Grey, yet colourful. Vast, yet familiar. Crowded, but with countless unobtrusive oases of calm. A Mediterranean city by the sea continuously inhabited for no less than 7,000 years, a western capital bathed in sunshine and the scents of the East, Athens is a city of many contrasts, a city with a thousand faces and a history lost in myth and legend.

Visitors to Athens are often struck by the size of the city in view before landing at Athens International airport El. Venizelos and en route from the airport to the city centre. The Greek capital may often overwhelm with its dramatic landscape, intricate and complex planning, boisterous and energetic ambiance, and many unfamiliar impressions.

However, Athens’ best kept secret is that its centre is small and friendly, structured around colourful 'villages' embracing the Acropolis, the throbbing heart of both the ancient and modern city. [City center map]. Visitors to this ancestral city core are surprised to discover that access to its most important monuments is so easy: the city centre can be explored even on foot, offering a wealth of choices for many different routes through which visitors can grasp a fuller picture, not only of the city’s history, but of the people and daily life in the Greek capital as well.

Strolling through the centre

Even if only in Athens for a day, visitors can wander easily around its historic centre which, apart from its archaeological interest, is currently the most vibrant and constantly changing part of the city.

This is what makes Athens centre uniquely interesting: the rapid transformations on the one hand and the imposing monuments on the other, all part of the image of a modern and vibrating city that if full of unexpected treasures hidden in its various corners and  extraordinary arcades. Under the shadow of the Parthenon, there is a lively, vibrating, creative city that breathes right beneath one of the most imposing monuments of Western civilization.

The archaeological site of the Acropolis and its Museum could be the starting point of a stroll around the city but it should not by any means be limited to that.

After a walk in Plaka -the touristy albeit uniquely picturesque old historical neighbourhood of Athens right beneath the Acropolis, whose tree-lined streets, intricate stone paved paths and multihued neo-classical structures offer a fascinating mix of shops, lively cafes and bars - the road then leads to colourful Monastiraki and Psiri: from the idyllic old city it’s on to bustling Athinas Street, with its amazing array of old-standing vendors touting pedestrians, and the historical Varvakeios market located right across the Town Hall. This city-central market, operating continuously for some 150 years, is like an oriental bazaar, where you can find meat, fruits and vegetables in an endless bargaining bustle.

The cobbled streets running between Athinas Street and Psirri are a whole other world to discover: turning from Athinas into Euripidou Street, the scent of spices from around the world sold by immigrants in shop rich with ethnic colour dazzles the senses. Ermou street, right next to the bustling  Monastiraki Square, leads us to the famous flea market of Abyssinia square, where since 1910 a flea market of old treasures offering anything one  can imagine, from old furniture and antique clocks to rare books and silverware, visitors could stroll around, drive a hard bargain with the antique dealers and enjoy refreshments under the sun at one of the historical square’s cafés.

Leaving Monastiraki and walking towards Thisseio, the options are many: a walk along the lively pedestrian part of Ermou Street, heading towards Piraeus Street and passing through Kerameikos, the first public cemetery of ancient Athens where Iera Odos (Sacred Way) began, connecting Athens with the Eleusinian mysteries as the old route of the solemn procession of initiates from Athens to Eleusis; or head towards Praxitelous, Aeolou and Athinaidos Streets in the direction of the modern city centre and Syntagma Square. This is a part of the city that has developed into a lively neighborhood overflowing with cafes, bars, restaurants, art galleries, and bookstores as well as outdoor musicians and street artists. Syntagma Square is the new hub of the city’s nightlife, next to classy Kolonaki and the ever youthful Exarcheia area, which still remains the first choice among students, bibliophiles and scholars, as this is where historic publishing houses, bookstores and the best cinemas of the city are located, as well as the unique collections of Athens Archaeological Museum.

Throughout this walk among fascinating antique stores, spice stalls and flea markets, one can also see ancient, Roman and Byzantine monuments, neoclassical buildings, Byzantine churches, next to modern art venues and outdoor dance groups, construction sites or a hidden garden at a museum cafe.

Leaving the city for the sea

Visitors could leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city for the soothing tranquility of the exquisitely calm and beautiful sight of the sea, which is only a breath away from the city-core: within a mere 20 minutes lies one of the idyllic beaches of Athens in the Saronic Gulf or the Athenian 'Riviera', where you can swim, wander around Flisvos Marina and the navy park, or simply enjoy the sun on one of the sandy beaches along the coastline.

For a taste of Greece’s magnificent islands, Athens is the perfect point of departure for a swift escapade, as the beautiful islands of the Saronic Gulf are reachable in an hour or so, ideal for day-trips for ouzo and meze [information: ports of the city]

Athens is an exciting city of contrasts, a vibrant city that constantly feeds mind and senses with its dazzling sun, vivid hues and multitude of stimuli that emerge and rise above its ancient walls, historic monuments, grey modern structures and noisy traffic. It is a city constantly in transition, fusing the past with the present, legend and myth with modern life, tradition with innovation. Athens is a huge and friendly city to be loved, full of surprises hidden in corners unknown, welcoming and hospitable.