|
Transportation
 Travel to and from Athens is very easy. The selection of Athens as the 2004
Olympic assisted in the completion of many infrastructure projects with
emphasis on the transportation sector, including the modernisation of road
and rail links between Athens and the rest of mainland Greece. The Egnatia
Highway, a 680-kilometre four-lane motorway runs from Greece's west coast in
the Ionian Sea all the way to the Turkish border in the east, featuring some
85 kilometres of bridges and tunnels.
Major infrastructure changes
have transformed the city of Athens, including 120 kilometres of new, modern
roads, 90 km of upgraded roads, 40 fly-over bridges, 7.7 km new Metro lines,
a 23.7 km Tram network, parking lots in central locations with accompanying
new management systems, modern train stations and a new, ultra-modern
Traffic Management Centre, making the city easier to navigate and more
enjoyable for even casual tourists.
 Athens new Tram system is
modern and clean, impressive and peppy. The futuristic, Italian designed
carriages run from the heart of the capital to the coastal suburbs, offering
a good inexpensive tour of the seaside and taking to all the public and pay
beaches on the capitals southern coastal zone.
The new Athens state-of-the-art
subway system spreads to 21 stations and serves approximately 500,000
commuters daily, with one of its striking features being the underground
"station museums" displaying 5th century BC artefacts unearthed during
excavations for the project.
 Air travel has been made more
appealing with the March 2001 opening of the Athens International Airport.
Located just 20kms east of Athens, the new airport features state-of-the-art
facilities for the comfort and security of 16 million passengers a year and
it is linked with Athens by a recently constructed major freeway. Greece has
16 international airports with links to every major city in Europe, direct
flights to and from the USA, Canada, Australia and various Asian cities.
Inexpensive charter flights are available from London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt
and Paris to Athens, Thessaloniki as well as to some of the major islands.
Regular public bus, light rail and cab services give easy access to every
part of the capital, facilitated by a number of newly constructed
ring-roads, another bequest of the Olympics.
Ferry schedules to and from all
the Aegean islands are carried out daily from the Attica ports of Piraeus
and Rafina. Major cities and islands are serviced by national air carrier
Olympic Airways and a number of private airlines.
Visitors from Europe have the
option to reach Greece by rail, road or daily ferryboat schedules from
various Italian ports to the Peloponnese port town of Patra, just two hours
away from Athens |
