A cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece and it is rated as an alpha- world city. In 2008, Athens was ranked the world’s 32nd richest city by purchasing power and the 25th most expensive in a UBS study. In 2010, Athens was named a ‘Node’ city in the independent Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow since 2007, which is classified in the methodology as globally competitive.

Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.

The heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by a number of ancient monuments and works of art, the most famous of all being the Parthenon, widely considered a key landmark of early Western civilization. The city also retains a vast variety of Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a smaller number of remaining Ottoman monuments projecting the city’s long history across the centuries. Landmarks of the modern era are also present, dating back to 1830 (the establishment of the independent Greek state), and taking in the Hellenic Parliament (19th century) and the Athens Trilogy consisting of the National Library of Greece, the Athens University and the Academy of Athens. Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. Athens is home to the National Archaeological Museum, featuring the world’s largest collection of ancient Greek antiquities, as well as the new Acropolis Museum.

Climate

Athens has a Subtropical Mediterranean climate while the southern Athens area experiences a hot Semi-arid climate with extremely long periods of sunshine throughout the year (2884 hours of sunshine per year at Thision meteorological station 1961-1990)[24] and with the greatest amounts of precipitation mainly occurring from mid-October to mid-April; any precipitation is sparse during summer and it generally takes the form of showers and/or thunderstorms. Due to its location in a rain shadow because of Mount Parnitha the Athenian climate is much drier compared to most of the rest of Mediterranean Europe. Winter is mild, with a January average of 8.9 °C (48.0 °F); in Nea Filadelfia and 10.3 °C (50.5 °F) in Hellenikon.

Architecture

The city of Athens contains a variety of different architectural styles, ranging from Greco-Roman, Neo-Classical, to modern. They are often to be found in the same areas, as Athens is not marked by a uniformity of architectural style. Many of the most prominent buildings of the city are either Greco-Roman or neo-classical in styling. Some of the neo-classical structures to be found are public buildings erected during the mid-nineteenth century, under the guidance of Theophil Freiherr von Hansen and Ernst Ziller, and include the Athens Academy, Athens City Hall, Greek Parliament, Old Parliament (1875–1932) (Now the National Historical Museum), University of Athens, and Zappeion Hall.

Tourism

Athens has been a popular destination for travelers since antiquity. Over the past decade, the city’s infrastructure and social amenities have improved, in part due to its successful bid to stage the 2004 Olympic Games. The Greek Government, aided by the EU, has funded major infrastructure projects such as the state-of-the-art Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, the expansion of the Athens Metro system, and the new Attiki Odos Motorway.

Entertainment and performing arts

Athens is home to 148 theatrical stages, more than any other city in the world, including the famous ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre, home to the Athens Festival, which runs from May to October each year. In addition to a large number of multiplexes, Athens plays host to a variety of romantic, open air garden cinemas. The city also supports a vast number of music venues, including the Athens Concert Hall, known as the “Mégaron Musikis”, which attracts world-famous artists all year round. The Athens Planetarium, located in Andrea Syngrou Avenue is one of the largest and best equipped digital planetariums in the world.

Transportation

The Athens Mass Transit System consists of a large bus fleet, a trolleybus fleet that mainly serves the downtown area, the city’s Metro, a tram line connecting the southern suburbs to the city centre, and the Athens Suburban Railway service.

Athens Metro

Exhibition of antiquities in the luxurious Syntagma Station of the Athens Metro. The Athens Metro is more commonly known in Greece as the Attiko Metro (Greek: Αττικό Mετρό). While its main purpose is transport, it also houses Greek artifacts found during construction of the system. The Athens Metro supports an operating staff of 387 and runs two of the three metro lines; its two lines (red and blue) were constructed largely during the 1990s, and the initial sections opened in January 2000, and the lines run entirely underground. The metro network operates a fleet of 42 trains consisting of 252 cars, with a daily occupancy of 550,000 passengers. The Blue Line runs from the western suburbs, namely the Egaleo station, through the central Monastiraki and Syntagma stations to Doukissis Plakentias avenue in the northeastern suburb of Halandri, covering a distance of 16 km (10 mi), then ascending to ground level and reaching Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, using the Suburban Railway infrastructure and extending its distance to 39 km (24 mi). The Red Line, in counterpart, runs from Aghios Antonios to Agios Dimitrios and covers a distance of 11.6 km (7 mi). Extensions to both these lines are under construction, most notably westwards to Piraeus, southwards to the Old Hellinikon Airport East Terminal (the future Metropolitan Park), and eastward toward the easternmost suburb of Aghia Paraskevi. The eastern part is actually no extension per se, but rather an opening of new stations between the Ethniki Amyna and Doukissis Plakentias stations. The spring 2007 extension from Monastiraki westwards, to Egaleo, connected some of the main night life hubs of the city, namely the ones of Gazi (Kerameikos station) with Psirri (Monastiraki station) and the city centre (Syntagma station).

Electric railway (ISAP)

An ISAP train (Green Line) passes by the Stoa of Attalos in central Athens.The third line, not run by the Athens Metro, is the ISAP (Greek: ΗΣΑΠ), the Electric Railway Company. This is the Green line of the Athens Metro as shown on the adjacent map, and unlike the red and blue routes running entirely underground, ISAP runs either above-ground or belowground at different sections of its journey. This same operation runs the original metro line from Piraeus to Kifisia; it serves 22 stations, with a network length of 25.6 km (15.9 mi),[79] an operating staff of 730 and a fleet of 44 trains and 243 cars,[79] and a daily occupancy rate of 600,000 passengers. The historic Green Line, a 25.6 km (16 mi)-long and 24-station line which forms the oldest and for the most part runs at ground level, connects the port of Piraeus to the northern suburb of Kifissia, and is set to be extended to Agios Stefanos, a suburb located 23 km (14 mi)[citation needed] to the north of the city centre, reaching to 36 km (22 mi).

Suburban rail

Suburban Rail.The Proastiakós connects Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to the city of Corinth, 80 km (50 mi) west of Athens, via the central Larissa train station and the port of Piraeus, and is sometimes considered the fourth line of the Athens Metro. The Suburban Rail network currently extends to a length of 120 km (75 mi), and is expected to stretch to 281 km (175 mi) by 2010. The Proastiakos will be extended to Xylokastro west of Athens and Chalkida. The urban and suburban railway system is managed by three different companies; namely ISAP, Attiko Metro and Proastiakós.

Buses

Ethel (Greek: ΕΘΕΛ) (Etaireia Thermikon Leoforeion), or Thermal Bus Company, is the main operator of buses in Athens. Its network consists of about 300 bus lines which span the entire Attica Basin, with an operating staff of 5,327, and a fleet of 1,839 buses.[84] Of those 1,839 buses 416 run on compressed natural gas, making up the largest fleet of natural gas-powered buses in Europe.

Besides being served by a fleet of natural-gas and diesel buses, the Athens metropolitan area is also served by trolleybuses — or electric buses, as they are referred to in the name of the operating company. The network operated by Electric Buses of the Athens and Piraeus Region, or ILPAP (Greek: ΗΛΠΑΠ), consists of 22 lines with an operating staff of 1,137. All of the 366 trolley buses are equipped to enable them to run on diesel in case of power failure.

Trams

Athens Tram.Athens Tram SA operates a fleet of 35 vehicles, which serve 48 stations, employ 345 people with an average daily occupancy of 65,000 passengers. The tram network spans a total length of 27 km (17 mi) and covers ten Athenian suburbs. This network runs from Syntagma Square to the southwestern suburb of Palaio Faliro, where the line splits in two branches; the first runs along the Athens coastline toward the southern suburb of Voula, while the other heads toward the Piraeus district of Neo Faliro. The network covers the majority of the Saronic coastline. Further extensions are planned towards the major commercial port of Piraeus. The expansion to Piraeus will include 12 new stations, increase the overall length of the tram by 5.4 km (3 mi), and increase the overall transportation network.

Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos) International Airport

The Athens International Airport main terminal building, seen at night. Athens is served by the state-of-the-art Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (AIA) located near the town of Sparta, in the eastern Messonghi plain, some 35 km (22 mi) east of Athens. The airport was awarded the “European Airport of the Year 2004″ Award. Intended as an expandable hub for air travel in southeastern Europe, it was constructed in a record 51 months costing 2.2 billion euros, and employing a staff of 14,000. An express bus service is provided, connecting the airport to the metro system, and 2 express bus services connect the airport to the port at Piraeus and the city centre respectively. Eleftherios Venizelos accommodates 65 landings and takeoffs per hour,[90] with its 24 passenger boarding bridges, 144 check-in counters and broader 150,000 m2 (1,614,587 sq ft) main terminal, and a commercial area of 7,000 m2 (75,347 sq ft) which includes cafes, duty-free shops, and a small museum. In 2007, the airport handled 16,538,390 passengers, an increase of 9.7% over the previous year of 2006. Of those 16,538,390 passengers, 5,955,387 passed through the airport for domestic flights, and 10,583,003 passengers travelled through for international flights. Beyond the dimensions of its passenger capacity, AIA handled 205,294 total flights in 2007, or approximately 562 flights per day