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ATHENS
We have heard so much about Athens, the capital of Greece with its
more than 4 million inhabitants, but mostly not very positive
things. Traffic chaos, smog, heat, noise, and dirt, all in all
despite of the antique places not very attractive. But after the
Olympic Games 2004 everything should be changed and better and so we
visited Athens on our annual trip to Mykonos. And what we found
there was more than surprisingly.
A modern, clean metropolis with good suburban traffic system, super
shopping facilities, many green areas and parks combined with the
Greek flair. Athens does not have to hide itself in the comparison
with other European cities.
We find that Athens sells itself far under value!
Of
course the famous historical places like the Acropolis or the
Antique Agora are the absolute highlights. You can spend hours by
strolling around these fantastic arrears, the whole Greece history
and mythology seems still alive.
But also
very nice and not less interesting is it, to stroll through the
different quarters around the Acropolis or the Lykavittos hill.
Marvellously calm and lively quarters such as Plaka, Monastiraki or
Kolonaki, with many taverns, shops, bars, cafes are also a must for
every visitor. We often did not have the feeling that we are in a
large city, it seems often to be in a small town.
The small churches, the market halls, the pedestrian precincts
(in-total 16 km) or the well-known Syntagma place where you can
watch the change of the guards, called Evzonen, in front of the
president palace, everything we liked so much.
All
over, there is so much life on the streets and you can go everywhere
without any problems by the very good, new Metro system (day ticket
3 Euro). In addition the underground stations are very clean and
built with marble. In some of them you can see antique pieces like
figures, pottery a.s.o.
We did not know that
Athens is so very, very hilly. Some of the roads and ways are uphill with many
stairs and terraces, covered by smelling Pines or orange trees, to climb up
these streets is hard but wonderful!
To get a
good view over the city, you must climb the Lykavittos hill (you can
go also by cable car). We did it by 40 degrees temperature and it
was very sudorific, but it was worth every drop! From the top you
can see the Acropolis and in the background the sea, fantastic!
We did
not have seen everything in this beautiful city during our 3 days
trip and so we are sure that we will visit Athens once again by
another stop over to Mykonos.
Athens is really a
very good and interesting destination, we enjoyed our stay very much!
InterNet
addresses:
www.athensguide.com
Greece
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