Although I was born in Philadelphia, PA, I grew up at downtown Athens, since both my parents were born and raised in downtown Athens. Hence, I have a very soft spot for this anarchic and misunderstood metropolis of the South.  By all means this is a modern city, a small 19th century village around Acropolis, which within 150 years grew to well above 4 million souls and a congested urban center. And that urban growth was through wars, foreign occupations,  military juntas, years of political and economic crises, and a devastating civil war. There are many arguments regarding the destruction of the old 19th-early 20th century neo-classical buildings and the loss of romantic life and beautiful climate. Yet Athens gained in vibrancy and intensity, if you have the courage to feel the rhythm of this city that combines East and West, North and South in one. But please do come at a time between October and early June and above all spend the time to discover and understand its charm. Do not forget Athens is a City that never sleeps,so the worst traffic jams are in between 11:00 p.m. -4:00a.m.  I hope the following sites will be helpful.

Http://athensguide.comand straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.athens-culture.ids.gr/
http://europe.cnn.com/TRAVEL/CITY.GUIDES/WTR/internat.profiles/ip.athens.html#INBRIEF
http://www.travelling.gr/helloathens/

If you know Greek:
http://www.in.gr and for weekly information on every cultural event or night activity look at http://www.athinorama.gr

For Classical Art Lovers (like myself):©Maro Kouri/On Location

http://www.megaron.gr, it is the official website of the Music Hall of Athens,  performances from early October-June
http://www.nationalopera.gr, the official website of the National Opera House, performances from November-June
(be aware tickets disappear within hours)
of course every summer there is the Festival of Athens (http://www.travelling.gr/helloathens/FestivalHerodes.html), with performances mainly at Odeon of Herodios Atticus, Lycabettus theater, and other theaters at the periphery of Athens.

Gazi, Old factory belonging to the gaz compay, transformed into a cultural center.
©Maro Kouri/On Location

 Recommended Museums:

The following museums are at the heart of Athens (Kolonaki area), highly
recommended and in walking distance from each other.  Kolonaki area is the Fifth Avenue of Athens, good for shopping,  small private galleries, nice restaurants and cafes, lots of steps to climb, and mmm... lots of people  going after your wallets and handbags. On the top of Kolonaki is St. George of Lycabettus, a nice walk to take if you want more rigorous exercise and a wonderful view of whole Athens, with the exception of the Southern suburbs.  You can always take a taxi to the funiculair. Best time to be there is of course at sunset.
http://www.benaki.gr(this is for Benaki museum, in most people's opinion a must
to have a tour of Greek cutlure from antiquity to middle ages to the war of
independence to modern Greece in less than 3 hours in a state of art museum)

http://www.cycladic-m.gr A beautiful museum, small, but mostly interesting for its
exhibition on the metro excavations, located at a beautiful 19th century
mansion. But  do not forget to visit several metro stations, where exhibits are kept on the original location to be found during the excavations.
                                            Syntagma MetroStation, ©Maro Kouri/On Location

Both Benaki and Cycladic musuem are private founded by wealthy  and historical Greek families. The Benaki family was dominating Greek politics during early 20th century, they built their property in Egypt, trading cotton.  The Cycladic museum belongs to the Goulandri family a very wealthy family of shipoweners who for generations are involved in cultural events.
They founded 3 museums: The Cycladic one, the museum of Modern Art in Andros, the island they are coming from, and the Museum of Natural History in Kifissia. In all 3 cases they used neo-classical buildings which were adopted preserving their initial architecture.
 

Museum Fissira of Modern Art, Plaka,
©Maro Kouri/On Location

National Gallery-Recently restored. A very  interesting permanent exhibition of Greek paintersfrom El Greco to 18th century to contemporary artists. Unfortunately, many of the contemporary works belong to private collections, so the National
Gallery might have only 1-2 of their paintings, you can still get the idea about influences,styles, and motives.  Interesting temproary exhibitions as well, but long lines in case you catch one.

There is always the National Archaological museum, too big and chaotic for my taste but it has some unique treasures, it is open daily from 8:30-3:00. You should go at least once.

Metro Line, Panepistimio
©Maro Kouri/On Location

The musuem of Folk Art is open every day except Tuesday unitl 2:00 p.m. It is located in Plaka and it is small but very informative. There is an overalpping with the Benaki musuem on the section of clothes and traditional costumes, but the way of presentation is different with more emphasis on details at  the Museum of Folk Art, although Benaki has a way larger selection. So for an untrained audience Benaki is better to get the range of costumes rather than the details.

There are other musuems like the Byzantine, War,  but Benaki covers very well most of these topics. For more look at: http://www.culture.gr/2/21/toc/eik_mus.html
Couple  more points: Get an opportunity to use the metro-line 1 and go to the green and beautiful suburb of Kifissia. Also, a nice day trip is to Cap Sounion, with beautiful sunsets, and the Temple of Poseidon dominating the area. And as something extra visit the Monastry of Kessariani, only few kms out of downtown Athens, for more details check: http://www.travelling.gr/helloathens/Monasteries.html. If you sufficiently understand Greek, Athens can offer almost 100 theatrical performances during witner time.
 
 

Sciences/Medicine:
 

George N. Papanicolaou, MD, originator of the "Pap test"

Maria Callas:http://www.mariacallas97.ids.gr/

Maria Callas was born in New York in 1923.  She was Greek by parentage and naturalization, American by birth and early upbringing and Italian by career and by Marriage to G.B. Meneghini.  In 1937, Maria Callas left the USA for Greece with her mother and became a pupil of the well-know soprano Elvira de Hidalgo at the Athens Conservatory. After a few appearances as a student and in secondary roles, she made her true debut at the Athens Opera on 4 July 1941 as Tosca, going on to sing Santuzza and Leonora during the new three years.   Callas had the deepest comprehension of the classical italian style, the most musical instincts and the most intelligent approach, coupled with exceptional dramatic powers. Her first appearance on a stage aroused immediate excitement and while she remained there, she riveted the attention of the house. There was authority in all that she did, and in every phrase that she uttered.  Her voice, especially during the early 1950s was in itself and impressive instrument with its penetrating, individual quality, its rich variety of colour and its great agility in florid music. During the 1960s, she withdrew gradually from the operatic stage and gave her final performance as Tosca at Covent Garden in 1965. During the 1950s and 1960s Maria Callas recorded exclusively for EMI and was one of the most eminent and prolific of artists to record furing the Walter Legge years.  Maria Callas died in Paris in 1977 aged 53. She left behind many remarkable recordings of recitals and complete operas which remain as a testament to her artistic genius.

Vangelis Papathanassiou: http://www.uco.es/~i42lojuj/english.html
 

Constantine Cavafys: C. P. Cavafy, one of the greatest modern Greek poets, lived in Alexandria for all but a few of his seventy years. Alexandria became, for Cavafy, a central poetic metaphor and eventually a myth encompassing the entire Greek world. Two of his most famous poems were  Ithaca (1911) and Waiting for the Barbarians (1904) (or Expecting the Barbarians).
 
 

Waiting for the Barbarians  What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are to arrive today. Why such inaction in the Senate? Why do the Senators sit and pass no laws? Because the barbarians are to arrive today. What laws can the Senators pass any more? When the barbarians come they will make the laws. Why did our emperor wake up so early, and sits at the greatest gate of the city, on the throne, solemn, wearing the crown? Because the barbarians are to arrive today. And the emperor waits to receive their chief. Indeed he has prepared to give him a scroll. Therein he inscribed many titles and names of honor. Why have our two consuls and the praetors come out today in their red, embroidered togas; why do they wear amethyst-studded bracelets, and rings with brilliant, glittering emeralds; why are they carrying costly canes today, wonderfully carved with silver and gold? Because the barbarians are to arrive today, and such things dazzle the barbarians. Why don't the worthy orators come as always to make their speeches, to have their say? Because the barbarians are to arrive today; and they get bored with eloquence and orations. Why all of a sudden this unrest and confusion. (How solemn the faces have become). Why are the streets and squares clearing quickly, and all return to their homes, so deep in thought? Because night is here but the barbarians have not come. And some people arrived from the borders, and said that there are no longer any barbarians. And now what shall become of us without any barbarians? Those people were some kind of solution. Constantine P. Cavafy (1904)

Ithaca           When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them: You will never find such as these on your path, if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your spirit and your body. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not set them up before you. Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensual perfumes of all kinds, as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars. Always keep Ithaca in your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches. Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ithacas mean. Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

For more information you can look at:
http://users.hol.gr/~barbanis/cavafy/
http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/12/jan94/epstein.htm
 

A Plethora of modern Greek painters you can find on this website: http://www.helios.gr/rhodes/artgallery/

But my favorite ones are:

Nikos Engonopoulos, poet and painter (1910-1985), http://www.engonopoulos.gr/_homeEN/

Spyros Vassiliou (1902-1985)

Spyros Vassiliou (1902-1985) was the most popular artist working in the direction of a Greek Style in painting. A student of Nikolas Lytras at the Athens School of the Arts with an indirect apprenticeship in Baroque and Flemish art with F. Kontoglou and D. Galanis he turns from an early stage towards the description of the familiar, the close ant hand, the specific, remolding them with lyrical realism. S. Vassiliou was the first artist who took art depicting traditions and customs out of the landscape and into the urban environment, to Athens, which during these decades is constantly changing. it has been said that he produced art resembling pop art well before the middle of the 1950?s when it appeared in England. His treatment of everyday life has a lyrical, tranquil quality about it.

Yannis Moralis (1916)

     He is another of the consummate creators born at the beginning of the century. He is an artist who is interested less in the artistic styles of other periods or the solutions offered by contemporary Western European art, and more in his own inner relationship with his art, as we see in the way he portrays his subjects. Especially gifted in his technique, Moralis insists on depicting the human body realistically, and he succeeds in this thanks to the discipline and the faith present in his means of expression. Moralis later progressed on to the geometric abstraction of the figure, and for decades his teaching at the Athens School of Fine Art was decisive for many of Greek post-war artists.

and by far Giorgos Gounaropoulos (1890-1971)

He was born outside Greece, in Sozopoli Bulgaria. He came to Greece at the age of sixteen and after his studies goes to Paris, where later is going to return regularly, as his work is recognized late in Greece. After his first ventures in the direction of impressionism, he finally develops his own artistic style where the chromatic atmosphere functions as a mere suggestion and the figures (usually women) as symbols.

and of course the Masters: Parthenis, Lytras, and Iakovidis

For a brief overview on Greek Painting in the 19th-20th centuries look at the following site:   http://www.culture.gr/2/21/214/21406m/e214061m.html

or look at the MInestry of Culture web site under National Gallery, Musuem "Alexandros Soutzos"