Travel
Virginia: Guide
to going places
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Summer trips: Greece
Outerbanks
– Lighthouses
– Greece
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Courtesy
photo
The
USA men’s volleyball team will be one of many teams competing in
this summer’s Olympic Games.
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2004
Olympic Games
Greece is the place where the Olympics began in 776 B.C. For more than
1,000 years, the games were held as a religious festival every four years
in Olympia, until an antipagan Roman emperor suppressed them in A.D. 391.
Greece revived the Olympic tradition in 1896, and it’s continued every
four years since, with the exception of World War I and II.
With such a grand tradition to
highlight,
it’s no surprise that history will play a starring role during the 2004
games scheduled for Aug. 13-29.
The ancient Olympic Stadium
at Olympia will be used for the shot put, both men’s and women’s. Competitors
will travel from Athens on Aug. 18 for qualifying events in the morning
and finals in the afternoon before a crowd of up to 15,000 spectators.
The Olympic marathon race will follow the original route to Panathinaiko
Stadium in Athens, which was constructed for the 1896 Olympics using marble
from the same quarry as the Parthenon. Competitors will run 26 miles from
Marathonas along the ancient route that a Greek herald ran in 490 B.C.
to announce a Greek victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon.
Getting there: From New York’s JFK airport, a nonstop flight to
Athens takes about 10 hours. Departing from Washington Dulles airport,
you’ll have to change planes in Europe, which adds an additional two or
three hours to the journey. Wherever you change planes in the European
Union will be the place where your passport is stamped.
Getting around in Greece
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Katherine
Calos/Richmond Times-Dispatch
The
sun sets on the Greek island of Santorini.
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The
city has two new Metro lines with museum-quality exhibits in some stations
to display artifacts unearthed during construction. A the new airport
runs efficiently on the outskirts of the city, where a new limited access
roadway whisks cars into the city’s center. A tram linking the city center
with the Helleniko Olympic Complex, along the waterfront in the former
location of the Athens airport, is
slated
to be finished just before the Games begin. An existing local line reaches
the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex along the waterfront east of the
Piraeus ferry terminals.
Around the base of the Acropolis, streets connect at all angles and the
names don’t seem all that important. What appears as a straight line on
a map suddenly turns into steps and wide sidewalks for cafes, no cars
allowed.
English is widely spoken as a second language among young Greeks. Within
the European Union, it’s the language for common communication among the
French, Germans, Italians, Greeks and multitongued others. So, if you
get lost, there’s usually someone who can send you in the right direction.
Where to stay
The five-star Divani Palace Acropolis ($240-$450) is conveniently
located within blocks of the Acropolis on Parthenonos. Similarly convenient
is the small three-star Hotel Austria ($100) on Mousson. On the other
side of the Acropolis, the three-star Hotel Plaka and Hotel Achilleas
($130-$170) are closer to the Plaka and Syntagma Square. At Syntagma Square,
consider the classic five-star Grand Bretagne ($350) or four-star Elektra
Palace ($235). All Athens hotels are booked for the Olympics period.
Where to eat
An early dinner in Athens begins about 9 p.m. Find a rooftop view
of the Parthenon at Taverna Strofi on Makrigianni near the Acropolis or
sit at a sidewalk cafe such as Ambrosia along Drakou, which heads down
from nearby Filoppapou Hill. For a quick lunch, try the pasta made to
order at Neon cafeteria. Others have recommended fried calamari at Taverna
Vizantino or home-style cooking at Platanos Taverna in the Plaka.
About security
In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on American soil
and the March 11, 2004 attack on Spain, security at the Athens Olympics
has taken center stage. A Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility
for a May 5 bombing of a police station in Athens, the same day the city
was acknowledging the 100-day mark before the Olympics opening ceremony.
The Greek government says the security budget for the games is $1.2 billion,
with advice coming from a seven-nation task force that includes the United
States. NATO patrols will help secure the sky and shoreline. About 70,000
police officers, troops and firefighters will work the games.
A network of 1,400 closed-circuit television cameras, sensors and computers
will allow police, military and fire personnel to continuously monitor
facilities.
Greece poses particular security challenges because of its location on
the eastern edge of Europe and its long winding coastline with hundreds
of islands.
Historic sites to see
The Parthenon, the marble temple to Athena. It was built atop the
Acropolis more than 400 years before Christ. It remained largely intact
until 1687, when a Venetian mortar set off gunpowder stored in the building
by Turks. Archaeologists are painstakingly repairing marble rounds that
have fallen, so that they eventually can be stacked again into columns
to complete more of the structure. Some significant pieces are missing
– the most controversial being the frieze and sculptures removed by Lord
Elgin in 1801 and now housed in The British Museum. Lord Elgin also raided
the Erechtheion, a separate little temple on the hill, and took one of
the six Karyatids – columns in the shape of women – that held up the south
portico. The others were removed for safekeeping and replaced by copies.
The Acropolis Museum. There you’ll see what’s left of the friezes
and four of the original Karyatids, as well as statuary that includes
an oddly charming portrayal of a man carrying a calf from about 570 B.C.,
archaic statues of maidens (Kore) and the Kritias Boy, one of the earliest
examples of the Classical style. Walk to the edge of the Acropolis to
appreciate the view of Athens. Twentieth-century construction is mostly
block after block of cement-box apartment buildings. In the fairly compact
area around the Acropolis, though, stands the old town called the Plaka,
the Roman forum, the National Cathedral, the Parliament Building, the
National Garden, the ancient Agora, the stadium where the 1896 Olympics
were held, the Roman temple of Jupiter and the theaters of Dionysios and
Herodes Atticus.
The National Archaeological Museum.
For more information: For the Greek National Tourist Organization
in New York, call (212) 421-5777 or visit www.greektourism.com.
Sources:
Under construction: Athens Olympic sites” by Katherine Calos, travel
writer, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 23, 2004
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