This was our last wander around Athens for the summer, and we chose to walk around the periphery of the archaeological park as it's a nice walk and most of it is pedestrianized. We discovered this little street near the Acropolis museum which reminded of us of old Athens - small houses and not a single apartment building in sight.
This street will look wonderful in winter when the seville orange trees have fruit.
A lovely big old door
Lots of cafes and restaurants have sprung up around the Acropolis museum
Dionyssou Aeropagitou Avenue which is pedestrianized, with the Acropolis on the right, the museum on the left, is very pleasant
A modern residence built by Periklis Sakelarios and Rodopi Dragona
a closer look at the majestic entrance and those wonderful steps - no wonder people want to sit on them or climb and play
We took a detour to Kalisperi Street, to have a look at this Art Nouveau building that houses the Ilia Lalaounis jewellery museum
intricate iron door
still on Kallisperi Street
Back on Dionyssou Aeropagitou, one of the most exclusive post codes in the city
with wonderful houses
where balcony railings get adapted to accommodate amphorae
very imposing houses in different styles
The Roman theatre of Irodou Attikou on our left - the Athens Festival is still going strong
More antiquities once we reached Apostolou Pavlou Avenue, the Stenopos Kollytos area. This is the remains of one of the houses that had a central court with a mosaic floor
a closer look at the mosaics
Further down the avenue we came to the Sanctuary of Pan. A rock-cut, underground chamber, accessible through a door-shaped opening chiselled directly on the bedrock, was revealed after excavations. On the north wall is a relief, chiselled directly on the bedrock, presenting Pan, a nymph and a dog.
It's a pleasant walk
the Acropolis on the right
A bit further down we came upon the Observatory and the church of St Marina
a better look at the church, built in 1927 and originally designed by Ernest Ziller
Next to the newer church is the Byzantine chapel of St Marina: inside the chapel are six superimposed wall-paintings dating from the 13th through to the 18th century.
Nearer Thisio the area is filled with cafes and restaurants
and stalls selling various merchandise
this one sells plaques with copies of old posters
some with a postmodern twist
lots of people wander round here
browsing
sometimes buying
always fun
we then turned into Adrianou Street, ready for lunch at Kuzina
and the crowds that mill around have to make way for the little train that takes people around the sights.
It's good to see that Greece is earning lots of tourist Euros again.
ReplyDeleteBig difference, Olga. Even Athens was full of tourists, and yes, it's very pleasing.
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