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Affordable stay in cheap hotels in Athens, Greece: check rates of different booking providers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Athens: the Pearl of Greece Athens is one of the most beautiful and distinctive cities in Europe where the monuments of antiquity coexist with the Byzantine monuments of the Middle Ages. The city of Athens has a rich history. The city, whose life began more than five millennia ago, had been recognized as a center of culture and art at the time when the majority of present-day major European centers did not exist. After centuries and a period of decline and neglect, Athens was reborn again as the capital of the small Balkan state only 150 years ago. Now it is a large modern city. The city is the pearl of Greece, with its Acropolis, a masterpiece of world significance. Acropolis, which has become the historical core of the city, is surrounded by ancient monuments, the most famous of which is Propilei, built more than 2440 years ago, the temple of Nike Apteros, and the Parthenon as the main building of the Acropolis. Parthenon, the Temple of Athena the Virgin, patroness of the city, rises majestically and is easily visible from any point of Athens. The theater of Dionysus, located on the southern slope of the Acropolis, is part of the sanctuary of Dionysus, and at present, it is partially restored as a place for the Athens Festival. Areopagus, a hill to the north-west of the Acropolis with the flattened area on top of it, served as a meeting place of the Council of Elders, the highest judicial authority of the ancient Athenian state, and is a famous tourist attraction nowadays. No less important destinations of Athens are Keramikos, where the remains of famous Athenians are buried, and the Likavitos park with the picturesque church of St. George at the top of its hill. Lantern of Diogenes and Hadrian's Arch are also included into the list as smaller sights of Athens. Athens also hosts the temple of Olympian Zeus, which was completed in the 2nd century A.D. There are numerous monuments which appeared during the Roman rule, the Octagonal Tower of the Winds and Dipilon necropolis in particular. The tourists can also observe the perfectly preserved specimens of Byzantine architecture, with Agios Eleftherios Church and Ly-Apostoli at the Agora among them. The 19th century presented Athens with two main squares - Syntagma and Omonia - created by the famous architects of that time. Here one also sees the neo-classical style buildings of the Old Royal Palace which currently houses parliament, the National Library, the university, and the Academy of Sciences. The neighborhood of the oldest capital in Europe is also rich in tourist attractions. The burial hill bearing the name of Marathon is home to a museum in honor of the soldiers killed in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Cape Sounion hosts the temple of Poseidon and the ruins of the Temple of Athena. Modern cultural center of Athens is represented by the square of ??Kolonaki, the Byzantine Museum, founded in 1914, Benaki Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the conservatory and the concert hall. To the south there is the National Park and the ancient Panathenaia Stadium which was reconstructed for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. Ancient Athens was home to a number of great men: the historian Herodotus, the philosopher Anaxagoras, sculptors Phidias, Myron and Poliktet, poets Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and comedy writer Aristophanes. The capital of Greece is an educational center. The university and archaeological institutions of the city, the American School of Classical Studies and the British School of Archaeology teach representatives of Greek youth and foreign students. Athens has many theaters, including the opera theater, movie palaces and small galleries which exhibit the works by contemporary artists. Athens confirms that in a wonderful city you can find everything: art galleries, beautiful squares in a retro style, museums with rare collections of ancient art, fashion boutiques and bustling markets selling goods from all over the world to satisfy every tourist's taste.
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