The Hindu Business Line : Athens has it all

Forget history and records; forget that the city hosted the ancient Olympic Games in 776 B.C., that it was the birthplace of the modern Olympics in 1896 and hosted the Olympics Games in 2004. Forget that it was the acme of ancient civilisation and that it has attractions that echo the past including the immortal marbles of the Parthenon and the imposing Acropolis. Forget that it's a city where history breathes, where legends come alive and magical things happen.

Athens is as romantic as are Venice and Paris; it has fascinated poets, writers and thinkers down the ages including Lord Byron, Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Milton, Henry Miller and a host of others. Its vast spaces of blue and lush green beckon you and the ceaseless surging of surf adds just that dash of adventure. This city of more than five million sprawls across seven hills; the waterfront was jumping with tanned teenagers and adults, most of them locals, not simply tourists. Unfortunately for us, we stopped over at Athens on our way back from Europe and only wished we had spent at least another week in this multilateral city, which throbs with energy, no matter the time of the year, or even day.

Romanticised as the sun-kissed cradle of Western civilisation, Athens is fringed by the azure waters of the Agean and lapped by the Saronic, Euboean and the Corinthian gulfs. If the island city is a treasure trove of culture and antiquities, it is also an exotic haven for fun and relaxation.

Athens appears to be a favourite with water-sport buffs who seemed to have a field day at the warm sea-lapped beaches. On the other hand, the fascinating museums dotting the city bring mythology to life. Monuments and archaeological sites lie cheek-by-jowl with bustling fishing ports. In short, Athens casts a magical spell on even the most jaded of travellers.

Exploring the city

We explored Athens on using every form of transport that it has on offer. Athens has a new underground metro, buses and taxis, which make travelling reasonably easy. We began the first lap of our sightseeing by taking the humble bus. Well, what an experience it proved! The public vehicle hissed to a stop like an angry dragon and a pair of little doors flew open for us to get in. Once we climbed in, the doors snapped shut and then began the ordeal.

The bus was bursting at its seams with a melee of human species, packed like cattle. Needless to say, we were feeling suffocated, standing crushed as we were, unable to move in any direction, least of all towards the exit since we had only half-a-dozen stops to reach our destination — Syntagma Square! We used all our skills and determination to make our way to the exit and realised that we had alighted a couple of stops beyond our destination!

A trifle ruffled by our experience, we decided to walk our way back to Syntagma or the Constitution Square, which is the centre of major attractions in Athens. The Square itself has a long history and has been the seat of every major event in modern Greece as well.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Plaka, Monastiraki and the Lycabetus Hill were some places we visited in Athens, walking through its daedal roads.

For the shopaholic

We ambled along Plaka, the oldest section of Athens, strewn with souvenir shops and taverns, many of which played music and held dance shows for visitors. Except for an occasional two-wheeler, this street is closed to vehicular traffic, making a stroll that much easier. The cafes are typically touristy in nature with prices that pinch the pockets. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the length of Plaka, and we noticed that these eateries were a favourite haunt of the locals too.

Most of the Plaka shops sell the same wares — antiques, hand-painted icons, paintings, wood carvings, ceramic stuff, miniature replicas of Greek monuments, musical instruments, especially the bouzouki.

Monastiraki - the flea market was the last on our agenda of visits, which we reserved for a Sunday as we were told that it is when every Athenian either bought or sold something here. The experience was Flea was an experience similar to the one we had with the bus ride. The market was a beehive of activity and we were literally jostled from one end to the other. Much of the place is a collection of small shops, where we saw the same goods being sold as in Plaka.

Besides souvenir shopping in these areas, dedicated shoppers and shopaholics can bargain good deals at Athens' fancy boutiques selling fashion clothes and accessories.

Remnants of an ancient civilisation

One of the most spell-binding aspects of the Acropolis or the Sacred Rock was the breathtaking view we had of Athens from the top, with Plaka at its foot. History records that during the Golden Age of Pericles, the ancient Greek civilisation was represented in an ideal way on the hill and some of the architectural masterpieces of the period were built on its ground. The Acropolis holds the ruins of the Parthenon or the Temple of Athena, the Erechtheion with its six columns and the Caryatids.

The Parthenon was built in the Doric style, almost entirely of Pentelic marble, known as the Elgin Marble after the Earl of Elgin, Thomas Bruce, who was the ambassador to Constantinople. The greater part of the structure was destroyed by a Venetian bomb that fell on it during the Venetian siege of the Acropolis in 1687. Subsequently, Thomas Bruce stowed away to England several sculptural masterpieces, which are exhibited at the British Museum. Yet despite these ravages, the grandeur of Parthenon still shone through.

Following a tour of the museum at Acropolis, containing relics from ancient times, we came downhill to see the Theatre of Herodes Atticus under the rock of Acropolis. The theatre is believed to come alive during summer with ancient Greek plays staged by several world famous artistes.