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| The cable-stayed Rio-Antirio
bridge straddles the Gulf of Corinth connecting
Western Greece and the Peloponnese. |
By William
Nicholson
Until last year, Greece was celebrated
almost exclusively for its ruins. The image of antique
marble columns perched high above Athens will forever
be etched upon the global consciousness. But on
a sultry summer evening in 2004, billions of television
viewers tuned in to discover that Greece has a new,
modern face to complement the splendors of the ancient
world.
As dancers and actors, lighting technicians
and high-wire artistes dazzled both spectators and
athletes at the opening ceremony of the Olympic
Games, the world witnessed that Greece could put
on a world-class show in world-class venues.
Over the heads of those lucky enough
to be in the Olympic Stadium that night soared a
pioneering roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago
Calatrava.
Many had said that the graceful steel
and glass arcs shielding athletes and spectators
from the sun were a Herculean labor too far, an
architectural dream that Greece would be unable
to realize.
In fact, the roof proved the design showpiece of
the Games. And elsewhere, in equally dramatic fashion,
Greece continues to defy the odds and prove that
a nation of 11 million can be a world-beater.
Pouring out of the Olympic Stadium
on that August night last year, tens of thousands
of spectators were shuttled quickly and safely to
their hotels by a modern public transport system
that has few rivals.
One of three metro lines that criss-cross
the Greek capital provides a stop at the Olympic
stadium. But there are 47 other stations on the
72 kilometer network. By 2012, that figure will
almost double to 80 stations as the modern Athens
metro expands to serve every corner of one of Europe’s
most vibrant cities.
A light railway already connects
the centre of Athens to the new airport in a little
over half an hour. The $2 billion, award-winning
terminal, to the southeast of the capital, was opened
in 2001, allowing swift transfer from international
to domestic flights and capacity for Greece’s
increasing number of visitors.
Even driving around the capital has
become easier and far less polluted, due to major
pedestrianization projects and a brand new ring
road - the Attiki Odos – that provides alternative
routes to over a quarter of a million road vehicles.
The ring road, which swoops majestically
through a series of tunnels cut through the bedrock
of the hills that circle Athens, provides easy access
for cars and business vehicles to head into the
capital and to other landmark Greek cities like
Corinth, and Thessaloniki (Salonika). As with the
metro, the project was financed both by the Greek
state and by the European Investment Bank.
The ring road also allows a smog
free stroll in the city centre for tourists enjoying
Athens’ most impressive recent development
- its Archaeological Park.
The park is a 15 kilometer pedestrian
walkway which links all the major sites surrounding
the Acropolis, and is dotted with modern artworks
on the way. The jammed roads of yesteryear have
been replaced by footpaths and pavement cafes. The
absence of emissions from endless traffic jams also
means that the ancient wonders are protected from
lasting pollution damage.
A new Acropolis museum is set to
complete the archaeological ensemble. Swiss architect
Bernard Tschumi has produced a slick glass design
to house artifacts including, the Greek state hopes,
the Parthenon frieze, otherwise known as the Elgin
marbles. The controversial marbles now reside in
the British museum, after being shipped back to
England by Lord Elgin at the beginning of the 19th
century, and remain in London despite persistent
calls for their return.
But while Athens’ ancient and
ultra-modern glories impress, municipal authorities,
boosted by more than $25 million in European Union
financing - are not neglecting the city itself -
often written off as a drab reason to head straight
from the airport to Greece’s idyllic islands.
Now however, boutique hotels jostle
with newly landscaped public spaces and ever more
greenery, alongside an intensive restoration program
for building facades. More than 1600 buildings have
already been beautified, and another 5000, or 20
percent of Athens’ apartment blocks, are scheduled
for a facelift in the next 18 months.
Completing the city’s renaissance
from a smog-filled, concrete capital is the fume-free
Athens tramway, initially built to shuttle Olympic
spectators to sports venues including tae-kwondo
and hockey, but which now provides direct access
to the beaches south west of the city.
Though Athens has been the focus of the majority
of Olympic attention, other projects have improved
access to the country’s regions and smaller
cities.
A fast rail link now joins Athens
to its hip second city Salonika, home to both Italianate
piazzas and cool clubs, in a little over four hours.
There too, city planners have caught
the metro bug, and work on the 10 kilometer underground
transport system with 13 stations is due to begin
next year, and last six years. Again, it is to be
financed by national and European Union funds.
Road access northwards has also been
dramatically improved by the opening of the spectacular
Rio-Antirio Bridge, which features the world’s
longest cable-stayed suspended deck at an impressive
2,256 meters.
The $900 million bridge, in Western
Greece, spans the gulf of Corinth, linking the Peloponnese
- home to ancient Olympia - with central Greece
- home to sites like Delphi.
A new 680 kilometer motorway, the
Egnatia Odos, running across northern Greece all
the way from its border with Turkey to the Aegean
sea, and named after an ancient road - the Via Egnatia
- will also open up more remote areas such as the
glorious natural reserves around the Vikos Gorge.
The Gorge, the deepest in Europe,
provides a dramatic setting for traditional stone
houses in villages on the Greek-Albanian border.
The new road, whose 1650 bridges and 50 kilometers
of tunnels will cost more than $5 billion, is bringing
them - among countless other charms - within easier
reach of businesses and visitors.
For many however, arriving at Athens’
international airport means little more than a transfer
straight onto a connecting flight or ferry to one
of the country’s countless islands.
While the lure of island life remains
as strong as ever, whether it be partying on Mykonos
or taking in the Templar citadel in Rhodes, the
infrastructure improvements on mainland Greece,
prompted by last year’s summer Games, have
proved truly Olympian. There’s now every reason
for the visitor to take in the breathtaking wonders
of
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Greece 
