| Hotels |
| Restaurants |
| Nightlife |
| Itineraries |
| Art |
| Maps |
| Weather |
Athens is an affable city enlivened by pedestrian streets, outdoor cafes, parks, urban eccentrics and gardens, redolent with mythology and smeared with grime. If you get into the Athenian mindset, you might not even notice the layer of nefos (smog) overhead.
Athens is a curious blend of east and west; its raucous street vendors and colourful markets are reminiscent of Turkish bazaars, while crumbling neoclassical mansions hark back to the city's brief heyday as the 'Paris of the Mediterranean'. The city may look like a concrete jungle, but beyond this off-putting veneer is a kind of dilapidated charm. Almost every house and apartment has a balcony bulging with geraniums, and many of the city's streets and squares are fringed with orange trees.
Facts in a glance
Area: 428 sq km
Population: 3.27 million
Country: Greece
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +2 (Eastern European Time)
Telephone Area Code: 21
See Also