Sleeping beauty

Athens, Greece

Redolent with history and mythology, Athens is an affable city enlivened by bustling outdoor cafes, pedestrian streets that wind through the city's ancient sites and its fair share of urban eccentrics. If you get into the Athenian mindset, you'll enjoy one of the most laid-back and quirky European cities. In the center of the city the streets are filled with people all hours of the day and night. If you find yourself in a car in front of...

Sleeping beauty

A review of Athens

by Nikolas Kontoyiannis

You have probably been travelling for over 12 hours to reach Athens and at first glance, you may have been a little dismayed by your first sight of Syntagma square by midday: blinding sun, chaotic traffic, compressed spaces filled with wildly conflicting styles of architecture and atmosphere. Well, the charm of this city comes through familiarity.The way to enjoy Athens is not to visit here for a couple of days,but to live here for a couple of days. Athens was conceived as a city of neighbourhoods, some so concentrated that they consist of only a street or two! It is worth dedicating time to some of them for a real experience of the city!