"at last..." Athens by iaint

Well, until December 2010 I had passed through Athens Airport at least 4 times, I'd spent one night in the airport hotel and one night down the coast in Glyfada. I'd never been into the city!

Not sure how many times I've been to Greece over the years - I reckon 7 or 8.

So, finally I arranged to spend a few days in the city while the rest of the world was busy being "festive".

Panathenaic Stadium

I loved it.

I had 4 nights/3 days, and was lucky (or well informed enough) to have a great hotel in an ideal location - largely thanks to VTers and their advice/tips!

The people are friendly - I wasn't sure how that would be in a big city, when I'm used to the island/village/small town Greeks.

The food is wonderful. I ate way too much. The wine - I should have had retsina more often, but that's my only "complaint"

tradition...

I've been to Rome and Istanbul several times each, so getting the Greek angle on antiquity was fun.

The end of December was an ideal time to go - not too many tourists, and the weather was not hot. I could have had cool damp weather, but it was warm and pleasant.

Apart from the traffic, I can't find any negatives about it...

• Pros:mmm... food, people, sights
• Cons:mmm... traffic
• In a nutshell:I hope I can go back