Destination Overview
Athens exudes a unique charm, its lively character winning over
tens of thousands of visitors every year. Street markets,
vine-covered tavernas, souvenir stalls and ancient monuments all
form a conglomerate with buildings old and new in this city, which
one out of four Greeks call home. For tourists the greatest
advantage is that most attractions are accessible on foot in the
central area around the landmark Acropolis. Walking is the best way
to soak up the Athenian atmosphere because the traffic can reach
nightmare proportions.Athens was named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, who
according to mythology won the city as prize after a duel against
Poseidon. The city can chart its history back thousands of years
and is regarded as the cradle of western civilisation; the place
where democracy was invented and philosophy, art and architecture
were refined. After a classical golden age when it was home to
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the city declined in the Middle
Ages, dwindling to nothing but a town with a few thousand residents
gathered in the colourful area that is now known as the Plaka,
until its rebirth as capital of an independent Greece in 1834.
