Athens for The Slow Weekenders: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

A square of plane trees over Hadrian's reservoir, with the old café in the middle and nothing to do but watch Kolonaki walk its dogs.

A cocktail on the hotel roof with the Acropolis across the rooftops and Parliament below; one drink buys the sunset and the chair.

A neoclassical house turned café-bistro, a garden at the back, lamb and a bottle of Naoussa; dinner early and the walk home short.

A marble hammam in a Thiseio townhouse, steam, a scrub on the hot stone, and tea in the courtyard afterwards; book the morning slot.

A long lunch on the pedestrian street facing the Temple of Hephaestus, slow Greek cooking and a roof terrace for the coffee; the afternoon takes care of itself.

The pedestrian avenue round the foot of the Acropolis, benches under the pines and the buskers tuning up; a stroll, not a walk.

A warm brackish lake under a cliff half an hour down the coast, loungers on the shore and the water the same temperature all year; a slow float.

Lunch on a terrace above the bay at Vouliagmeni, grilled fish and a Santorini white, the kind of afternoon that ends when the light does.

A pine-shaded cove on the next headland for a last swim and the sunset over the Saronic Gulf; the bus back to town runs until late.

A morning walk under the palms round the Zappeion hall, past the sundial and the duck pond, with benches every fifty metres.

The marble figurines of the islands, four thousand years old, in a quiet museum open on Monday; an hour, then the courtyard café.

A café on the Plaka steps with cushions on the stairs, a slow brunch plate and a coffee before the metro; nobody will hurry you.