You are right the syntax is a small part of it, but it is more important than you say in this case because Python syntax is one of the things that makes it very readable.

Even if you dislike the direction Python is going in, a lot of what attracted people to Python in the first place is still there. The readability, the large standard library, the huge ecosystem. There are libraries and frameworks for everything: numerical stuff, web development, GUIs etc. Its actually a nice language in itself, just going in the wrong direction now.

If you look at it historically it was really good comparatively. If you compare it to the alternatives available 20 years ago it looks pretty good.