Gateway to the Other Athens, 1970s

[Music] The Parthonon on the Acropolis. Obviously, it must be visited on a trip to Athens, as should any number of other famous monuments, museums, and ruins. But from the Acropolis, there's another Athens that comes into view, such as Labetas Hill, where the Athenians go to dine and relax and to gaze down on the Acropolis. The other Athens, the less familiar side of Athens, consists as well of sea life, of voyages and excursions from the port of Athens to nearby islands in the Aian Sea. [Music] The other Athens is made up of teeming marketplaces located only steps away from the more famous monuments and ruins. The other Athens is the contemporary Athens, the daily life of a great and fascinating city that lends an entirely new dimension to the experience of travel. And the other Athens consists of beaches, an entire Riviera of beaches, all available to you for the cost of a simple bus ride from downtown Athens. We'd like to take you on a new kind of Athens tour to sites that are not the traditional guide book attractions, but are the other Athens. [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] There's a new tourist visiting Athens today. And whether he goes on a guided tour or strictly on his own, he uses his spare time to seek out the people of the city and their daily life. From these parks in the center of Athens, he can walk to a subway station of all things at Ammonia Square. The fair here, the maximum fair is 2 1/2 dramas or 7 1/2 cents to the end of the line. And if you'll pay that sum, you'll be taken not to an archaeological site maintained as an exhibition, but to actual digs where workmen are today engaged in excavating ruins that will provide important new knowledge about the ancient Greek civilization. [Music] This is the agura or marketplace of ancient Athens. Where are you? [Music] [Music] The very next stop on the subway of Athens is at Monastaki, the present-day market of Athens. And how amazing it is that so few tourists find their way to this bizaar of icons and octopus and of merchants who display all the temperament of the energetic Greeks. [Music] Wander through Athens on your own, without a plan. And in the narrow streets surrounding the market, you'll find craftsmen at work in small shops, working as craftsmen have worked in these same streets for centuries. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Not far from the area of Craftsman is the cable car that takes you for 7 1/2 cents to the top of Licobetas Hill. And from Labetas Hill, you'll have a view of the extremes in tourist living conditions in Athens. [Music] All over the city, young travelers rent space for their sleeping bags on the warm rooftops of friendly apartment houses, while another type of visitor beds down in the glittering Athens Hilton, where he can see fashion shows at lunch. [Music] Thousands of visitors come to Athens and never realize that only a short ride away by public bus are the world's most remarkable beaches. On one of your own days in Athens, you'll want to pack a picnic lunch and then board that bus. It costs 18 cents for a trip to the beaches at Faileron or Vouageni. [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] And once there, another 35 cents will buy you a private locker, a beach chair and umbrella, white sand, and clear almost transparent waters. Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Again [Music] in Athens, the independent freespirited tourist sometimes seeks out the art of ancient Greece in unusual places unvisited by most tourists. The ancient cemetery of Athens, the Kuramacos in the heart of the city, contains sculpture and bar reliefs dating back to the Masonian era. [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Easter in Athens is a special kind of time when traditional religious ceremonies show you another side of the life of Greece. Here on a church square, one candle lights another until the entire square is illuminated with their glow. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] But every night in Athens, you'll find color and excitement in the cafe and restaurant life of the city, especially if you seek Peek out the most exotic and the most local of the dining spots where the atmosphere provides an experience all its own and often at a surprisingly low price. [Music] Wander into Taiveras, patronized by the residents of the city. They're clustered on the hill of the Acropolis in an area called Placa. And soon you'll become a traveler in the best sense of the term, enjoying a memorable foreign visit. [Music] The highlight of any visit to Athens is a trip to one of the nearby Greek islands such as Aena, which is only 1 and a half hours away. The boats leave from Pereus, the port of Athens, and you can board any number of them each day without reservations, without specific plans, and simply with a goal of discovery. [Music] And what if there's no hotel once there? Well, that can prove the luckiest event of your trip. Every Greek island has a tourist policeman who meets all incoming boats. Ask him for accommodations. Yes, of course. Come with me. And he'll escort you to a guest accepting private home where the cost of bed and breakfast can average $2 per person. [Music] Next morning, the setting for breakfast is one you'll long remember. [Music] [Music] Hey, hey, hey. My kind of touring, the relaxed, spontaneous kind of touring will cause you to cast aside some of your familiar habits and routines and enter into a world where everything is new and unexpected. In that kind of atmosphere and especially in Greece, a man can return to a more fundamental way of life and finally know what he is all about. [Music]