Travelers Place Athens And Oia On Tripadvisor Best List

Athens and Oia, Santorini, are included on the Traveler’s Choice list of Top 25 Destinations in Europe for 2013, released recently by TripAdvisor.

Paris leads the list and the top 10 includes London, Rome, Barcelona, Venice, Florence, Prague, Berlin, Istanbul and St. Petersburg.

Specifically, the Greek capital ranked 18th and Oia, Santorini, ranked 23rd.

Athens

For Athens, Tripadvisor wrote: “Once known for smog, traffic and tacky architecture, Athens is a city reformed thanks to fortunes brought by the 2004 Summer Olympics. Spotless parks and streets, an ultra-modern subway, new freeways, an accessible airport and all signs in perfect English make the city easily negotiable. Meriting more than a stopover en route to the islands, sophisticated Athens sites include many pillars of Western history, from the Acropolis to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, as well as treasures in the National Archaeological Museum.”

For Oia, Santorini, Tripadvisor wrote: “Oia is carved out of the cliffs, and visitors can see houses built for Venetian sea captains as well as the more typical “cave houses” of the villagers. You’ll find the pure white buildings with colorful roofs that are typical of Greek architecture, and you’ll probably enjoy poking around the town. But don’t breeze through in an hour—you must stay for the sunset. It’s legendary. Watch from a café, or, better yet, from a boat—you’ll be spellbound.”