In a general sense of nostalgia, the old airport does indeed bring back memories, including childhood ones. Mine go back to the early 60s when I saw the initial "plans" published in a magazine on architecture ("Αρχιτεκτονική"). The so-called New Airport was designed by the famous architect Eero Saarinen, it was finished during the junta and was "renamed" Eastern Airport (not terminal!) a few years later. In the 70s, the Saarinen building was turned into a departures only facility with an arrivals-building roughly following the same architectural style having been added. But when I think about the Hellenikon airport (the old Hassani Air Force base), I also remember (as I was then living in Heraklion) how glad I was when, for my numerous long hauls, I had the opportunity to use non-stop flights to places like AMS, FRA, LHR, etc. and often spend the night there waiting for a given connection, thus bypassing ATH this way! The need to avoid ATH and its disastrous over-crowded and dark facilities was exacerbated by the frequent delays of OA flights to/from HER and the need to take a cab between the two terminals or a city bus that was running every hour or so through the centre of Glyfada (about one hour for ~6 km); this often caused one to be left stranded in ATH looking for alternative flights. God was I glad when they finally closed it down. Good riddance!
