Athens won the bid to organize the XIII Special Olympics World Summer Games after a long assessment process among three other outstanding cities in the world. Athens, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, is a city with an ancient tradition in sports, providing a unique platform to showcase the courage, dedication and talents of the Special Olympics athletes.

Athens, having been inhabited since the Neolithic age, is considered Europe’s historical capital. During its long, everlasting and fascinating history the city reached its zenith in the 5th century B.C. (the “Golden Age of Pericles”), when its values and civilization acquired a universal significance and glory. Political thought, theatre, the arts, philosophy, science, architecture, among other forms of intellectual thought, reached an epic acme, in a period of intellectual consummation unique in world history.

Therefore, Athens constituted the cradle of western civilization. A host of Greek words and ideas, such as democracy, harmony, music, mathematics, art, gastronomy, architecture, logic, Eros, euphoria, and many others, enriched a multitude of languages, and inspired civilizations.
Over the years, a multitude of conquerors occupied the city and erected splendid monuments of great significance, thus creating a rare historical palimpsest.
Driven by the echo of its classical past, in 1834 the city became the capital of the modern Greek state. During the two centuries that elapsed however, it developed into an attractive, modern metropolis with unrivalled charm and great interest.
Today, it offers visitors a unique experience. A “journey” in its 6,000-year history, including the chance to see renowned monuments and masterpieces of art of the antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the architectural inheritance of the 19th and 20th centuries. You get an uplifting, embracing feeling in the brilliant light of the attic sky, surveying the charming landscape in the environs of the city (the indented coastline, beaches and mountains), and enjoying the modern infrastructure of the city and unique verve of the Athenians.
Year-round visitors are fascinated by Athens, one of the most attractive and charming capitals of Europe.

Source «Tourist Guide - “ATHENS-ATTICA”», Publication:  “Ministry of Tourism - Greek National Tourism Organization”

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