Athens: modern, historical and sports


In a rare day-off in 2008, when I was managing Fenerbahçe, I decided to cross the frontier to know more about a country that it´s in Turkey´s borders and I saw beautiful images in Greece. I went there as a player, but always very fast knowing only the hotel and the airport. This time, I could have a beautiful day at least in the capital Athens with my wife Sandra, and our friends Moraci and his wife Daiani.

Athens is, without a doubt, a very interesting town. Researching, I found out that the city was a cultural center of the old times and a stage of beautiful histories of the Greek mythology. Today, however, we could see a very modern city, where the Olympic Games happened in 2004, but the ruins and the wonderful tourist attractions were preserved.

I also was in what is left of the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena whom the people of Athens considered their protector. It is the most important and known surviving building of Classical Greece. The old construction is scored by scaffolding to preserve the ruins, because time is unforgiving.

A lot of tourists divided the Acropolis with us. Of course. This combination of modern and old history in the same place is very attractive to everybody. Acropolis view is very beautiful. We can feel how rich is the human history.

We walked by other points, some very modern that were shown to the world in 2004, when the city held the Olympic Games. And it was a turn back in time, because in the same place, 776 years before Christ, the games happened for the first time, very different from today, a great grandfather of the current sports competition.

I was in Olimpiacos stadium, one of the stadiums in the city. The other one, the Olympic Stadium, totally renewed for the Olympic Games, received the Champions League finals three times. It´s a wonderful stadium.

I also passed very near the place where our Vanderlei Cordeiro was the protagonist of one of the highlights of the Games. Grabbed by an Irish priest when he was winning the marathon, he lost the gold medal, but reached the podium in an amazing recovery.

As I said in the title, Athens can be summarized this way: a modern, historical and sports city. There are many places to know, good restaurants and a taste of eternity. It´s a city that I recommend for everybody who is travelling... Around the World.


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