After 33 years of false starts and law suits, the £112 million Acropolis Museum in Athens is finally open. So was it worth the wait? The new, super-sized museum is self-consciously 21st century and, on first impressions, the glass and steel structure mounted on colossal concrete columns strikes a jarring note. Inside, however, the building makes perfect sense. The glass floor reveals the remains of ancient Athenian dwellings (one of the causes of construction delays). A ramp leads to the astonishing Archaic gallery, where visitors can wander at will among dozens of free-standing statues, marvelling at their lithe limbs and inscrutable smiles.
The whole top floor is devoted to the politically charged pièce de résistance: a glass box containing the 160m Parthenon frieze displayed as it once was on the temple itself, which hovers 300m overhead. Half the frieze consists of crude plaster replicas — the originals have been in London since Lord Elgin hacked them off and sold them to the British Museum in 1816. Greece has been demanding the marbles’ return for decades, but whether the British Museum will budge in the face of a groundswell of public opinion in favour of repatriation remains to be seen.
‘What is there in Athens that can compare with the Acropolis in antiquity, in splendour, or in interest?’ asked the 19th-century Irish writer and painter Edward Dodwell. Gazing down at the chaotic concrete skyline, one might reasonably assume this was a rhetorical question. But there are delightful pockets of Athens to be discovered: the archaeological promenade circling the Acropolis, the swanky boutiques and cafés of Kolonaki, the avant-garde galleries and late-night bars of Keramikos, and the fish tavernas along the capital’s 50km coastline.
Alternatively, you can hop on a ferry and, a couple of hours later, be on a blissfully peaceful island such as Spetses, Hydra or Andros. At weekends, these islands teem with Athenians but go mid-week and you will probably have the beach to yourself. And there’s still time to catch some late summer sun. Though very different, all three have been protected from over-development by local ship-owners rich enough to buy up swathes of land to protect their view or block the construction of unsightly resorts.
Cosmopolitan Spetses
When the Venetians, who ruled the Greek archipelago, were ousted by the Turks in the early 18th century, refugees from the nearby Peloponnese settled on Spetses. Mainly maritime merchants and ship-builders, they began exporting wheat, wine, wood and leather across the Ottoman Empire. By 1808, Spetses had a fleet of 90 ships, equipped with cannons to protect their cargo and crew from pirates. These vessels were used as warships during the Greek War of Independence in 1821, in which the female admiral Laskarina Bouboulina played a leading role. Today, a museum celebrating Bouboulina’s exploits stands in her 300-year-old home just behind Dapia port.
The waterfront promenade is lined with enormous mansions, whose defensive walls now protect some of Greece’s most illustrious shipping families from paparazzi. Brimming with lemon trees and bougainvillea, their courtyards are decorated with pebbled mosaics. A handful of these villas are available to rent, such as the enchanting home of Christos Orloff, decorated with family heirlooms. Next door is the stylish Orloff Resort, with a pool glistening among gnarled olive trees.
It’s a short stroll downhill to Palio Limani, the old harbour, where boat-builders tinker with colourful caïques, seemingly oblivious to the ostentatious yachts moored nearby. By night, the boat-builders are replaced by bar-hoppers. As well as the liveliest bars, Palio Limani has the island’s best restaurants. At Tarsanas, the Kaloskami brothers dish up delicious fish soup and red mullet ceviche at starlit tables on the jetty.
Horse-drawn carriages are on hand to transport tipsy revellers home. Cars are banned on Spetses, but at 22 sq km it’s easy to explore on foot, by bicycle or on a moped. Alternatively, water taxis whisk you off to beaches such as Zogeria, which has excellent snorkelling and the lovely Loula’s taverna.
The island’s unusually lush landscape is all down to Sotirios Anargyros, a tobacco tycoon who bought up almost half the island between 1913 and 1923 and planted 100,000 pine trees (sadly decimated by forest fires in recent years). In 1914, he built the Posidonio hotel, modelled on the Grand Hotel in Cannes, which became a magnet for high society. It has recently undergone a four-year renovation to restore it to its former glory.
