[HadEnough]

Last September (including 9/11/2002) our flights to
and from Athens were completely full.

Everyone was doing the same type of trip, head to Athens,
then connect on another flight (or the ferry docks at Pereus) to the Islands.

Athens is a dirty, polluted armpit full of American haters.

[AntiGuv]

Athens is changing - more slowly than surely.. Much of the change is evident in the more distant suburbs, however, and of little relevance to the tourist experience. Unfortunately, the only way to swiftly reverse much of the ugliness inherited from years of socialist mismanagement would be for a major earthquake to take out those parts of the city....

When the Greeks do revision or redevelop parts of the city these days, though, they seem to do a rather nice job of it..

[kabar]

Athens is a dirty, polluted armpit full of American haters.

I'll agree with the dirty, polluted part as would most Athenians who head to the islands and elsewhere every chance they get. I have experienced firsthand the traffic jams and the pollution. The new subway and airport plus other improvements made in preparation for the Olympics should make Athens a better place to live. For all its faults, the Acropolis including the Parthenon and other antiquities and the Plaka make it a glorious place to live. Athens is not/not filled with American haters anymore than the US is filled with Greek haters.