About Athens
ATHENS
The crossroads of civilizations, the city of wisdom and knowledge, the poets’ muse, a place where stability and disorder strangely coexist, a seductress but also fickle. ‘Athens: an emerald jewel, set in the ring of the Earth,’ as the city was called by the Greek national poet Kostis Palamas. Or as the Nobel-winning poet George Seferis aptly put it, ‘A place bathed in the light of Attica where a liturgy of incarnation is performed’.
Attica, centre of East and West, a rich natural canvas on which blue and white compose a landscape where the soft curves of the mountain ranges harmoniously blend into the flat horizon and the sea into the chalky limestone. The climate, sweet and dry, is nearly always hospitable to both Athenians and visitors alike.
Athens was named ‘The violet crowned state’ by the poets of old for when the sun sets, its rays send a magical violet light over the houses and hills. And as the modern Greek poet Kostas Kariotakis wrote: ‘Acropolis the queen, over there at dusk, dressed in purple’.
The Acropolis, crown of the city. There it has stood, throughout the centuries, the celebrated temple of the Parthenon, the most renowned monument of ancient Greekarchitecture and one of the most important works of art of all times. It is built of Pendelic marble with unparalleled ornamentation. Even in ruins, it still dazzles the visitor. A million tourists flock to its foot every year in order to admire its beauty and stand in front of it awestruck.
In this part of Attica, which spreads all the way to the slopes of Mount Hymettus, of Mount Pendeli and the foot of Mount Parnes, you will find numerous places of respite and entertainment with a breathtaking view, such as the hills of Lycabettus with the whitewashed church of Saint George, Pnyx, Aeropagus, Ardettus, Strefis, the Tourkovounia and Colonos. There are also oasis of green within the walls of the city such as, The National Gardens, the Zappeion, the Pedion tou Areos Park and the Park of Pagrati.
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