🇬🇷 Greece
Athens
Athens (Athina) is the oldest city in the world still serving as a national capital — 3,400 years of continuous habitation, from the Bronze Age Mycenaean citadel to the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, theatre, the Olympic Games, and the architectural templates that still define buildings from Washington DC to New Delhi. The Acropolis (4th-5th century BC) dominates the city from its limestone hill — the Parthenon, the Erechtheion with its Caryatid porch, and the Propylaia together form the most architecturally significant hilltop in the world. Below: the Agora (the birthplace of democracy), the Ancient Agora, the Roman Forum, Hadrian's Library, and the preserved Plaka neighbourhood. Athens is also a living, chaotic, sunlit Mediterranean city of 3.5 million — with the finest souvlaki, Greek coffee, and night life in southern Europe.