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These photos are very misleading. It is almost as if they cherry picked the best possible photos.
Athens is for the most part a craphole- there are a lot of illegal immigrants roaming the streets-it is a major entry point for illegal immigrants coming from India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, etc
I have never seen so much prostitution anywhere in the world as I saw near Omonia Square. There used to be a little street there near Omonia.
At night, it was nothing but hundreds of Nigerian prostitutes and they were very agressive. I later found out that Greece is a major hub for human trafficking and a lot of these Nigerian girls are doing tricks to pay the pimps that brought them to Greece.
Don't get me wrong, the Greek Islands are very nice but I would not spend more than a couple days in Athens.
These photos are very misleading. It is almost as if they cherry picked the best possible photos.
Athens is for the most part a craphole- there are a lot of illegal immigrants roaming the streets-it is a major entry point for illegal immigrants coming from India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, etc
I have never seen so much prostitution anywhere in the world as I saw near Omonia Square. There used to be a little street there near Omonia.
At night, it was nothing but hundreds of Nigerian prostitutes and they were very agressive. I later found out that Greece is a major hub for human trafficking and a lot of these Nigerian girls are doing tricks to pay the pimps that brought them to Greece.
Don't get me wrong, the Greek Islands are very nice but I would not spend more than a couple days in Athens.
Agreed. That always seems to be the case, a few misleading photos, and it can quickly give a different expression. However, when I look at google maps, I like the look of Athens. But, perhaps if a person was navigating the streets, walking in the streets with the traffic (many streets look very narrow without sidewalks), it can quickly give a completely different view.
Add to that, if there is indeed a lot of 'aggressive' people approaching tourists for this and that...it can quickly give off a much worse impression of a place...
Seems like somewhere I should at least experience to fully understand.
Athens is certaily lovely (at least it was few years ago) and I don't think those pictures are misleading at all. They represent very well the central areas of both cities and I would assume that's where most people would go to. In the case of Sofia there are indeed many ugly areas filled with commie blocks.
A few examples:
I haven't really been to Tirana, but from what I've seen on forums there are many newly painted buildings with some ridiculous colours. Such as these
They do look quite funny, but I prefer them over the nasty grey old buildings
Still, the least attractive would be either Sofia or Tirana, but Athens - no way.
Last edited by Rozenn; 07-21-2014 at 11:02 AM..
Reason: Copyright
Athens is certaily lovely (at least it was few years ago) and I don't think those pictures are misleading at all. They represent very well the central areas of both cities and I would assume that's where most people would go to. In the case of Sofia there are indeed many ugly areas filled with commie blocks.
A few examples:
I haven't really been to Tirana, but from what I've seen on forums there are many newly painted buildings with some ridiculous colours. Such as these
They do look quite funny, but I prefer them over the nasty grey old buildings
Still, the least attractive would be either Sofia or Tirana, but Athens - no way.
Thanks for those photos!
Yeah, those commie blocks of Sofia. Actually I was viewing other cities of Bulgaria as well, and they seem plentiful throughout the country. I was google mapping cities like Varna, Burgis and Plovdiv.
Actually I kinda like those crazy colorful buildings in Tirana. Way better than drab grey!
Athens is the least attractive to me. I have a thing for going after the least conventional cities possible, and Tirana was something I considered visiting this summer. The whole of Southeast Europe seems like a virgin paradise to me. I don't get why nobody is interested in checking these cities and countries out, having access to coasts and mountains just as beautiful as the west's without the bank burden. I also had my whole 'research-the-hell-out-of-Bulgaria' phase awhile ago, too.
A lot of people comment on how boring Athens is, but I don't really know too much about it. The Albanian coast looks promising and empty compared to Greece's, and Sofia has the cool Vitosha mountain backdrop to its advantage.
These photos are very misleading. It is almost as if they cherry picked the best possible photos.
Athens is for the most part a craphole- there are a lot of illegal immigrants roaming the streets-it is a major entry point for illegal immigrants coming from India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, etc
I have never seen so much prostitution anywhere in the world as I saw near Omonia Square. There used to be a little street there near Omonia.
At night, it was nothing but hundreds of Nigerian prostitutes and they were very agressive. I later found out that Greece is a major hub for human trafficking and a lot of these Nigerian girls are doing tricks to pay the pimps that brought them to Greece.
Don't get me wrong, the Greek Islands are very nice but I would not spend more than a couple days in Athens.
I would not consider this post a fair assessment of Athens. The person who posted the pictures of Athens did a fair job of showing the nice areas of the city. They obviously did not show the 'rough areas' of the city. However, there is not much reason for a tourist to find himself in the poor areas of the city.
There are not hordes of illegal immigrants running around, nor is Omonia filled with aggressive prostitutes. Some yes, but your description is vastly exaggerated. What were you doing in Omonia at night anyways?
What about Syntagma, Monastyraki? I thought they were pretty nice.
However, too many parts of Athens have a grimy look with too much graffiti. Not gang graffiti like in the USA, but political and sport graffiti.
Athens is the least attractive to me. I have a thing for going after the least conventional cities possible, and Tirana was something I considered visiting this summer. The whole of Southeast Europe seems like a virgin paradise to me. I don't get why nobody is interested in checking these cities and countries out, having access to coasts and mountains just as beautiful as the west's without the bank burden. I also had my whole 'research-the-hell-out-of-Bulgaria' phase awhile ago, too.
A lot of people comment on how boring Athens is, but I don't really know too much about it. The Albanian coast looks promising and empty compared to Greece's, and Sofia has the cool Vitosha mountain backdrop to its advantage.
Bulgaria is one of those countries that continues to intrigue me as well, without having been there yet. Something about it seems like it has to be quite exotic and interesting. But, people who actually go there, seem to generally not rave so much about it. So, there must be something there as well that just repels.
well first of all - Athens is not Greece, this is Sparta!!
But seriously - i am sure most people worldwide will rate them like that:
1. Athens
2. Sofia
3. Tirana
I think Sofia might have some advantage based on: Snowy winters, Slavic women (stereotyped as the most beautiful in some western countries....), slight improvement of infrastructure in recent years - said improvement is NOT thanks to the eu while some peolpe that "eu has helped bulgaria a lot" (it isn't...).
Athens is still way more developed. The difference between sofia and athens is like between sofia and Skopje, Macedonia - sofia being obviously the more developed out of these 2.
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