The ancient city of Athens proved to be a wonderful venue for the 23^rd ISN-ESN Biennial Meeting. The Local Organizing Committee chaired by Dimitra Mangoura delivered an exciting mix of contemporary neuroscience to almost 900 registrants. Under the guidance of Program Chair, Tomoaki Shirao, registrants scrambled between 33 symposia, 10 workshops and 6 young investigator sessions to soak up the latest advances in molecular and cellular neuroscience. Numerous young scientists from Greece were present and many young registrants received travel awards from ISN. Outstanding plenary lectures were delivered by Linda Buck (USA), Erin Schumann (Germany), Roger Tsien (USA), Tom Jessell (USA), Katsuhiko Mikoshiba (Japan) and Patrizia Cassacia (USA). Giles Hardingham (UK) and Jason Shepherd (USA) were honoured as the ISN Young Scientists Lecturers. The Congress dinner down by the waterfront was a highlight of the meeting.