Athens , the cradle of western civilization is teeming with historic monuments is the capital and largest city of Greece. Travel Clearance has a great selection of bargain hotels and cheap vacation packages for this ancient city too. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and it is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years.
A cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece.
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. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery. Landmarks of the modern era, dating back to the establishment of Athens as the capital of the independent Greek state in 1833, include 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 Archeological Museum, featuring the world's largest collection of ancient Greek antiquities, as well as the new Acropolis Museum.
The selection of tourist attractions is endless but sites not to be missed include the Ancient Agora, Syntagma Square, The Kerameikos, the site of the ancient cemetery of Athens, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Panathinaiko Stadium, the stadium that housed the first modern day Olympic Games of 1896, and Lycabettus Hill— A 200m hill bordering the Kolonaki district.
Athens is also full of museums and galleries. The major ones are the National Archaeological Museum near Omonia, the New Acropolis Museum by the Acropolis, the Benaki and Cycladic Art Museums in Kolonaki, the Agora Museum near Monastiraki, and the Kanellopoulos and Folk Art Museums in Plaka.
Athens is guaranteed to provide you with a fascinating tour through history and a great introduction to Greece.