Athens for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

The flea-market square under the Acropolis, with the mosque, the metro mouth and the koulouri sellers; children like the bustle and the pigeons.

Skewers, pita and fries at a corner souvlaki bar with tables on the pavement; a child's dinner in ten minutes, a parent's in fifteen.

A playground, a duck pond, a small zoo of goats and peacocks, and paths flat enough for a scooter; the gates close at sunset.

The one big thing, booked for opening and done in ninety minutes: the Parthenon, the caryatids, and the view down to the sea; under-eighteens go free.

A dome show on the stars with headsets in English, in a planetarium with the biggest screen in the country; the four o'clock show suits the nap.

Dinner by the canal in the Niarchos park next door, pasta and grilled fish at tables on the water, with lawns and a playground beside them.

A 1910 armoured cruiser moored by the tram line, with the gun turrets, the admiral's cabin and the engine room open; the tram ride is part of it.

A city beach on the tram line with shallow water and a shower, twenty minutes from the centre; a swim, a sandwich, and the nap on the way back.

Fish on the quay at the little harbour in Piraeus, with the boats bobbing in front of the tables and fried calamari for the small ones.

The flattest ancient site in the city, with a lawn to run on, the Temple of Hephaestus to circle, and a museum in a rebuilt stoa with toys in the cases.

The upside-down room, the infinity tunnel and the vortex, half an hour of photographs; a block from Monastiraki and open on Monday.

Honey doughnuts fried while you watch, with a scoop of ice cream on top for the children; the airport metro is five minutes away.