditional skirt-like foustanella and pom-pom shoes. Changing of the guard occurs every hour in front of the nearby Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Drop into the underground Syntagma Metro Station where excavations to extend the metro for the 2004 Olym- pics turned up hundreds of archaeological remains, displayed in the station.

CHOOSE A MUSEUM — OR TWO: It's hard to choose among Athens' wealth of museums, but the National Archaeological Museum is considered one of the world's great collections, packed with treasures from the ancient and classical Greek civilizations.

Each room holds dozens of wonders, from the great bronze statue of Poseidon, god of the sea, to the Antikythera Mechanism, engineered by the Greeks around 87 B.C. and possibly the world's first mechanical computer. You can easily spend half a day there. Have lunch at the museum's atrium cafe next to a garden of massive stone statues hauled from shipwrecks found in the Aegean Sea. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, April to September; 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. October to March. 7 euros ($10). www.culture.gr.

OLYMPIC STADIUM: The Kallimarmaro Olympic Stadium, in central Athens near the National Gardens and across from the Temple of Olympian Zeus, was first built in the fourth century B.C. for the Panathenaic Games. Restored in white marble (from Mount Penteli) for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, the stadium hosted archery and the marathon finish in 2004. Kallimarmaro Stadium was featured on all of the Summer Olympic medals introduced in the 2004 Games, and on the medals awarded at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The stadium is on Vas Konstantinou; it's open to view from the street 24 hours.