Paid to Play

Many people think that the absolute highlight of a visit to a hotel ATHENS is the brilliant glimmers of the ancient, the classical Greek city, most famously represented by the Acropolis and its surrounding archeological sites. Even on a brief tour to one of the exquisite hotels, however, it is a shame to see Athens simply as the location of ancient sites and museums. Although the neighbourhoods may lack the style and monuments of most European capitals, they are worth at least some study. The old nineteenth-century quarter of Pláka, to be precise, is a delight, with its mix of Turkish, Neoclassical and Greek-island architecture, and an array of intriguing little museums devoted to traditional arts, ceramics and music. Just to its north, the bazaar area, around Athinás and Eólou, clings to an almost Middle Eastern atmosphere in its life and trade, while the National Gardens, elegant Kolonáki and the hill of Lykavitós offer respite from the maelstrom. Further beyond, but still well within the edges of Greater Athens, are the monasteries of Kessarianí and Dhafní, the ulterior with Byzantine mosaics the equal of any in Greece.

Another popular hotel resort, and a place where you need to find cheap flights to is Paris, France. Some times, Paris can feel inhumanly magnificent, the arrogance of its monuments encompassing the chilly pomp of the Panthéon, the industrial chic of the Eiffel Tower and the almost spiritual glasswork of the Louvre pyramid. Yet it also operates on a very scale, with exquisite, backstairs little nooks tucked away from the Grands Boulevards and very exact little communities revolving around games of boules and the local boulangerie and café. And even as Paris’s culture is transformed by its large immigrant and gay populations, even as extravagant new buildings are commissioned and erected, many of the city’s streets, cafés and restaurants remain remarkably, defiantly unchanged.