Holiday in Athens

Athens, in addition to being the capital of the country, is also considered the economic and cultural center of Greece. The city was so named in honor of the goddess Athena, this goddess was the patron saint of the city. Today, Athens is a modern city. In ancient times the city was considered as the rich city of Europe with a strong economy. The capital of Greece, Athens is known as a city with many historical and cultural monuments, which has been famous since ancient times for the port of Piraeus. You can see for yourself if you choose vacation in Athens.

The name "Athena" in ancient Greece was in the plural form. Only in the nineteenth century did they decide to convert the name from the plural form to the singular.

The territory of Athens is 412 sq. km. The capital of Greece is surrounded by the mountains of Egaleo, Parnita, Imito and Pendeli. The city has a population of 3,361,806 as of 2001. The population density per square kilometer is 8,160 people.

There are different versions of the origin of the name of the city. One version says that the name Athens was given to the city after a dispute between Poseidon and Athena. From mythology we know that Athens is the god of wisdom. According to the first version, the first king of Athens, Kekropos, had to choose a patron of the city. And the patron was to be one of two - either Athena or Poseidon. They were to make a gift to the king, and thus win the sympathy of the king, who, by the way, was half snake and half man.

The first blow was made by Poseidon, and in the same hour a spring gushed out of the ground. Greece is a hot, mountainous country... and without water, but unfortunately the water turned out to be salty. The next blow was Athens - an olive tree appeared. Kekrop was pleasantly surprised and chose Athena as the patron of the city. Since Kekrop, according to legend, did not choose Poseidon - the city lacks water, and this lack is still felt today.

Athens has always been an important city throughout Europe. Beginning as early as 500 B.C., during the golden age of Greece, Athens was the cultural center of the intelligentsia and the base of Western civilization. Athens was always a rich city, a center of knowledge and culture before the Roman Empire.

The schools practicing the philosophical teachings of Athens were closed as early as 529, by Emperor Justinian I (Emperor of Byzantium). Athens thereafter lost its greatness and the city turned into a very ordinary provincial town.

Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, the city was claimed by various knights from the Latin Empire (French, Italian and Byzantine). However, in 1458 Turkey captured the city and turned it into a part of the Ottoman Empire. Many areas and cultural treasures were destroyed and the city was controlled by several factions.

Athens became almost uninhabited and abandoned when it became the capital of the Kingdom of Greece in 1833. Once the city became the capital, it began to develop and take on the features of a modern city, which we can still observe when we vacation in Athens.

After the 1920s, the city began to expand, creating new neighborhoods by refugees from Asia Minor. But, during World War II, it was occupied by the Germans and suffered again. After the war, however, the city again embarked on its revival, especially in the 1960s, during the construction boom.

After Greece joined the European Union, there were new investments and problems with atmospheric pollution in the city.