Athens : Most Flirtatious City In The World
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and it is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years.
Athens is the world's most flirtatious city but London ranks a lowly 57th, according to the compilers of the world's largest ever study of online flirting. Chilly Moscow came in at number two on the list of nearly 200 cities around the world, while Rome took eighth place and Paris – synonymous with romance – managed only to rank 38th.
The study of flirtatious behaviour online was carried out by Badoo.com, which claims to be the world's largest social networking site for meeting new people.
The "World Flirtation League" study ranked cities by the number of online flirtations initiated per month by Badoo users.
The average Athenian initiated 25.7 online flirtations per month, more than twice as many as people in Rio de Janeiro or Prague and far more than in Paris, London, Berlin or New York.
"Athens is a seductive city, with a hedonistic lifestyle", said Victoria Kyriakopoulous, author of The Lonely Planet Encounter Guide to Athens
"Athenians love to party and they love to talk. They love the game.
Flirting and sexual banter are not just a means to an end but part of social interaction. You can play without having to take it too seriously." Dr Simon Hardy, a British academic and author of the book, "The Greeks, Eroticism and Ourselves", said in ancient Athens the art of flirting was honed at drinking parties known as symposia, where men were entertained by dancing girls.
"It's probably fair to say that the Athenians perfected the art of flirtation in ancient times, especially at the time of symposia described by Plato."
The other cities to make it into the top 10 were Kuwait City, Baku in Azerbaijan, Tunis, Kiev, Beirut, Turin, and Bari in southern Italy.
