The New York Times Includes Athens Among 52 Places To Go In 2014

Monastiraki Square, Athens

Athens is a city out of an economic crisis and is making a comeback, according to the New York Times (NYT).

The American daily newspaper recently included the Greek capital in a feature that suggests 52 places for one to visit this year.

“Vibrancy and innovation can bloom even in hard times,” the NYT article says about Athens.

“Athens is changing”

Laser conservation of the Caryatids at the Acropolis Museum

The newspaper refers specifically to changes at old and new sites of Greece’s ancient capital, which was hit hard by the global economic crisis: “First the old: At the Acropolis, the famous Caryatids statues continue to get a restoration in 2014; the process will be on view in the Acropolis Museum through the end of the year. And the new: The National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) opens this spring in a former brewery complex.”

The under-construction National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) at the former Fix brewery on Syngrou Avenue in Athens.

The NYT added that Greek neighborhoods have also seen a resurgence, “including the quickly gentrifying Monastiraki and the still gritty Kerameikos-Metaxourgeio; the latter will get a cultural lift in 2015 from the biannual ReMap art event.”

Also highlighted is that travelers to the Greek capital will have a new lodging option by this summer, when a revived Emporikon Hotel opens on Aiolou, a street that is also home to a host of new dining spots.