by John Fisher
Traditionally the stomping ground of anarchists, revolutionaries, artists and students, the area to the north of the main thoroughfares is nowadays home to a slightly more sedate, though still bohemian, crowd. The area’s outstanding highlight is the fabulous National Archeological Museum, one of the world’s top ten museums and an essential stop on any tour of Athens.
There are few specific sights otherwise, but it’s a rewarding part of the city for a wander – restaurants, cafés and bookshops abound in the studenty area of Exárhia, while nearby Neápoliis home to a swathe of good, low-key tavernas, many featuring rebétika-style atmosphere and sometimes the music itself. Overlooking Neápoli, the little-visited Stréfis Hill (Lófos tou Stréfi) provides a welcome break from the densely packed streets and affords fine views of the city.
While not a tourist sight as such, the Neoclassical building housing the Polytechnic (Polytekhnío), the university’s school of engineering and science,played a significant role in recent Greek history. In November 1973 students here launched a protest against the repressive regime of the colonels’ junta, occupying the building and courtyards. In response, snipers fired indiscriminately into the protestors. Even today, nobody knows how many unarmed students were killed – estimates range from twenty to three hundred. The anniversary of the massacre is still commemorated by marches and sombre remembrance celebrations.
National Archeological Museum
Patissíon 44. €6. www.culture.gr.
TheNational Archeological Museum is an unrivalled treasure house of Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean and Classical Greek art. The biggest attraction is Schliemann’s gold finds from grave circle A at Mycenae, especially the funerary Mask of Agamemnon. The Mycenaeans’ consummate art of intricate decoration is evident in a superb golden-horned Bull’s Head and a miniature golden owl and frog from Nestor’s palace at Pylos. Important finds from Tiryns include Cretan-style frescoes depicting chariot-borne women watching spotted hounds in pursuit of boar, and bull-vaulting reminiscent of Knossós, and a large mixing bowl (krater) with a chariot and warriors. Other delights are superb paintedcups, with their scenes of wild bulls and long-tressed, narrow-waisted men, and an eye-catching cup decorated with twining octopuses and dolphins. Further references to Homer abound, most notably a magnificent Boar’s Tusk Helmet and an ivory lyre with sphinxes adorning the soundboard.
The large collection of Cycladic art contains pre-Mycenaean pieces from the Aegean islands. Many of these idols suggest the abstract forms of modern Cubist art – most strikingly in the much-reproduced Man Playing a Lyre. Another unusual piece is a sixteenth-century-BC cylindrical vase depicting a ring of fishermen carrying fish by their tails.
Early sculpture highlights include the Aristion Stele of a Young Warrior, with delicately carved beard, hair and tunic-folds, and the Croesus kouros (statue of an idealized youth), both from the late sixth century BC.
The Classical sculpture collection includes a mid-fifth-century-BC bronze Statue of Poseidon, athletic body perfectly balanced as he stands poised to throw his trident. Other major Classical works include the Little Jockey of Artemission, the delicate bronze figure seeming too small for his galloping horse; the bronze Ephebe of Antikithira from the fourth century BC; and from the third century BC the bronze head of a philosopher, with furrowed brow and unkempt hair.
The most reproduced of all the later sculptures is a statue from the first century AD of a naked Aphrodite about to rap Pan’s knuckles for getting too fresh. There is also an extraordinary bronze equestrian portrait statue of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Among other Roman pieces on display are various copies of the lost Pheidias Athena, the original centrepiece of the Parthenon.
Lófos tou Stréfi (Stréfis Hill)
Lying between the suburbs of Neápoli and Exárhia, this sudden break in the monotony of the cityscape is a little-visited oasis where you can escape for an hour or two from the street bustle. There is an easy path to the hill’s low summit, where you can enjoy fine views over all parts of Athens. Take care here though with children, as there’s an unfenced drop on the east side.
Pedhío tou Áreos
One of the few green areas in the centre of Athens, the Pedhío tou Áreos(Plain of Mars) is a fairly large park of trees, gardens and meandering paths. A long boulevard bisects the park, with a line of statues of heroes of the Greek War of Independence keeping silent vigil over the strolling visitors.
Shops
Action Records
Mavromiháli 51 tel 210 36 19 924.
While you can find all the latest Greek and non-Greek CDs at the major retail stores on Stadhíou or Panepistimíou, this is the place to buy a genuine bouzoúki, baglamás or laoúto if you fancy your hand at playing Greek music.
Restaurants
Alexandra
Zonará 21 tel 210 64 20 874. Closed Sun.
A converted old house with smart decor, verandah seating in summer and occasional accordion music. The imaginative, inexpensive dishes include aubergine croquettes, beetroot salad with walnuts, and meat in various sauces.
Alexandria
Metsóvou 13 tel 210 82 10 004. Closed Sun.
Enjoy mid-range Egyptian and Mediterranean specialities in a restaurant setting reminiscent of Old Alexandria with palm plants, ceiling fans and a pleasant, shaded garden to dine.
Barba Yannis
Emmanouíl Benáki 94 tel 210 33 00 185.
Very popular, mid-range restaurant, serving a varied menu of home-style oven food, with barrelled wine and a relaxed atmosphere. In summer you can dine al fresco on the pedestrianized street.
Epistrofi Stin Ithaki
Cnr Kolétti and Benáki. Closed Sun.
Featuring Santoríni wine, this ouzerí does a good line in fish and seafood mezédhes.
Exostrefis
Lófos Stréfi.
Entered from beside the basketball court on Stréfi Hill, this breezy ouzerí amidst the pines offers substantial portions of tasty food and a range of ouzo, as well as wine.
Iy Gonia
Arahóvis 59.
Mushroom saganáki,meatballs, spicy sausages and octopus are among the delights at this ouzerí.
Iy Lefka
Mavromiháli 121 tel 210 36 14 038. Closed Sun.
Moderate to mid-range old taverna with great butter bean purée (fáva), black-eyed beans, baked and grilled meat with barrelled retsina. There’s also summer seating in a huge garden enclosed by barrels.
O Pinaleon
Mavromiháli 152 tel 210 64 40 945. Closed Nov–April.
A classic ouzerí-style establishment, serving rich mezédhes and meaty entrées, washed down with home-made wine. Advance booking is recommended.
Rozalia
Valtetsíou 58 tel 210 33 02 933.
Ever-popular mid-range mezédhes-plus-grill taverna, with excellent chicken and highly palatable barrelled wine. You order from the proffered tray as the waiters thread their way through the throng. In summer you can dine in the garden opposite.
To Steki tis Xanthis
Irínis Athinéas 5 tel 210 88 20 780. Closed Sun.
A delightful old mansion with a roof garden that offers fine views across to Stréfis Hill. The mid-range house specialities include rabbit stew and schnitzel.
Yiandes
Valtetsíou 44 tel 210 33 01 369.
A high-quality, moderate to expensive new restaurant serving a range of dishes, from cold cuts to stuffed mushrooms, as well as meat and fish recipes from Asia Minor.
Bars
After Dark
Dhiodótou 31 & Ippokrátous tel 210 36 06 460. Opens 9.30pm.
A downtown youth hangout in happening Exárhia; the music runs from classic rock to present-day hits.
Fairy Tale
Kolétti 25 tel 210 33 01 763. Daily 10pm–3am.
A classic city-style bar drawing an arty, largely lesbian crowd; guest DJs play a mixed Greek and non-Greek music selection. Also open Sunday afternoons for coffee and cake.
L.A. Rock
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Themistokléous & Methónis 58 tel 210 38 44 024. Opens 9.30pm.
A rock bar for all ages, encompassing musical tastes from the 1980s onwards, but especially mainstream guitar-based rock. The scene can be fast and furious.
Recital
Eressoú 64 & Themistokléous tel 210 38 05 556. Opens 7pm.
One of the oldest rock bars in the Exárhia Square area. Pumped up rock blasts from the speakers to a crowd of mainly rock-savvy students and head-bangers.
Clubs
Decadence
Voulgaroktónou 69 & Poulherías tel 210 88 23 544. Opens 11pm.
Popular with students, classic underground rock reverberates until late, while you can also catch some independent rock and electronic pop, and some live performances.
Fournos
Mavromiháli 168 tel 210 64 60 748. Opens 7.30pm.
Fournos means “oven” in Greek – it can get hot in this arty joint, where electronic pop and rock feature prominently. DJs and VJs complete the scene.
Intriga
Themistokléous & Derveníon 60 tel 210 33 00 936. Opens 11pm.
Modern and classic rock echo through this Neoclassical building, as well as black and progressive rock, attracting students as well as serious barflies.
Wunderbar
Themistokléous 80, Platía Exarhíon. Opens 9am.
Fans of electro and techno-pop gather at this alternative venue for non-mainstream sounds. The patrons tend to be neo-mods with eclectic dress and music sense.
Live music
An Club
Solomoú 13–15 tel 210 33 05 056. Entry from €6.
Basement club featuring local and lesser-known foreign rock bands.
To Baraki Tou Vassili
Dhidhótou 3 tel 210 36 23 625. €13 entry includes first drink.
Popular showcase for up-and-coming rebétika acts and other singer-songwriters.
Boemissa
Solomoú 19 tel 210 38 43 836. Midnight–late; closed Mon. Reservations recommended.
Rebétika and regional folk music from all over Greece. Extremely popular with university students, who jam the dance floor and aisles. Drinks €6 (two drinks minimum).
Enallax
Mavromiháli 139 tel 210 64 37 416. Thurs–Sat. No cover charge, but reservation needed.
Lively, friendly venue hosting various folk-style acts; drinks are €6. Live gigs mostly Thurs–Sat.
Mo Better
Kolétti 32. €6 entry includes drink.
Cramped but fun bar on the first floor of a Neoclassical building, with hip-hop, punk and indie rock.
Parafono
Asklipíou 130A tel 210 64 46 512.
Small, congenial place featuring Greek jazz bands.
Rebetikí Istoría
Ippokrátous 181, Neápoli tel 210 64 24 967. Closed Wed & July–Aug.
Genuine rebétika sounds from a good company in a large old house; drinks cost €5.75, andtasty food is also served.
Taximi
Isávron 29 tel 210 36 39 919. Closed Sun & July–Aug.
Crowded, long-established salon on the third floor of a Neoclassical building, attracting a crowd of all ages. Food is served, including fruit plates and mixed appetizers.There’s no cover charge, but drinks cost €7.
Kolonáki & Lykavitós Hill
If you have money to spend, Kolonáki, a favourite haunt of expatriates, is the place to do it, catering as it does to every Western taste from fast food to high fashion. It’s also from here that a funicular hauls you up to Lykavitós Hill, where some of the best views of the city are to be had. Close by are a couple of fine museums: one devoted to Cycladic Art; the other, the Benáki, an assembly of just about all things Greek, from Mycenaean artefacts to twentieth-century memorabilia. It was in this area that the fourth-century-BC foundations of Aristotle’s Lyceum – where he taught for thirteen years and to which Socrates was a frequent visitor – were recently unearthed during excavation work for a new Museum of Modern Art, though these remain unvisitable. If you’ve the stamina, the other museums in the area – the War Museum, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the National Art Gallery and the Aléxandros Soútzos Museum – may appeal but are mainly for enthusiasts. At night the area is at its livliest, with plenty of upmarket bars, cafés and restaurants. Further east, the more modern areas of Ilísia and Ambelókipi, have more good bars and music clubs, as well as the Mégaro Mousikís, Athens’ princupal concert hall.
Kolonáki
Bordered by grand Neoclassical palaces at the bottom of Lykavitós and the residential areas higher up the hill, the centre of Kolonáki forms the city’s chicest shopping district. Although not as architecturally inspiring as some of the more traditional neighbourhoods of Athens, it enjoys a superb site on the southwest-facing slopes of Lykavitós, looking out over the Acropolis and National Gardens.
The heart of it all is officially called Platía Filikís Eterías but is always referred to as Platía Kolonakíou, after the ancient “little column” that hides in the trees on the southwest side. Dotted around the area are kiosks with stocks of foreign papers and magazines, and there are numerous cafés on Patriárhou Ioakím – stamping ground of Kolonáki’s well-heeled residents – although the assorted cafés and pubs nearby on pedestrianized Tsakálof, Milióni and Valaorítou are better and slightly cheaper.
In the dozens of small, upmarket shops the accent is firmly on fashion and designer gear, and a half-hour stroll around the neighbourhood will garner the whole gamut of consumer style. Patriárhou Ioakím and Skoufá, with its cross-streets to the northwest, comprise the most promising area along with the pedestrianized Voukourestíou–Valaorítou–Kriezótou block, just below Akadhimías.
For more random strolling, the highest tiers of Kolonáki can be very enjoyable, with steep streets ending in long flights of steps, planted with oleander and jasmine.
Lykavitós Hill
Lykavitós Hill offers tremendous views at any time, but particularly from late afternoon onwards – on a clear day you can see the mountains of the Peloponnese. After dark, the shimmering lights of Athens stretch right across the Attica basin.
To get to the summit you can take a funicular from the top of Ploútarhou, not far from Kolonáki square (Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun 8.45am–12.40am, Thurs 10.30am–12.40am, every 10min in summer, otherwise every 30min; €4). For the more energetic, the principal path up the hill begins by the bus stop across from the St George Lycabettus Hotel above Platía Dhexamenís and winds through woods to the top. The lower part of the path is easy enough, running through shady pine trees; higher up, the going gets more exposed and strenuous, although you can take a break at a small café halfway, right opposite the Acropolis.
On the summit stands the small, whitewashed chapel of Áyios Yeóryios (St George),built in the nineteenth century. An expensive restaurant commands the adjacent terrace facing the Acropolis and the sea; it also operates a café on the terrace facing inland.
The road up the hill goes to the open-air Lykavitós Theatre. If you come down by the southeast slopes, you emerge near the lovely little enclave that the British and American archeological schools have created for themselves on Souidhías. Here, too, is the Yennádhion Library (tel 210 72 10 536, Mon–Wed & Fri 9am–8pm, Sat 9am–2pm) with its large collection of books on Greece and an unpublicized drawer full of Edward Lear’s watercolour sketches; good-quality and reasonably priced reproductions are on sale.
The Benáki Museum
Koumbári 1, cnr Vasilíssis Sofías www.benaki.gr. Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat 9am–5pm, Thurs 9am–midnight, Sun 9am–3pm. €6, temporary exhibitions €3.
The often overlooked but fascinating Benáki Museumshould not be missed. Housing a private collection donated to the state in the 1950s by Emmanouíl Benákis, a wealthy cotton merchant, exhibits range from Mycenaean jewellery, Greek costumes and folk artefacts to memorabilia from Byron and the Greek War of Independence, as well as jewellery from the Hélène Stathatos collection.
More
than twenty thousand items are exhibited chronologically and clearly labelled; ancient finds are on the lower floors and the modern Greek artefacts on the upper floors. Among the more unusual items are collections of early Greek Gospels, liturgical vestments and church ornaments rescued by Greek refugees from Asia Minor in 1922. There are also dazzling embroideries and body ornaments, and some unique historical letters and photographs on the Cretan statesman Elefthérios Venizélos, Asia Minor and the Cretan Revolution.
The museum shop by the entrance stocks a fine selection of books on Greek folk art, CDs of regional music and some of the best posters and postcards in the city.
Goulandhrís Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art
Neofýtou Dhouká 4 www.cycladic-m.gr. Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri 10am–4pm, Sat 10am–3pm. €3.50.
The small, private Goulandhrís Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art is an extremely well presented collection that includes objects from the Cycladic civilization (third millennium BC), pre-Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC) and the period from the fall of Mycenae to around 700 BC, plus a selection of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic pottery; in fact, you may learn far more about these periods than from the corresponding sections of the National Archeological Museum.
From the Cycladic period are distinctive marble bowls and folded-arm figurines (mostly female) with sloping wedge heads whose style was influential on twentieth-century artists such as Moore and Picasso. Their exact purpose is unknown but, given their frequent discovery in grave-barrows, it’s possible that they were spirit-world guides for the deceased, substitutes for the sacrifice of servants and attendants, or representations of the Earth Goddess.
Much of the top floor is devoted to a collection of painted Classical bowls, often showing two unrelated scenes on opposite sides – for example, the star exhibit depicts revellers on one face and three men in cloaks conversing on the other. Many of the more exquisite items date from the fifth century BC, the “golden age” of Classical Athens.
To round off the experience, there’s a good shop, snack bar and shaded courtyard, from which a covered passageway leads to the nineteenth-century Stathatos House, magnificently restored as an extension for temporary exhibitions.