My Escapes Greece Greek Week Athens More of Athens, Deeper Impressions: The Look and Feel of Athens

Impressions: The Look and Feel of Athens

As usually, when I was in Athens, I went in deeper than the touristy areas, beyond the top attractions to see more sides of the city and get to feel it better...
Athens is a weird place, indeed...

Whenever I'm urban explorin', I'm always open to those impressions that I "inhale". I pay attention to every little detail. Most of the time this happens unwillingly...

This is one of my "look and feel" series... Here's how Athens looked and felt to me in June 2009.

Athens has that unique Greek identity with all that's in it: the beautiful Greek language the delicious meals and the ancient ruin hotspots.

But besides the good, there's also a dark side to it... In this article, I'll go into that shady aspect too.

My first time in Athens was a short trip for less then a full day.

At first, I was slammed by the ugliness us the vast concrete block quarters. Unfortunately, Athens is in an earthquake zone and I believe this is the main cause why most of it is a rather newly-built concrete jungle.

Shortly after my arrival, I set off to see the Parliament, where I witnessed the changing of the guards - one thing you must see when in Athens.

I encountered the "Dromeas" ("Runner") glass and iron sculpture (photo to the left) a bit further from the Parliament, crated in 1994 by Costas Varotsos.

It stands 12 m tall, in the proximity of a Hilton Hotel and the War Museum.

With its dynamism-suggesting shape, the "Dromeas" is a true work of art. It's simple, yet emanates a powerful influence...

I don't want to go into the clichés about Greece, Athens and Greek culture (one of the "cradles of European civilization", as we know it - just not to omit the Romans either), great food and the uniqueness of the Greek language and music.

Athens' old parts, particularly the areas around the Akropolis and the quarters of Psirri, Plaka, Monastiraki are real tourist traps... I naturally like to taste more of my destinations than just the touristy areas.

Athens is overwhelmingly touristy. It is one of those strongly tourism-focusing travel destinations, where the top attractions "swallow" everyone.

The vast majority of Athens' visitors head to the most notorious attractions, they try some local food and that's it...

I tried digging a bit deeper and I was disappointed. There really isn't much to see besides the major (truly unique) old attractions.

The ugliness of the simplistic massive concrete districts is in strong contrast with the beauty of the ancient attractions (like the Temple of Zeus the Olympian).

While the historic quarters offer pleasant walks and delicious meals in restaurants, the vast newer parts of Athens are not at all beautiful.

Greece has fantastic destinations (Santorini, Meteora, Crete, Zakynthos etc.), but Athens is just not one of them. Without the major historic attractions, Athens is a dull grey concrete box collection.

The air is unbreathable, smelly. Athens is one Europe's most polluted cities. I had the opportunity to experience this personally...

Unlucky me: I picked one of the worst places to stay in Athens - the Omonia Square. There, crowds of shady creeps and zombie-looking hookers were roaming around as if they were gravitating with nothing to do...

Gangs of drug addicts were openly injecting the drug into their arms... yes, in the street. Some of them would faint in front of shops, on the pavements after injecting their drug.

Locals didn't see at all surprised, it seemed like this "zombie apocalypse" sight was "normal" in Athens.

Besides the top attractions, much of Athens didn't look too good. Danger seemed to be at every corner, especially in the Omonia area and eve several kilometers around it.

The sight of riot police and huge gangs of shady creeps, migrant African hookers standing along streets was more than just "common".

Everyone should visit the major historic travel attractions when in Athens, but if you want to explore beyond these, then hunt graffiti/street art and discover the (scattered) little Byzantine churches of Athens.

The miniature churches are mostly in the Plaka-Psirri-Monastiraki area and strongly resemble each other.

Most of these date back to the 11th century. You can see a depiction of one on the photo below...
I recommend reading more about them on this external resource.

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