Venizelou

If you get off at one metro station for the station itself, this is the one. At Venizelou the excavation was neither moved nor covered over: it stayed exactly where it was found.

What you'll see

About six metres down, archaeologists uncovered a stretch of the Decumanus Maximus, the main Roman axis running east to west through the city, and its crossroads with a perpendicular cardo. This is the street the city's inhabitants walked for centuries, with its marble paving and the late-antique buildings around it.

The station was designed so passengers walk above the antiquities, with suspended viewing balconies where you can stop, look and photograph. It is the world's first open, publicly accessible archaeological site preserved in situ within a metro station.

Get off here for

• The covered Modiano and Kapani markets.
• The Bezesteni and Bey Hamam, Ottoman monuments on Egnatia.
• Panagia Chalkeon, a Byzantine church of 1028 and a UNESCO monument.
• Aristotelous Square and Ladadika, a few minutes toward the sea.

Good to know

You view the antiquities from inside the station, on the way to the platforms. No separate museum ticket is needed, your metro ticket is enough.