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Athens, Greece

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Glorious Greece

See all that the country has to offer, from ancient sites steeped in history and religion to modern-day attractions that awe and relax.

/ 18 PHOTOS
Athens, Greece

Pillars of worship

Construction on the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens began in 515 B.C., and was completed 700 years later by Emperor Hadrian in 131 A.D. There were originally 104 Corinthian columns, but only 16 remain standing now.

— Julian Finney / Getty Images Europe
People enjoy a sunny day on a beach near

Sandy escapes

Millions of visitors enjoy sunny days on Anthens' beaches each summer, with warm weather seeming to last longer into fall. Many beaches have a small entry fee that helps pay for keeping the beaches clean.

— Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP
Image: An Orthodox bell tower overlooks the port town of Fyra

Stunning sight

An Orthodox bell tower overlooks the port town of Fira on the Greek island of Santorini. With a view to one of the most stunning sunsets in the Mediterranean, Santorini is one of Greece's most popular tourist destinations.

— Sakis Mitrolidis / AFP
(FILE) This picture taken 28 September 2

Ancient attraction

The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena and perhaps the most famous surviving building from ancient Greece, sits at the top of the Acropolis and overlooks Athens. Construction on the temple began in 447 B.C. and completed in 438 B.C. Today, the temple attracts millions of visitors a year.

— Aris Messinis / AFP
Athens, Greece

Taste of the city

The Agora on Athinas Street, otherwise known as the Athens Central Market in Athens, is a great place to buy affordable, fresh food. The market is open Monday through Saturday, and everything from meat to fish to vegetables to herbs is available.

— Julian Finney / Getty Images Europe
Athens and Its Urban Sprawl

The modern face

Concrete buildings typifying Athen's urban sprawl are visible from the Acropolis. The city, which has expanded geographically throughout the 20th century, has had severe problems with urban pollution that have improved in recent years.

— Sean Gallup / Getty Images Europe
Ancient Monasteries Perch Among Meteora In Greece

Holy refuge

Monks and hermits have found refuge in the monasteries at Meteora in Athens for more than 1,000 years. The gigantic rock formations in central Greece, which still puzzle scientists as to how they came to be formed, are visited today by thousands of tourists. The Holy Meteora have been maintained and protected as a monument of humanity by UNESCO.

— Milos Bicanski / Getty Images Europe
Ancient Monasteries Perch Among Meteora In Greece

A look at the past

Visitors view the old winch system that used to bring people and supplies to the monsteries inside the Monastery of Agia Triada at Meteora. The monastery, which is perched atop a pinnacle and is accessible by taking 140 steep steps, may look familiar because it was featured in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only." The two monks who still reside there often show visitors around.

— Milos Bicanski / Getty Images Europe
A tour guide speaks to visitors inside t

Art through the ages

Frescoes by 16th century Cretan painter Theophanes the Monk have survived over the years and can be seen inside the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Anapafsas at Meteora.

— Aris Messinis / AFP
Tourists stand before a sea water tank c

A sea of tourists

Tourists stand before a seawater tank containing sea life of the Mediterranean Sea at the Cretaquarium in the city of Irakleion on the island of Crete in southern Greece. This tourist destination, which opened in December 2005, works as a modern-day research, educational and entertainment facility. The aquarium was developed to hold 32 tanks containing around 2,5000 organisms from 200 species.

— Aris Messinis / AFP
An aerial view of the Athens Olympic Sta

Climbing the ranks

The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982 and hosted the European Championships in Athletics that year. The city won the honor of hosting the 2004 Summer Olympics, and after an extensive renovation on the stadium, including a roof redesign, the building reopened just in time to host the opening ceremony on Aug. 13. Today, the venue hosts everything from major sporting events to concerts.

— Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP
**FILE** In this Nov. 24, 2007 file photo a general view of  Ancient Olympia stadium as the burned hill of Kronos, is seen in the background, southern Greece.  (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, file)

Birthplace of the Games

In the 8th century B.C., the first Olympic festival was organized in Olympia (tradition dates the first games to 776 B.C.). Ruins of the ancient stadium are still evident at the site, though a fire in August 2007 ravaged the area and scorched the museum that housed some of Greece's great archeaological collections. Still, the Olympic flame of the modern-day games are lit by the reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror at the stadium.

— Petros Giannakouris / AP
A visitor walks behind the Statue of sleeping Maenad at the Greek National Archaeological Museum in Athens

House of antiquities

The statue of Sleeping Maenad, which dates back to the time of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) can be seen at the Greek National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The statue presumably adorned a luxury residence and was found to the south of the Athenian Acropolis. It is just one of the many important artifacts from various archaeological locations around the country from prehistory to late antiquity.

— John Kolesidis / X01678
Tourists admire the Caryatids of the Ere

Supporting ladies

Tourists admire the six caryatids of the Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis Hill in Athens. Caryatids are female figures that serve as supporting columns that hold up roofs. Renovation works to restore them were underway for 30 years and finally ended in November 2008. The entire temple was dedicated to Athena Polias and Poseidon Erechtheus when it was built between 421 B.C. and 407 B.C. The caryatids are on a porch on the north side called "Porch of the Maidens."

— Aris Messinis / AFP
Tourists admire fossilised tree trunks a

Frozen in time

The Lesvos Petrified Forest on the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos is a UNESCO heritage site. The Petrified Forest numbers around 70 trees of various sizes that are ancestors of today's pines and cypresses, and were fossilized when the area was covered in volcanic lava around 20 million years ago.

— Aris Messinis / AFP
Bathers relax in the waters of the hot L

Healing waters

Bathers relax in the waters of the hot Loutraki spring near the town of Aridea in northern Greece. Curative tourism is among a series of new products that Greek authorities want to highlight in a bid to diversify the country's usual recipe of sea and sun.

— Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP
A hiker climbs Mount Olympus, the legend

Home of the gods

A hiker climbs Mount Olympus, the legendary home of the ancient Greek gods in central Greece. The mountain is the country's highest, standing at 9,570 feet.

— Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP
WITH \"After Zeus and Poseidon, Greece ge

Rich draw

The Hozoviotissa Monastery on the Amorgos island, built in the 11th century on the side of the Prophetes Elias Mountain at 300 meters above sea level, is reportedly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Having for decades relied on its archaeological wealth to draw tourism, Greece now seeks to exploit an equally rich religious tradition to entice visitors from fellow Orthodox countries.

— Str / AFP
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