The glory of Athens

ATHENS — The morning sun sparkles on the deep blue Aegean Sea as our flight floats across the craggy Greek coastline. The peaks of the mountains below stretch upward like the spine of a dinosaur, touched here and there with a dusting of snow.

An occasional village appears, nestled on a hillside as if a hodgepodge of pebbles were tossed carelessly by a giant. No urban planning here. To the east, a snow-capped mountain rises above the mist hovering over a valley, a dwelling worthy of the ancient gods of Greece.

The land of the ancient gods of Greece is particularly inviting in winter, especially in January. Tourists are scarce, and restaurants and museums are not crowded. The cool weather can be delightful, never too hot even when warm, and occasionally refreshed by showers.

These are the halcyon days, “Alkionides” in Greek. There’s a myth to correspond with these seven days of springlike weather: Alcyone, the daughter of Aeolus, king of the winds, was married to Ceyx, son of the Morning Star. When Ceyx drowned in a storm at sea, Alcyone was so distraught that she threw herself into the sea in grief.

Out of compassion for the loving couple, the gods changed them into kingfishers. In order for Alcyone to be able to make her nest and lay her eggs on the beach in peace, her father restrained the winds and calmed the waves for a short period each January so she could do so in safety.

Athens is lively, interesting and modern, the capital only since 1834, ringed by pleasant suburbs with lovely villas along streets lined with orange trees. The narrow streets and houses in the old Plaka and Monastiraki districts in central Athens recall what the city once was like.

Shops stocked with stylish clothing, jewelry and the usual flea markets crowd the narrow streets. A visitor comes unexpectedly on a Greek or Roman ruin, a small Byzantine church or an Ottoman mosque, remnants of Greece’s multiple rulers.

There’s no shortage of restaurants. Some specialize in Greek cuisine with Turkish influences, the heritage of the exchange of population that took place between Greece and Turkey just after World War I. Athenian women wear the latest elegant European fashions and are friendly and helpful to a stranger unfamiliar with the language and the alphabet.

A visitor, even if unfamiliar with the language, can get around the city easily on inexpensive buses, trams and a subway.

Syntagma (Constitution) Square lies at the center of the city, with the Parliament facing the square. The hourly changing of the costumed guards, with great tassels on their shoes, is like a stylized dance and wonderful to watch. The metro station is worth a visit, even if you aren’t going anywhere. It — and other stations — exhibit antiquities unearthed when the metro station was built.

From the square, it’s a short walk to the oldest parts of the city, to the shops, both elegant and trendy, to the municipal buildings and to the Benaki and Cycladic museums. The Benaki is a private museum with a superb collection of everything Greek, from antiquities to modern paintings, to icons and folk art and costumes. A delightful cafe — popular with Athenians — atop the building is a particularly pleasant aerie in good weather.

The glory of the city, and its symbol, remains the sacred rock, the Acropolis, connecting the ancient with the present. It rises magnificently above the city from a nest of scaffolding and cranes. Repair of the Parthenon has been going on since the mid-1980s.

Since its creation in the fifth century B.C., during the golden age of Pericles, it has served as the temple to Athena, a Greek Orthodox church; a Roman Catholic church and a mosque. It remained intact for 2,000 years until the siege of 1687, when it was an Ottoman ammunition dump and was left in ruins by a Venetian bombardment during the Turkish-Venetian war.

The Erechtheion — named for one of the mythical kings of Athens — was built in the fifth century on the northern side of the Acropolis. On the temple’s south side, the figures of six maidens, the Caryatids, support the roof of a balcony. The statues on view today are copies; five original sculptures are in the Acropolis Museum; the sixth, along with the Elgin marbles, is in the British Museum in London.

Inside the Parthenon was a 40-foot-high statue of Athena made of wood, ivory and gold, the work of the sculptor Pheidias. The statue was lost during the Byzantine era, however, a smaller Roman copy survives in the ever-fascinating National Archaeological Museum.

From the Acropolis, there’s a splendid view of Athens below and of the hills surrounding the city. St. Paul stood on the rock just to the west to preach to the Athenians.

On the southern slope below the Acropolis lie the ruins of the Odeon of Herodes, built in 161 A.D., and the Theater of Dionysius, where Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides and Sophocles saw premiere performances of their plays in the fifth century B.C.

Farther down the hill to the southeast stands Hadrian’s Arch, the entrance to the huge Olympian Temple of Zeus. Only 15 of the original 104 Corinthian columns of the temple remain. The arch marks the boundary between the ancient city and the new. On the side facing the Acropolis is inscribed “This is Athens, the city of Theseus.” On the side facing the Temple of Zeus, it states, “This is Athens, the city of Hadrian.”

Day trips from the city offer a visitor the opportunity to sample a beautiful countryside and to visit the ancient sights and some of the islands. Regularly scheduled bus and boat tours with knowledgeable guides, fluent in English, make the visits easily accessible.

Several trips are available only during summer; others run all year. One such trip goes from Athens into the Peloponnese, reached by crossing the high bridge over the Corinth Canal.

CORINTH

Ancient Corinth was the first city in Greece to mint coins. Because of its location near a trade route, it was rich and powerful. Destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. (in the same year as Carthage), it was rebuilt by Julius Caesar a century later.

Ancient Corinth was dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility. A thousand women served the goddess as sacred prostitutes for rich visitors, earning money for the temple. Corinth earned a licentious reputation, and St. Paul preached in the city against its wickedness; his letters to the first Christian congregation became the Bible’s I and II Corinthians. Corinth’s acropolis, Acrocorinth, is 1,500 feet above sea level and 1,000 feet above the ancient city. The ruins are reached through three gates, each dating from a different century.

MYCENAE, EPIDAURUS

The road to the ruins of Mycenae passes through the modern village of Mycenae, where the names of cafes along the way suggest the popularity of the ruins: Elektra Bar, Orestes Cafe, Iphegenia Restaurant, Belle Helene Hotel.

The important Mycenaean civilization existed from about 1600 to 1100 B.C., when Mycenae was abandoned. The ruins of the fortified palace, home of the house of Atreus, from which Agamemnon set forth about 1250 B.C. to Troy to avenge the theft of his brother’s wife, Helen, are spectacular. It’s a climb from the parking lot up the hill and through the fabled Lion Gate, one of the first examples of European monumental sculpture.

Grave circles within the walls hold the tomb of Clytemnestra. At the top, all that is left are the outlines of the chambers of what was a mighty palace. The hilltop palace was inhabited by the ruling class, while the merchants and artisans lived and were buried below, outside the walls.

Nearby is the treasury, or beehive tomb, of Atreus, an extraordinary circular burial chamber with a high dome and a single straight entry passage lined with stones. The entry was surmounted with a 120-ton lintel stone, and the dome was covered by earth. The Mycenaeans buried their kings with weapons and food for the journey to the other world.

To the south lies the lovely seaside city of Nafplion shows the influence of the Venetians when their republic ruled much of the eastern Mediterranean. The first capital of Greece from 1829 to 1834 after the country’s independence, Nafplion scrambles up a hillside to an imposing Venetian citadel. Just outside the harbor lies the fortified island of Bourtzi, another Venetian fortress.

Palm trees, water gently lapping against the harbor promenade, small shops and restaurants, a large central piazza with outdoor cafes, and flowers blooming in the winter sunshine give the town the air of the Mediterranean. An Italian gelateria adds the perfect conclusion to a delicious lunch of mezze, good Greek wine and a small cup of strong, sweet coffee.

Athenians come to Nafplion for a weekend of sun and relaxation. The town’s proximity to Epidaurus and its summer drama festival makes it particularly attractive as a place to overnight. Epidaurus was famed not only for its theater, but as a healing center. The ruins of the sanctuary, which included a spring, a dormitory for the patients, a pit for the sacred snakes used in certain cures, are closed for restoration.

DELPHI

The road to Delphi on the Greek mainland runs through an area once covered with cotton fields. Now it’s a lovely drive through farmland at the foot of snow-capped mountains. A short coffee break in the pretty mountain village of Arachova, famous for the brightly colored carpets, is a jump into something like a Swiss mountain village.

Shops selling carpets, embroideries and clothing line the main street. Houses tumble down the hill and the hotels and restaurants cater to skiers in winter.

Delphi, the navel or center of the world in Greek mythology, is magnificent. Here, the sibyl in her laurel-smoke-induced trance, would mumble prophecies from her tripod atop the sacred rock.

A crack in the rock emitted the fumes surrounding the Pythia, as she was called. The priests would ask a question and interpret her answers in writing, but written without punctuation so that the prophecy, believed to have come from Apollo, could be read in several ways. The oracle was never wrong.

The site, when not overrun with schoolchildren, is spiritual and sensual in its peace and beauty. Apollo’s temple amid fragrant trees and bushes overlooks a valley planted with 4 million olive trees, which even in ancient times produced olives. Beyond sparkles the sea.

Athens is neither Rome nor Istanbul, as a friend warned me, but “the glory that was Greece” entices, excites and seduces still.

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There are no nonstop flights between Washington and Athens. Continental flies from Newark and Delta from New York. Other major international airlines flying from Washington and Baltimore offer connecting flights at their European hubs.

The Athenaeum InterContinental Athens is a convenient and very comfortable hotel with two excellent restaurants. The hotel has large, attractively furnished rooms. The hotel’s owner is a collector of contemporary art, so the rooms and public spaces are decorated with unusual, interesting and sometimes whimsical works of art. The rooms on the upper floors of the north side of the hotel face the Acropolis, offering spectacular views of the Parthenon.

The hotel’s fine-dining restaurant, Premiere, offers diners the same splendid view from the terrace along with excellent Mediterranean cuisine. The casual restaurant offers sumptuous breakfast and lunch buffets, as well as dinner daily.

The I-Spa by Aglotherm is a full- service space for men and women.

Although the hotel is not located in the immediate old part of Athens, a convenient complementary shuttle service between the hotel and Syntagma Square operates several times each hour. Bus, tram and metro stops are within a couple of blocks. There’s a convenient ATM in the lobby.

Athenaeum Intercontinenal Hotel, 89-93 Syngrou Ave., Athens; go to www.ichotelsgroup.com and click on “locations” and then on “Athens” under “listings”; phone 30/210-920-6000.

For sightseeing: Chat Tours, www.chatours.gr

For more information, Greek National Tourism Organization: www.gnto.gr