As a child, I was always fascinated by ancient Greece and dying to visit Athens. Where could you be closer to the ancients than in Athens. After all, some of their buildings or ruins are still standing! With so many things to do in Athens, I was dying to visit this city for the longest time.

But just before my long-awaited trip, my brother put a damper on my anticipation. “Athens is the dirtiest capital I’ve ever seen!” he said. And my brother has seen plenty of capitals.

So I flew to Athens with mixed feelings. Would it really be that dirty? Or, like Naples, does the city have charm at second glance? Or would my childish notions of antiquity be confirmed?

Athens is a city that’s less dirty than advertised. I liked the city already at first sight – when we looked over Athens on the roof terrace of our rented apartment and saw the Acropolis towering in front of us, it was just incredible!

But even my childish ideas of such an ancient city weren’t 100% met. Because of course, Athens has many ancient buildings that really blew me away.

However, the city has understandably also gone with the times, so it has some modern influences. The modern influences, though, are quite different from what I remember from Northern Europe. In part, the structure reminded me of Spanish cities; in part, Amman in Jordan. Not surprising given Greece’s very southeastern location within Europe.

I was pleasantly surprised by my first impression of Athens and even more impressed by the second!

I really enjoyed my time in the city, both during the day and at night. It’s an interesting, diverse, and vibrant place.

During the day, tourists dominate the cityscape, squeezing through the narrow streets from one…

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