The city that invented democracy and the best rooftop view in the world
Athens is simultaneously one of Europe's oldest cities and one of its most unexpectedly alive — graffiti-covered streets in Exarcheia, neo-tavernas in Monastiraki, and rooftop bars everywhere with that view of the lit Acropolis floating above the city. Greek food resists Instagram simplification: souvlaki wrapped in flatbread eaten standing, spanakopita warm from a bakery tray, taramasalata with cold retsina, and slow-braised lamb (kleftiko) sealed in parchment and cooked for three hours are the essentials — none of them photographable in a way that does them justice.
Athens was the dominant city-state of ancient Greece, birthplace of democracy under Cleisthenes (508 BCE), and the center of a philosophical and architectural tradition that underpins Western civilization. After the Peloponnesian War, Athens was conquered by Macedon under Alexander, then Rome, then became the center of the Byzantine Christian world, then fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1458 — governing for 365 years. Modern Athens became capital of newly independent Greece in 1834, a small town of fewer than 10,000 people rebuilding from nothing.