Athens Travel Forum

When I was in Greece May of 2000 I purchased a newpaper with a headline questioning whether Athens would be ready in time to celebrate the games(i still have it!). What progress has been made? Will Athens be ready? I'm told that the back-up plan is to send the games back to Sydney. I'd like to hear some opinions from locals or those who have just visited.

Also, when do tickets for the games go on sale to the public?

Hello from Athens,
The whole city, is currently under a "construction fever". Wherever u go, u will see works in progress, renovations in hotels and buildings, squares and so!
Looks as if the goverment is really working on it!
Greetings
Irene

I'm sure there is a mistake.
It 's Athens .Not any other city.
Remember that.

And as we think about the Olympics in Athens, everyone hope for me that my husband's company gets the contract for the IT/computer networking so we get to go to the games! :-)

Marenloo- I'm quite well aware that the Olympics will be held in Athens. No need for you to be so snotty. I was merely asking for an update on any progress that has been made in the two and a half years ago since my visit. I made no mistake, the article I am referencing comes from the Kathimerini daily newspaper which I purchased in Athens in May of 2000. The title of the article is "Delays Still Plague Athens" At the time the IOC expressed concern over whether Athens would be ready in time.

The train station in Athens employs some of the laziest, rude people in Europe. I base this on 4 separate visits to the city over the last 10 years. They really don’t give a damn about public relations and I believe that they go out of their way to make life difficult for backpackers.

In light of the Olympics, I hope that the workers at the train stations are either replaced or receive significant training.

Everything will be O.K. (we hope !!!).
But we can not be very sure, until the Opening Cheremony...

(I'm joking) -

The Pricing and Sales Policies will be defined 24 months prior to the 2004 Games, while Ticket sales will commence 18 months prior to the Games.

Take a look at this site (it will help you a lot) : http://www.athens.olympic.org/Page/default.asp?la=2

Takis

Slowly everything is moving slowly and steadily. As irene said the whole city is under construstion fever and because of this "fever" it takes 1 hour and 1/2 to get to work every day. All of Greece are praying that for once the greek government will actually finish something one time!!!

My dear friend,
A great deal of progress has been done in Athens concerning the preparation of our city for the 2004 Olympic Games: motorways, sports facilities, extension of underground network, introduction of fixed rail trains in major streets to facilitate visitors on their way to specific venues, the near to end construction of the Olympic Village and so on.
On the other hand, there has been a considerable delay in some works in these last two years but I can assure you that the pace now is almost hectic! The Organisation Committee cannot afford to miss not a single day.
The only thing that matters to me is whether this gigantesque event will ever be able to pay back in terms of financial success. Bear in mind that Greece's economy is among the weakest in the Eurozone and my country is the first country in modern times organising the Olympics.
I hope that this was enlightening to you, I will be glad to show you my city round in case you visit Athens!

probably you already know, but anyway : you can try to order tickets for the athens 2004 olympics till the 12th of june!
www.athens2004.com/tickets

Complacency is simply part of "Athenian" culture. Maybe you should try western europe if youre looking for politness.