Eleusis

Eleusis has one of the great archaeological sites of the classical world inside a working industrial town, and the juxtaposition is not a figure of speech. There is a cement works and a refinery; there is also the Telesterion of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Sacred Way that led to it from Athens still crosses the modern streets.

The site itself is remarkable. The Telesterion is a vast square hall on two storeys, roofed on a wooden frame resting on two rows of stone columns, built to hold thousands of initiates at once. Beside it is the Kallichoron, the well where, according to Pausanias, the women of Eleusis first danced and sang in praise of the goddess. And on the acropolis above stands the church of the Dormition of the Virgin, post-Byzantine but standing exactly where the temple stood, which is the kind of continuity that is rare in Greece.

Eleusis is the capital of West Attica, and it has an industrial history that is genuinely its own: the TITAN cement works from 1902, the VOTRYS and KRONOS distilleries, the Charilaou soap factory, and the oil refinery west of town, which is the largest in Greece. Aeschylus was born here, and the Aeschylia festival at the ancient site is the longest-running arts festival in Attica.

And it should be said plainly: there is no beach here. The shoreline is refinery, shipyard and container terminal. This is a place to come for the site, not for the sea.

The Eleusinian Mysteries are older than anything else in the region and older than the name of the city in use today. For over two thousand years — Pausanias wrote in the second century AD about a rite whose antiquity was already beyond measure — the only people admitted were the Athenians and the Eleusinians, and everyone else who wanted initiation had to travel.

The mythology behind it is Demeter and Persephone, and the Hymn to Demeter is the source that carries it. The girl was taken by Hades, the earth stopped producing, and the goddess went searching for nine days with torches. What she learned at Eleusis was how to get her daughter back, and on what terms: a third of the year below, two thirds above.

The cult was administered from here in perpetuity. Pausanias records the terms on which the war between Eleusis and Athens ended — the Eleusinians kept control of the mysteries, the Athenians took everything else — and that the ministers of the Two Goddesses were Eumolpus and the daughters of Celeus. The city remained, uniquely, a seat of an ancient religious office all through the Roman period and the Christian empire.

The modern town is a different story. It industrialised in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries around the cement, the distilleries and the soap works, and grew around its port, which is a Port of National Importance handling bulk and general cargo. The refinery west of town is the largest in Greece. Eleusis was a European Capital of Culture, designated for 2021 and renamed to 2023 after the pandemic postponement.

Eleusis has no beach, and it is better to say that clearly than to send you looking. This is an industrial port: the shoreline at the head of the bay is refinery, shipyard and container terminal, and the water is not swimmable.

The nearest proper swimming is a drive, and there are three directions.

Across the bay, Aspropyrgos is about four kilometres north-east, with refineries and the big container terminal on one side and its own shore on the other; Agioi Asomatoi there is the closest convenient beach to Eleusis. The same bay is faced from Piraeus, about fifteen kilometres east, where the coast at Kastella, Voula and Alimos is the nearest decent swimming on the Attica side.

West is better and quieter. Nea Peramos, at about twenty kilometres, is the nicest swimming in West Attica: a fishing village with a sandy strand and a pine-backed shore, under a fortress much like the one at Nafplio. Megara, at about twelve kilometres, has the Megarian coast and the coves of Pagai and Vagia, with the Heraion of Perachora a few kilometres further out.

Closer than any of them, and genuinely part of the town, is Magoula — nearly five thousand people, the adjoining village, sitting on the hills above Eleusis. It is not a beach, but it is where the town actually grew into.

This is the western edge of Attica, and the food is a mixture of the two things that meet here: Attic urban cooking and the western rural kitchens of the Thriasios plain.

Eleusis itself is a working town with Greek bakeries, butchers and tavernas, and the local worth seeking out is honest rather than special: grilled meats, pies, stuffed vegetables, and the Attic cheeses.

The plain around the town produces wine and olive oil, and the villages south towards Mandra are agricultural. Megara, twenty minutes west, has its own food tradition and is a better bet for a proper meal out.

What Eleusis is genuinely celebrated for is the Aeschylia festival, which is a week of theatre and performance at the archaeological site rather than a restaurant, and which is the reason to time a visit if you can.

April to June is the best time: the archaeological site is at its most comfortable and the site vegetation is green. October and November are also very good and are the best for the festival programme and the light.

July and August are hot and the site has almost no shade, so the morning is essential. December to February is mild and very quiet, and is the best time if you want the Telesterion essentially to yourself.

A word on the industrial context: this is a working port city and the site sits a few kilometres from a refinery and cement works. That does not affect the archaeology, but it does affect the sky and the ambient atmosphere on certain still days.

Eleusis is not served by the Athens metro; it is reached from central Athens by car along the Attiki Odos or Athinon Avenue, a drive of about 21 km taking roughly 25 minutes. Bus routes 845 and 871 run from Piraeus, 876 from Agia Marina metro station and 878 from Acharnai, and KTEL runs Megara-Nea Peramos-Eleusis from Asomaton Square. The suburban railway reaches the area at Magoula station, from where local bus 863 continues into Elefsina.

Eleusis lies about twenty kilometres west of central Athens and fifteen from Piraeus, roughly 25 minutes by car along the Attiki Odos or Athinon Avenue. It has no metro station of its own — the nearest rail connection is Magoula on the suburban network, with local bus 863 continuing from there into Elefsina.

Go early. The site is large, exposed, and very rewarding in the two hours before the heat.

The site climbs a long slope: the museum and the Sacred Way are at the bottom, the ruined acropolis and the church of Agios Eleftherios at the top, and walking between them takes longer than it looks — allow time.

The museum closes early in the afternoon and on certain days, so check before travelling. If you are combining with Athens, Eleusis is a half-day and works well as a morning trip.