The
history of Athens begins more then 3000 years ago when during the
prehistoric times its first inhabitants created their first
settlement on the rock of Acropolis. It took hundreds of years until
the sacred rock of Acropolis find its glory during the golden age of
Pericles 495 - 429 BC with the construction of most of its Monuments
like the Parthenon by the famous architects Iktinos and Kallikrates
and the Sculptor Phidias. During those thousands of years Athens
went through times of Glory and times of decline . Finally became
the Capital of Greece in 1834 mostly for its location and historical
importance. Since then Athens grew to the city we know today, an
important financial European capital that hosted the last Olympic
games with a great success. The infrastructure of Athens has been
developed very fast within the last 10 years with new highways, a
new airport, new metro lines, a new tram line, a new railway the
Proastiakos rail, huge shopping centres, stadiums and sport centres
and the port of Piraeus has been developed to one of the most
important ports in the Mediterranean. Due to this new infrastructure
and the quick access by rail ,metro and car a kind of dis
urbanisation has began in Athens as many Athenians prefer to live
out side of the city centre in suburbs and areas that a few years
ago were holiday resorts.
Location: Athens the capital of Greece since 1834 after Nafplion and
Aegina ,situated at the basin of Attica. As we can see on a Greece
map the Attica basin or (Lekanopedio Attikis) in Greek surrounded
from the North west by the mount Aegaleo, the mountains of Parnitha
and Penteli continue to the North, North east and the mount Hymettus
closes the bow to the south East. The Saronic gulf finally surrounds
the east coasts of Athens and Attica. If we look on a map of Greece
Athens located almost in the middle of the Greek mainland between
the regions of Sterea Hellas to the north and Peloponnesus to the
South. West of the Attica peninsula is the island of Evia and
further to the east the deep blue Aegean Sea with its beautiful
Greek islands.
Historical centre: The historical centre of Athens is the most
important area of the city for the thousand of tourists who are
visiting the Greek capital in order to admire the shrine of
Democracy the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the museums and the
monuments and theatres from the glorious past of Athens. The
Pedestrianisation of the historic centre that is surrounded from the
triangle between Plaka, Dionysiou Areopagitou street and Keramikos
includes almost all the magnificent sights of Athens. At Dionyssiou
Areopagitou one can go walking from Syntagma square or by metro to
the Acropolis station, a few meters away is the new Acropolis museum
and opposite is the Ancient theatre of Dionysus, a little bit
further is the Herodes Atticus Odeon and after that is the way on
the Acropolis. The hills of Filopapos and Pnix are near by as well
as the ancient Agora, the temple of Hephestus the oldest
neighbourhoods of Athens Plaka, Anafiotika and Monastiraki on the
north west slopes of the sacred rock. An amazing planning that give
the opportunity to the visitor to see within a few hours the most
important sights of Athens.