We decided to visit the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street last Wednesday but found it closed when we got there. I managed to get in and found someone who told me that the museum was now closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 'Are things that bad now?' I asked him. 'Worse than you could possibly imagine', was his answer. The Benaki, with 5 annexes in Athens, each catering for different kinds of art, is for me, the best museum in the city - it's the equivalent of the Tate in Britain. That it should be closed for 3 days a week is a tragedy, particularly as tickets for individual exhibitions cost between three and five euros - not an excessive amount, but then, who am I to judge?
So instead we walked along the railway lines on to the plateia in Gazi, across Odos Pireos up Irakleidon Street which affords good views of the Acropolis
and came up to Apostolou Paulou Street, which is full of cafes, bars and restaurants as well as a few remaining Neo-Classical buildings like the two above
loads of people about, lots of street sellers and Lycabettus hill in the distance
it's a nice area to walk around in as there's lots to see
We walked through Adrianou Street and came to Monastiraki, this dilapidated building being our destination
Metamatic:taf gallery, that I discovered last time we were in Greece - you can see more about it here
the courtyard with the café looks very different in winter, due to the tent that is erected above
One of the exhibitions that was one was Favela by Stigma Squad
and like last time, the building just bawled me over.
Back in the courtyard, up the stairs
and the second exhibition, Up by Create An Accident
Up being the appropriate word as the whole of the exhibition was installed on the ceiling, with cushions on the floor so that one could lie down and look up
the café looked good from the first floor
and the weathered terracotta roof tiles looked fabulous
We then walked back to Adrianou Street for a delicious lunch at Kuzina
it was still very early so most tables were empty
but we enjoyed people watching
as well as train watching - look at all that graffiti
and views of the Acropolis.
After lunch we walked towards Syntagma square and our bus, and saw another beautiful Neo-Classical building on Adrianou Street
part of the ancient Agora
the old Mosque which is a museum now
the mosque again
Monastiraki square which is always full of people since the recent restructuring, with the old Byzantine church at the end of it.
