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Athens was the leading city in Greece
during the greatest period of Greek civilization during the
1st millennium BC. During the "Golden Age" of Greece
(roughly
500 BC to
300 BC) it was the Western world's leading cultural,
commercial and intellectual center, and indeed it is in the
ideas and practices of ancient Athens that what we now call
"Western civilization" has its origins. After its days of
greatness, Athens continued to be a prosperous city and a
center of learning until the late
Roman period. Athens had a estimated peak population of
310,000 in the year
430 BC. The schools of
philosophy were closed in AD
529 by the Christian
Byzantine Empire, which disapproved of the schools'
pagan thinking. During the Byzantine era, Athens gradually
lost a great deal of status and, by the time of the
Crusades, it was already reduced to a provincial town. It
faced a crushing blow between the 13th and 15th centuries,
when the city was fought over by the Greek Byzantines and the
French and Italian
Crusaders. In
1458 the city fell to the
Ottoman Empire under Sultan
Mehmet II the Conqueror. As the Emperor entered the city,
he was greatly struck by the beauty of its ancient monuments
and issued a
firman (imperial decree) that Athens' ruins not be
disturbed, on pain of death. The
Parthenon was in fact converted into a splendid
mosque.
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intentions to preserve Athens as a model Ottoman provincial
capital, the city's population went into decline and
conditions worsened as the Ottoman Empire declined as well
starting in the late 18th Century. As time went by, the Turks
slackened their care for Athens' old buildings; the great
Parthenon itself was used as a warehouse for ammunition during
the Venetian siege of Athens in
1687, and consequently the temple was severely damaged
when a Venetian
shell targeted the site and set off several casks of
gunpowder stored in the main hall.
The Ottoman Empire relinquished control of
Athens after the
Greek War of Independence. The city was inhabited by just
5,000 people at the time it was made the capital of the newly
established kingdom of Greece in
1833. During the next few decades the city was rebuilt
into a modern city adhering mainly to the
Neoclassic style. In
1896 Athens was the host city of the
1896 Summer Olympics. The next large expansion occurred in
the
1920s when suburbs were created to house Greek refugees
from
Asia Minor. During
World War II the city was occupied by
Germany and fared badly in the war's later years. After
the war the city started to grow again.
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Athens Today
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With its suburbs, Athens
has a population of about 3.5 million representing around 35%
of the total population of Greece. Athens has grown very
rapidly in the years after the war until ca. 1980 and suffered
from overcrowding, traffic congestion and air pollution; it is
one of the most polluted cities in Europe. These problems
still persist, although the massive investment of recent years
in infrastructure has had a significant effect in easing the
problem. Athens sprawls across the
central plain of
Attica, which is bound by Mount
Aegaleo on the west, Mount
Parnitha on the north, Mount
Penteli to the northeast, Mount
Hymettus on the east, and the
Saronic Gulf on the southwest. Athens has expanded to
cover the entire plain, and is thus unlikely to grow
significantly in area in the future, because of the natural
boundaries. The geomorphology of Athens frequently causes
temperature inversion phenomena partly responsible for its
air pollution problem.
The ancient site of the city is centered
on the rocky hill of the
Acropolis. In ancient times the port of
Piraeus (modern name Pireas) was a separate city, but it
has now been absorbed into greater Athens.
The centre of the modern city is
Syntagma Square (Constitution Square), site of the former
Royal Palace, the
Greek Parliament and other 19th century public buildings.
Most of the older and wealthier parts of the city are
clustered around this area, which is also where most of the
tourist attractions and museums are located.
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Above text and some
pictures courtesy
Wikipedia
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Athens Map |
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Athens
Historical
Centre Map
 You can download a bigger pdf version of
the map above by clicking on the picture. Picture courtesy the
City of Athens. |
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The
EUROMEDIA
2006 conference, together with the ECEC'2006
and FUBUTEC'2006 conferences
are co-located at the
Athens Imperial
Karaiskaki Sq.
GR 10437, Athens, Greece.
tel : +30 210 52 01 600
fax: +30 210 52 25 521
 reserv_ai@grecotel.gr |
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How to get to Athens
and other General Information
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 By
Air
Flights Information Arrivals- Departures(+30) 210
3530000
SPATA Airport Schedule Tel: 2103530000
Airport Control Offices
Civil Aviation Authority SPATA: Tel:: 2103534149/50
Olympic
Airlines
Airport tel: 210 9368424, 210 9362369, 210 9368270
Olympic Airlines Domestic & International Flights Tel: :210 9666666
Airport Police Dept: Tel: 2103538172
OTE (Greek TELECOM) Airport Services Tel:: 210 3539143
GNTO Office (Greek National Tourism Organization) Tel :2103530445-8
Map of the Airport
More about Air travel on:
http://www.travelling.gr/helloathens/Airlines.html#a
"Eleftherios
Venizelos" Athens International Airport is served on a 24hour
basis by all bus lines, except for bus line X94. Click on the line
of your choice and see the frequency of service, the stops and the
route diagram. The "Athens International Airport" is served also
by the Suburban Railway (www.proastiakos.gr)
and the metro (www.ametro.gr)
X92 Kifisia - Athens International Airport
(average travelling time 45')
The line connects the airport with Platanos Sq. Kifisias.
X93 Kifisos Intercity Bus Station - Athens International Airport
(average travelling time 65')
The line connects the airport with the intercity bus stations of
Kifisou and Liosion.
X94 Ethniki Amyna Metro Station - Athens International Airport
(average travelling time 45'-50')
The line connects the airport with the nearest metro station "Ethniki
Amyna" (metro line 3)
X95 Syntagma - Athens International Airport (average
travelling time 70')
The line connects the airport with Syntagma square in the city
center (connection with metro lines 2 and 3)
X97 Dafni Metro Station - Athens International Airport
(average travelling time 70')
The line connects the airport with the Metro station of Dafni.
Click here to see the airport bus routes on a map
Airport Ticket Price List
EXPRESS BUS LINES
The ticket price for the airport express bus lines is € 2.90 and
it permits only one trip to or from the airport.
The airport ticket can be purchased from the ticket kiosk at the
airport, from the drivers of the airport express buses, at all
metro stations and at the blue or yellow ticket outlets.
METRO
Fares
Single fare €6
Return ticket (within 48 hours) €10
Single fare for 2 persons (flat ticket) €10
Single fare for 3 persons (flat ticket) €15
Teens (under 18 years), Students €3
Senior Citizens (65+ years) €3
The
airport ticket can be purchased from the ticket kiosk at the
airport and at all metro stations.
SUBURBAN RAILWAY
Fares
Single fare €6
Return ticket (valid for 1 month) €10
Single fare for 2 persons (flat ticket) €10
Teens (under 18 years), Students €3
Senior Citizens (65+ years) €3
The airport
ticket can be purchased from the ticket kiosk at the airport and
at all suburban railway stations.
For further information please visit the websites :
www.ametro.gr
and
www.proastiakos.gr
The City of Athens is serviced by a thick transportation
network primarily based on OASA (
http://www.oasa.gr
or
http://www.oasa.gr/uk/index_uk.asp )
 By
Train
The new suburban rail connects the
Athens airport Eleftherios Venizelos with the Olympic stadium
OAKA and the areas of West Athens.
To get to the station take the Metro, bus or
a taxi.
Map Below shows how metro station is near
train station
By Tram and Metro
The new Athens tram covers at the moment 26
kilometers with 47 stops and connects central Athens with the
southern suburbs Faliron until Glyfada within 40-50 minutes. The
tram will run on 24 hours basis. Ticket price 60 cents up to 5
stops cost 40 cents Young people under 18 pay 30 cents.
http://linuxweb.internet.gr/tramsa/html/gr/index.php
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The new Athens Metro gives the best way to travel trough Athens
direct connections with the important sites and the Athens
For all information directions Tickets
and Maps please visit the Official Site of Athens Metro:
www.ametro.gr |
 By Bus
and Taxi
There are three bus lines to and from the
airport. All buses depart from the designated area on the inner
curbside of the arrivals level of the Main Terminal Building
exactly outside the Exit (doors 4-5)
Line E94
connects the Ethniki Amina Metro Station with the Airport.
Passengers can transfer from the Metro line to the Airport Bus at
this departure point. This bus stops running before the metro
stops running which is around midnight.
Line E 95
Syntagma Square
- Airport Express has its departure point at the center of Athens
(Syntagma Square) and via Vas. Sofias Avenue, Mesogion Avenue and
Attiki Odos terminates at the airport.
Line E96 Pireaus
- Airport Express starts from the center of Pireaus (Karaiskaki
Square) and via Posidonos Avenue, Varis-Varkizas, and
Varis-Koropiou Roads terminates at the airport. Both the Syntagma
and the Pireaus buses run for 24 hours, generally every twenty
minutes but every 40 minutes after midnight.
There is a (new) bus E93
connecting the Airport (door 5) with the bus terminal at Kiffissou
street. The interval is generally 35 minutes (65 at night)
For more information on bus travel:
http://www.travelling.gr/helloathens/BusProvinces.html
By Taxi
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The regular taxi queue will
start from Door 4 of the Arrivals Level and extend up to Door
1. A taxi should cost you about 15-25 Euro to the center. For
tips on using Taxis in Athens.
See Tom Mazaraki's Taxi Tips |
Travel Information Courtesy:
www.athensguide.org
USEFUL WEBSITES
My personal museums of choice in Athens
    
National Archeological Museum of Athens
The National Archaeological Museum ranks
among the top ten museums in the world. Its impressive collection
is housed in a beautiful neoclassic building near the juncture of
Alexandras Avenue on Patission Avenue. There is a gift shop, and a
cafe in the sculpture garden. Children under 6 and EU students get
in free.
The museum is a five minute walk from
Victoria Station and a 10 minute walk from Omonia. The Trolly #'s
1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,11,13, and 15 all stop there.
Hours:
Tue-Fri: 8am-7pm
Mon:12:30pm-7pm
Sat, Sun & Holidays:8:30am-3pm
(there is an internet cafe right next door where you can send
e-mail home)
  
War Museum
The Museum was inaugurated
in 1975. Its aim and mission is the exhibition of war momentoes,
the documentation and study of war history as well as the
presentation of the struggles for freedom of the Greek nation from
ancient times to the present day. The permanent exhibition area of
the Museum includes Room 1, which is devoted to antiquity and
covers the Stone Age and the Early Bronze Age, with an emphasis on
the Mycenean era; Room 2, in which themes from the prehistory of
Greece are presented through groups of photographs or drawings;
Room 3 presents the Byzantine period, Room 4 the period of
Frankish rule, Rooms 5-6 the Greek War of Independence, Room 7 the
new Greek State, Room 8 is devoted to the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars,
Room 9 to the Balkan Wars and the First World War, room 10 to the
historic period of the Greco-Italian War of 1941-1941 and the
German invasion. On the mezzanine, the room is devoted to the
first Greek airmen and the ground floor to the P. Saroglou
collection. There is also an important and well-organized library
in the Museum.
2 Rizari Street and Vass.
Sofias Avenue (next to the Byzantine Museum) Tel
729-0543
War implements from ancient
times to this century including armor, swords, torpedos, and
fighter planes. Photographs of various Greek campaigns and
battles. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 2pm. Sunday from
9:30am to 2pm. Closed Mondays. Admission free.
For more museums:
http://www.greece-museums.com/
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Conference Venue
Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE)
