Athens is a sprawling open-air museum where the 5th-century BC Acropolis remains the city’s eternal north star. From the ancient Agora, where democracy and philosophy were born, to the Roman Forum and Byzantine chapels of Plaka, the city is a dense layers-cake of civilizations. Even amidst its modern grit, the pulse of the Periclean "Golden Age" is felt in every sun-bleached marble ruin and grand neoclassical boulevard.
