The city of Athens took its name from Athena, the goddess of wisdom, which  according to the ancient myth was born out of Zeu's head. The picture on the right shows a typical statue of Athena.

Acropolis, the center of life of ancient Athens is located at the highest                       point of Athens. It is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world   and an amazing achievement of the Greek civilization. Every time I go to Greece or before I leave Greece I pay a visit to Acropolis and look at the ancient monument and the entire city of Athens that lies beneath it. It is my way of gathering strength, reorganizing and moving on !

When I was young, I used to go to the famous summer festivals of Athens at the Odeon of Herodus of Attica. It is one of the oldest theaters and lies directly below the Acropolis. I used to  watch the famous tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles and the comedies of Aristophanes. It is in this theater that these plays were performed for the first time some 2500 years ago, and are        still being performed for the amusement of the cultural hungry Athenian citizens.

ATHENS, THE CAPITAL OF GREECE

Athens is a great city. Believe it or not, almost half of the population of Greece lives in Athens. It is the capital of Greece. It is also the capital of Attica, one of Greece’s geographical districts . Attica is located in the central region  of Greece.    Macedonia is another major district on the north and the city of Thessaloniki or Salonika is located there. Despite that I was born and raised in Athens, I attended the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for my undergraduate degree in physics. That was a good decision. I spent 5 wonderful years there. Back to Athens now.....

In this map you can see Attica and Athens. You can also see the famous port of Pireas which in our days is part of the city of Athens and the center of nightlife during the summer. The bars by the beach are pure magic in the summer nights.

The Parthenon

The Entrance of Akropolis

The statues of Karyatides

A view of the city of Athens from the Lecabetus hill, one of the highest points in the city. You can see through the sea and Pireas.

Felix Matathias, 2001.

That is a map of the center of Athens, including the historical center (yellow) . I was born and lived my childhood at Ampelokipi, that you can find on the top right part of the map. You can also see the Lecabetus hill and Omonia Square, the exact center of the city

I was born and raised in Athens. The picture on the left is a typical, busy, downtown Athenian  street during the rush hour.