--- description: Find out why Athens is on TIME’s 2021 list of the World’s 100 Greatest Places. title: Athens: The World’s 100 Greatest Places of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266260f3b13fa864/698a1e0209208f32e2418611/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-Athens-Greece.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 20, 2021 # Athens A cruising renaissance by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Silversea's new cruise ship Silver Moon. Silversea's new cruise ship Silver Moon.Courtesy Silversea Athens’ post-pandemic recovery will be buoyed by the waves. Its chief seaport, Piraeus, the largest in Greece, is the locus of the revival of European cruising, as resort ships resume their circuits of Greece and the Aegean Sea. Passengers can choose from two new ships: Celebrity Cruises’ luxury vessel the _Celebrity Apex,_ and Silversea’s new flagship, _Silver Moon,_ which will both sail to islands including Santorini and Mykonos, with some itineraries including Cyprus and Haifa, Israel. And in a nod to the country’s sporting past, the Athens Olympic Museum opened in May. _—Tamara Hardingham-Gill_ Athens Is One of the World’s Greatest Places ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079217/athens/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079217/athens/"},"headline":"Athens","datePublished":"2021-07-20T10:35:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:51:18.445Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079217/athens/","keywords":["franchise","Magazine","World's Greatest Places"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266260f3b13fa864/698a1e0209208f32e2418611/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-Athens-Greece.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt266260f3b13fa864/698a1e0209208f32e2418611/worlds-greatest-places-2021-001-Athens-Greece.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2021/6079217/athens/","name":"Athens"}}]}] ```