Time Out

Athens

## Sightseeing

Million of visitors. Millions of complaints. Or so it used to be. Today Athens, home of the 2004 Olympic games (www.athens2004.com), is exerting its own pull. New airport, new metro, new determination. And although much of this change would only be at the discussion stage had it not been for the Olympics, there is a definite desire to move forward.
Within the confines of the surrounding mountains, post-war Athens expanded. The city was never designed to cater forten million citizens and annual visitors. Chaotic traffic, poor new architecture and air pollution came with the territory.
Forget the fairly rare (and normally mild) earthquakes; it’s post-war Athens that’s always been the biggest threat to ancient Athens. The Golden Age in the fifth century BC saw Pericles transform the city into a global centre of learning, democracy, architecture, philosophy and drama. He commissioned the Parthenon and the other temples on the Acropolis – thereby creating what was to become one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. Athens was a seat of learning through Roman times, but then it was left to decay.
By the time Byron arrived in 1810, Athens was a village with a ruined Acropolis above it. Independence 20 years later shaped the Athens of today. Grand neo-classical edifices were constructed; long streets became boulevards; crossroads, squares. Then came overpopulation, world war, civil war and post-war. Athens’s current female mayor is committed to linking the city’s archaeological sites into one unified pedestrian zone, to be completed in 2007.
Central Syntagma Square, home of Parliament, stands between the two hills of the Acropolis and Lykavitos. The twin boulevards of Stadiou and Panepistimou link the two key squares of Syntagma and Omonia, to the north-west. The museum-fringed Vas. Sofias leads east from Syntagma. Amalias heads south towards the National Gardens and Hadrian’s Arch, and Ermou runs west. Between Ermou and Amalias, tourists pack Plaka, at the foot of the Acropolis.
Bleached and ruined by time it may be, but the Acropolis (+302103210219, www.culture.gr) inspires awe, especially lit up against the night sky. The name refers to the entire hill, crowned by the Parthenon, classical Athenian architecture at its best.
Enter from Plaka, through the grand ancient gateway of the Propylaia. To the right usually sits the small Temple of Athena Nike, with the Parthenon ahead. Made entirely out of Pendelic marble, the Parthenon was built as a temple to Athena. The pure Doric symmetry remains; everything else has been blown away, stolen or hacked off by Lord Elgin’s crew.
The other main attraction is the Erechtheion, with its famous porch of maidens, the Caryatids. These are copies; all the originals but one are in the Acropolis Museum. The other is in the British Museum. At the nearby Areos Pagos, St Paul preached (unsuccessfully) to the Athenians. The theatre of Dionysus is located on the south-east side of the Acropolis; it and Plaka to the north are the original foundations of the ancient Agora marketplace. A combined Acropolis ticket (€12) gives entry to all the sites on the Unification of Archaeological Sites route for a week. A visit to the on-site Acropolis Museum (+302103236665) is a must. It might be small and run-down, but its holdings – including the original Caryatids, votive statues and offerings to the gods – make it one of the most important in the world. At the foot of the Acropolis, a new €100-million museum is being constructed to house the contents from the current modest building.
Many of the top museums are near Syntagma Square and Vas. Sofias. The prime example is the National Archaeological Museum (44 Patission, +302108217717), with a superb collection of Greek antiquities. Open to the public are the Benaki Museum (1 Koumbari, +302103671000, www.benaki.gr, closed Tue), with exhibits on Greek history and a private collection of jewellery and weapons under one roof; and the nearby Museum of Cycladic Art (4 Neophytou Douka, +302107228321, closed Tue and Sun), which has a beautiful collection of statuettes. At 22 Vas. Sofias, the Museum of Byzantine Art (+302107211027, closed Mon) is packed with icons. Further along, near Evangelismos metro, the War Museum (+302107252974, closed Mon) has old planes outside, and inside a display about Greek warfare through the ages. The Greek National Art Gallery (50 Vas. Konstantinou, +302107235857) hosts major international exhibitions.
Hadrian’s Arch (where the avenues Amalias and Vas. Olgas meet) is a proud symbol of Roman Athens, facing the lonely remains of the once-monumental Temple of Olympian Zeus. Just over Vas. Olgas is the exquisite Zappeion hall, scene of grand political occasions, near the Marble Stadium, ‘Kallimarmaro’. Set on the site of a stadium popular in antiquity, it staged the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Ahead of the arch, the temple, the hall and the stadium spread the National Gardens, exotic greenery with shaded paths and duck ponds. On the eastern edge loom the presidential palace and parliament building, where the changing of the guard involves rifles and pom-poms.
The city’s most exclusive zone nestles amid the museum and embassy quarter right at the base of Lykavitos Hill, overlooking the Acropolis and the National Gardens. Kolonaki is chic, with neat designer stores and cafés. Follow the signs carefully to the steep steps on Ploutarchou, to the entrance of the newly renovated funicular railway (‘Téléphérique’) at the corner of Artistippou and Ploutarchou streets. The five-minute ride up Lykavitos Hill (€4) offers a stunning 360-degree view, a café, restaurant and St George’s Church.
Map-defying Plaka is a maze of narrow, winding streets. A survivor of the city’s disastrous mass post-war urbanisation, it’s roughly bordered by Syntagma, Monastiraki metro and the Acropolis. Souvenir shops and tourist tavernas are interspersed with ancient monuments and medieval churches. From Plaka, a short walk to Dionysiou Areopagitou, a stone-paved walkway under the Acropolis joining Apostolou Pavlou, brings you to Thisseion. This attractive promenade allows an amazing view of the Acropolis just above your shoulder the whole time. Near Thisseion is Psyrri, Athens’s new nightlife centre. Dark walls and shadowy streets provide a ruined backdrop, while the number of clubs and galleries makes it clear that Psyrri has arrived in style.

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