Athens
THE FOOTBALL
Greek football is a perennial mess of shared and unsuitable stadia, unpunished supporter violence and all-powerful chairmen.
Athens regularly has half a dozen sides in the top flight with several
also-rans running out at earthquake-threatened bare stone-seated
dustbowls across the sprawling metropolis and suburbs – but it’s the big three who count.
Wealthy Olympiakos based and now happily settled back at the port of
Pireaus, have an enviable domestic record in recent years. Their
triumph in the 2006-07 Super League Greece season brought a 10th league
title in 11 years. Their Karaiskakis Stadium, reconstructed in time for
the football competition of the 2004 Games, has a capacity of 33,000.
Set by Faliro station on green metro line 1, it’s an easy journey from
central Athens, and a noisy one, too. For advance tickets, go to the
office at Kointouriotou 138, near the club headquarters at Ipsilantou,
15 minutes’ walk from Pireaus metro stop.
Both AEK and Panathinaikos have the expensive task of hiring out the
Olympic Stadium for home matches. AEK’s Nikos Goumas ground was
demolished in 2003, PAO’s Apostolos Nikolaidis is unsuitable even by
Greek standards.
The 65,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, near the Irini metro stop on green
line 1, venue for the 2006/07 Champions League final, acts as an echo
chamber for each club’s hardcore following except for derby and
European games.
THE CITY
For historical sightseeing, Athens can’t be beaten. The Acropolis, built in 450BC, the 7,000 years of history at the National Archaeological Museum, the 8,000 pieces of Middle Eastern artefacts at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, it’s all once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
The nearest beach is half-an-hour from the city centre and the port of Pireaus is the jump-off point for boats to any number of idyllic islands.
Meanwhile the successful staging of the 2004 Olympic Games, Santiago Calatrava’s superbly revamped Olympic Stadium, the recently pedestrianised city centre areas, the new airport and metro, and the renovated world-class museums all indicate that Athens is no longer the Byzantine madhouse of old.
Don't miss
Follow the newly-built Archaeological Sites Walkway to see all the
historic sites of the Acropolis complex in one go, including the
Parthenon.
Travel tips
Enjoy Greece’s delicious cuisine. Neighbouring Turkey has a
competitor for its famous kebabs in the form of gyros – meat served in
a thick pitta bread surrounded by vegetables and coated in tzatziki. Souvlaki is the Greek name for everyone’s second favourite type of kebab – shish. And while the country’s most famous cheese is feta, ask instead for saganaki, which is fried in a block and often served as a starter.