Athens. The look is definitely more LA than BC.
The high-rise concrete apartment blocks, six-lane motorways and notorious smog that sprawl above this ancient city are enough to make a Blue Guide cry. In the high summer the immense heat never relents, even through the nights. As the air temperature creeps finally into the low 30s, the concrete and tarmac respond by releasing the heat they've been hoarding over the last twelve hours. Mix in the traffic fumes and it seems that for Athenians smoking is just an opportunity to breathe a different flavoured air.
Visitors to Greece don't tend to spend long in Athens. Once the Acropolis, Plaka and the National Museum have been covered, most people tend to move onto Corinth and the Peloponnese, or get a connecting ferry or flight to the islands. They miss going to an open air cinema, where light-lorn bugs splat themselves with abandon on the white teeth of movie stars. They miss the late-night pavement bars of the city's squares, where you can join in the national sport of drinking whisky (which the Greeks are world leaders at). And if you go to the Zappeion (just off Syntagma Square), you can do all this while watching Greece's top musicians playing live and discovering your inner primate with the pistachio nuts.
Last time we went to Greece we headed north out of the city in an Ascona that was built before I was born. Chalkidiki is a long, long drive from Athens if you don't have air-con and if your car's engine expires above 55mph. But the scenery on the E-75 can be varied - you can pine for the sea near Aghios Konstandinos, swelter as you pass Larissa, 'the oven of Greece' and cool off as you descend into the shady Valley of Tembi. Cloudy and aloof, Mount Olympus towers above you before the final leg round the plains of Thessaloniki and into the red clay and fragrant pines of Chalkidiki's three peninsulas.
The Gulf of Kassandra has numerous sandy coves which are shunned by the locals and Greek visitors, as they prefer their beaches pebbly. The water is cool and very clear, with colourful fish that will swirl and shimmer around you if you dive deep to join them. And when you tire of playing the sphougaras (sponge-diver), eat fresh fish and watermelon for lunch and have a lazy, shady sleep. Emerge for gossip over a frappe in the late afternoon, splash back into the sea for a sunset swim, then make for the town once it's dark. As the lights of the fishing boats head out for the night, eat, drink, then eat a sweet, and in the small hours start on the whisky. Which is one Greek habit that most of us have no difficulty in coming to terms with!
For travelling around Greece, I have always taken the latest Rough Guide to Greece as I prefer their background coverage. The Blue Guide to Greece is invaluable if you're going to do the archaeological and historical bit seriously. Mapwise - Road Edition's Greece 1:500K is the best map if you're covering a lot of ground. Useful features include marking toll stations on the motorways (though if you're lucky, they'll be on strike), kilometre distance points (good for navigating without road signs) and very clear road hierarchies, even including scenic routes.
Author: Laura Stone
Date: 1 December 2001
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