Bruce Clark and Anthony Barnett

In 2004 Greece dazzled the world by staging an Olympic Games in which the country’s ancient and modern culture was wonderfully displayed. Visitors to Athens were impressed by the way in which parts of the urban environment had palpably improved, defying the city’s image as a smog-ridden concrete jungle. In the Plaka district next to the Acropolis, where cars have been banished and the noisier night-clubs have been silenced, strollers could enjoy an agreeable mixture of classical remains, Byzantine churches and modern tavernas.

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