Athens, Greece

Photos: VERONICA CONSTANTINESCU

Athens, the capital and largest city in Greece, is also one of the oldest cities in the world, its recorded history spanning over at least 3,000 years.

Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state and a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Akademia and Aristotle's Lyceum. It was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world.

Due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the European continent, Athens is sometimes referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization and the birthplace of democracy.

In ancient Greek, the city's name was in the plural (Athenai), like those of Thebai Mukenai. Athenai was originally a group of ten cities or ten tribes, which, according to the legend, have been unified by Theseus into one city.

Today's Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis with an urban population of 3.3 million and a metropolitan population of about 3.8 million people, central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece.

Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica, often referred to as the Attica Basin which is bound by Mount Aegaleo in the west, Mount Parnitha in the north, Mount Penteli in the northeast, Mount Hymettus in the east, and the Saronic Gulf in the southwest. The capital has expanded to cover the entire plain, making future growth difficult.

Athens enjoys a typical mediterranean climate, with the greatest amounts of precipitation mainly occurring from mid-October to mid-April; any precipitation is sparse during summer and falls generally in the form of showers and thunderstorms. Due to its location in a strong rain shadow because of Mount Parnitha, however, the Athenian climate is much drier compared to most of the rest of mediterranean Europe.

The ideal seasons for visiting Athens are spring and autumn. Summers can be particularly hot and at times prone to smog and pollution related conditions.

The geomorphology of Athens causes the so-called temperature inversion phenomenon, which, along with the failure of the Greek Government to control industrial pollution, is responsible for the air pollution problems of the city.

Athens tap water is safe, and of very good quality. It is considered one of the best municipal waters in Europe and worldwide.

Athens has been a popular destination for travellers since antiquity. Over the past decade, the infrastructure and social amenities of Athens have been radically improved, in part due to the city's successful bid to stage the 2004 Olympic Games. Home to a vast number of 5 and 4 star hotels, the city is currently the 6th most visited capital.

The Municipality of Athens is divided into seven municipal districts for administrative purposes.

For Athenians the most popular way of dividing the city proper is through its neighbourhoods, each with its own distinct history and characteristics. Those include Pangrati, Ambelokipi, Exarcheia, Ano Patissia, Kato Patissia, Ilissia, Ano and Kato Petralona, Mets, Koukaki and Kypseli. For the tourist, familiarity with the contours of these neighbourhoods can often be particularly useful in both exploring and understanding the city.

Large parts of the city centre have been redeveloped under a masterplan called Unification of Archeological Sites of Athens, which has also gathered funding from the EU to help enhance the project.

The Dionysiou Aeropagitou street has been pedestrianised, forming a scenic route. The route starts from the Temple of Olympian Zeus at Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, continues under the southern slopes of the Acropolis near Plaka, and finishes just beyond the Temple of Hephaestus in Theseum. The route in its entirety provides visitors with views of the Parthenon and the Agora (the meeting point of ancient Athenians), away from the busy city centre.

The Psirri neighbourhood - aka Athens's "meat packing district" - hosts a wide variety of bars and a number of live music restaurants known as "rebetadika", after Rebetiko, a unique form of music that blossomed in Syros and Athens from the 1920s until the 1960s. Rebetiko is admired by many, and as a result rebetadika are often crammed with people of all ages who will sing, dance and drink till dawn.

The Gazi area, located around a historic gas factory, now converted into the Technopolis cultural multiplex, also includes a number of small clubs, bars and restaurants, as well as Athens' nascent "Gay Village".

Syntagma Square is the capital's central square, lying adjacent to Parliament and the city's most noted hotels.

Ermou Street, an approximately 1 km-long pedestrian road connecting Syntagma Square to Monastiraki, is the fifth most expensive shopping streets in Europe, and the tenth most expensive retail street in the world.

Plaka, lying just beneath the Acropolis, is famous for its plentiful neoclassical architecture, making up one of the most scenic districts of the city. It remains a traditionally prime tourist destination with a number of picturesque tavernas and live performances.

The Kolonaki area, at the base of Lycabettus hill, is often regarded as one of the more prestigious areas of the capital. It is full of boutiques catering to well-heeled customers by day, bars and more fashionable restaurants by night, and it also hosts a wide range of art galleries and museums.

Exarcheia, located north of Kolonaki, has a mixed reputation as the location of the city's anarchist and drug scenes and as a culturally active student quarter with many cafés, bars and bookshops.

Taxis in Athens are generally cheap, and during rush hour it is often considered normal to flag down a taxi when not more than one or two other customers are already in (although, officially, this is forbidden); convention dictates that if the second passenger happens to be heading in a similar direction and the original passenger has no complaints, he/she joins the journey, and both passengers pay the fare as they would if travelling alone.

The Parthenon.