Athens

Ravaged by time and partially dismantled for restoration, the Parthenon (+30 210 321 0219, www.culture.gr) still inspires awe. The on-site Acropolis Museum (+30 210 323 6665) is small and rundown but its holdings, including the original Caryatids, are spectacular. The new €100-million museum designed by Bernard Tschumi should be ready in 2007. A combined Acropolis ticket gives entry to all the major sites for a week, including the Ancient Agora, a faded picture of the romantic Athens that greeted Byron in 1810, and the open-air Theatre of Dionysus.

More antiquities than you can shake a sword at can be found at the National Archaeological Museum (Patission 44, +30 210 821 7717), but if your appetite for the antique remains unsated, the Museum of Cycladic Art (Neophytou Douka 4, +30 210 722 8321, www.cycladic.gr, closed Tue, Sun) houses the mystical marble statuettes that continue to intrigue archaeologists and artists. For a more contemporary flavour, visit the new Benaki Museum (Pireos 138, +30 210 345 3111, www.benaki.gr, closed Mon, Tue), a purpose-built red marble masterpiece that showcases design, photography and architecture. After all that marble, the green and overgrown National Gardens, lodged between the presidential palace and houses of parliament, come as a relief.

Look out for the changing of the guard – a flourish of rifles by high-stepping soldiers in miniskirts – outside parliament every hour. Further greenery and marvellous views can be had by taking the funicular from the corner of Artistippou and Ploutarchou streets to the summit of Lycabettus Hill, where there’s a pricey café and a restaurant.

For a glimpse of a survivor of the city’s ruthless post-war urbanisation wander around Plaka. It is a pretty jumble of shady lanes lined with pastel-coloured cottages, souvenir shops and quaint cafés. Stroll past the fallen columns, Byzantine churches and neoclassical mansions of pedestrian Dionysiou Areopagitou to Thisio, awash with outdoor cafés. Beyond lies gentrified Psyrri, whose decaying alleyways buzz with bars and ouzeris.

Local history

Athens is built upon a longer, more mythical and complex history than most. The city has seen dark days, the rise and fall of civilisations, cultural and economic booms and upheavals, a celebrated golden age, Roman occupation and Communist revolt.

Local politics

The effort put into the 2004 Olympics preparations pricked the government’s interest in regeneration: new proposals include street renovation by the Ministry of Public Works, who are also trying to secure plots of land for public use, with the aim of creating green strips – beautifying and developing neglected areas.