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Athens

Description: Athens (Greek Αθήνα Athína) is the capital and largest city of Greece. It is also known as the ... more

Athens ... birthplace of democracy. Named after goddess Athena, Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world with a recorded history of at least 3,000 years. Today, the Greek capital is Europe's 8th largest conurbation, a bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis with an urban population of 3.2 million people and a metro population of 3.7 million people. The Athens metropolitan area is the centre of economic, financial, industrial, cultural and political life in Greece. The city is also rapidly becoming a leading business centre in the European Union. The city proper has a land area of 39 km² while the urban agglomeration of Athens spans 412 km². Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state center of learning, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European Continent. The classical era heritage is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of ancient monuments and artworks, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis, standing as an epic landmark of western civilization. Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896 and in 2004 it welcomed the Summer Olympics back home with great success.

Newest Review: ... feel it, and you'll be rewarded with the most staggeringly-beautiful view of The Acropolis, flood-lit from below. Probably our most memorable meal was at a side street café in central Athens which we had previously read about, and then not realised we'd stumbled upon. (Barba Yannis - Emmanouil Benaki Street). It had plenty of authentic Greek atmosphere, i.e. no ambience, fluorescent ... more

... lights, a high ceiling and a radio commentary on the latest match! We sat down and waited a while until it dawned on us that this was the place with no menu. Just as this thought process was sinking in, over came the waiter - "You want eat, you come now&q...more

Read Reviews for Athens

Athens: Top Of The Athenian League (3298 words)
by Nibelung - written on 30/11/07 (Very useful, 100 readings)
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I'd been to Athens before, but not since 1973 so I was fully expecting a lot of changes, and to a greater extent I was right. For example, I was probably amongst the last tourists to be allowed full access to wander all over the famous Parthenon on the Acropolis hill. Since then it has been fenced off and variously concealed behind one piece of scaffolding or another, and is rumoured to stay that way for decades. I remember that summer of '73 with some trepidation - it was damned hot to be in a city and the traffic was truly awful, with blue fumes from two-stroke 'pop-pops' everywhere. Since then, cars have got a lot cleaner, but ...

Tainted Temples (1994 words)
by MALU - written on 27/05/06 (Very useful, 232 readings)
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When we travelled to Cyprus at the end of February we couldn’t get a direct flight on the days we had chosen but had to change in Athens. We decided to put in a stopover on the way back home and visit the Greek capital, we had already been there in the 1970s but thought that after thirty odd years our memory could do with some brushing up. We took a taxi to our hotel and looked attentively out of the window while moving from the outskirts to the centre. Athens proper isn’t a very big city, it has only 750 000 inhabitants, but one can’t notice where the city begins and ends, what appears to be one city is a conurbation of several independent cities and towns ...

Athens: Most amazing city! (220 words)
by medfun - written on 21/06/02 (Useful, 64 readings)
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Athens is a great city. It is the most colourful place I have seen in my life. It is safe, has exellent public transport ( visit the museum-like metro stations! it´s a MUST)is loud, ancient, modern....just different and interesting. Many people complain about pollution and traffic but...I was recently informed by statistical data that other cities ,like London, are even more polluted. The problem is that most people visit Athens in the Summer and this is the time when the problem is evident. You should visit the city in the Winter, Autumn or Spring, you will be surprised from tha nice, mild and sunny weather. Athens is a city that never sleeps. You can walk around during ...

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