Old Athenian city,
Plaka, roughly the area between Sindagma
(Constitution Square), Odhos Ermou and the Acropolis, is the best place to begin
exploring. One of the few parts of Athens with charm and architectural merit,
its narrow winding streets and stairs are lined with nineteenth-century Neoclassical
houses, some grand, some humble and home-made.
An attractive approach to Plaka is to follow Odhos (Street in Greek) Kidhathineon,
a pedestrian walkway starting near the English and Russian churches on Filellinon
St., south of Syndagma. It leads gently downhill close by the beautiful, small
Museum of Greek Folk Art (TuesSun 10am2pm; 01-03229031; 500dr,
EU students free) at 17, Kidhathineon St. The first floor displays weaving, pottery
and embroidery, revealing both the sophistication and a strong Middle Eastern
influence on traditional Greek arts; the third and fourth levels display traditional
and ceremonial costumes from almost every region of Greece.
Kidhathineon St. continues through café-crowded Platia Filomousis Eterias to Hadrian's
street (Odhos Adhrianou), running nearly the whole length of Plaka from the Thiseion
to Hadrian's Arch (gate).
The rightward section of Adhrianou St. is largely commercial souvenir shops
and sandals as far as the Roman Forum. Left, just a few metres
on, there's a quiet and attractive sitting space around the fourth-century BC
Monument of Lysikrates, erected to celebrate the success of a prize-winning
dramatic chorus.
Continuing straight ahead from the Kidhathineon-Adhrianou intersection up Thespidhos
St., you reach the edge of the Acropolis precinct. Up to the right, the whitewashed
Cycladic houses of Anafiotika cheerfully proclaim an architect-free
zone amidst the highest crags of the Acropolis rock.
