For many visitors, Pireas is all that they see of Athens, as they fly into the airport then take a ferry straight to one of the islands. Yet Pireas has a cosmopolitan character and charm of its own, along with handsome public buildings, chaos, and traffic and noise. It has been a major port since about 500 BC and still one of the largest in the Mediterranean.

Pireas has its cultural highlights too, with a small but rewarding archaeological museum, and a naval museum. The prize exhibits in the Archaeological Museum were all found in the harbours around here.

The naval museum of Greece overlooks the Zea Marina Harbour and is easily recognized by the old submarine that stands at the entrance. Greece has and illustrious maritime history, and this collection of over two thousand items covers a great deal of it, from early days of the elegant triremes with their three levels of rowers, to the lone fisherman with his little caique, and the vast luxury liners of shipping dynasties.