From Athens with Love: May 2011

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Kolonaki, The bold and the beautiful of Athens

Kolonaki (Greek: Κολωνάκι) means literally ”little column” and it can still be found from the main Kolonaki Square (its official name is Plateia Filikis Etaireias, but its never really used by Greeks).

You can find this wealthy and chic neo-classical style neighborhood right next to Ambelokipoi, Exarchia, Syntagma and southwest slopes of Lykavittos Hill. Kolonaki has two metro stations, Evangelismos and Megaro Mousikis. Easiest way to get there by feet is to get off on Evangelismos metro station.

Kolonaki has always been the place where the old money lies and it has become an adjective for rich in Athens. Nowadays it´s also a place for new in-town rich, yuppies, aristocratic old ladies, embassy workers, tourists from nearby five star hotels and some serious fashion victims.

One very good idea is to rent a furnished studio apartment instead of a hotel room and have your little Athenian elite adventure here. Main hobby being shopping. Area is packed with high-end boutiques, jewellery shops, art galleries and other services from Greek to international designers.

Go for example to Voukourestiou street and make even Marilyn Monroe jealous with your new diamonds or to Tsakalof street to do some Sex and the City with your new shoes.

Some of the best private museums of the country are found here, The Benaki Museum and The Museum of Cycladic Art. Across the street of Vasilissis Sofias avenue you can find The War Museum and The Byzantine and Christian Museum. All worth of visit! Tip of the day is to have a coffee break in a delightful café in the tiny inner yard of Benaki Museum.

When the night falls Kolonaki is the place for ever-fashionable fun time out. People (and most of the Greek celebrities) are sitting out on one of the zillions of expensive bars, cafés and restaurants sipping their frappé coffees and cocktails or dining out. The cool youngsters occupy the bars on Skoufa, Haritos and Ploutarhou.

Atmosphere in Kolonaki is lively, nice and creates sometimes even kind of international out-of-Athens feeling. You are like fish in the water if you want to go out, drink few cocktails and show-off your newest bling blings.

Στην υγειά σας (In Greek: for your health = Cheers)!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Exarchia - Bohemian Rhapsody

Spell it Exarchia, Exarcheia, Exarheia or Exarhia (Greek: Εξάρχεια), it is one of the most laid-back, bohemian, hip and controversial district in downtown of Athens. It is surrounded by Panepistimiou Street, Patission Street, Alexandras Avenue and it´s elitist neighboring area Kolonaki. Check your map and pin point The National Technical University of Athens and Srefi Hill, and you will find also Exarchia. Its nearest metro stations being Omonia or Panepistimio.

Architectonically area has some neoclassical and art-deco buildings with one of the first apartment buildings in Athens called The Blue Building.

What is so interesting in this neighborhood? It is famous of its freedom and anarchistic nature attracting mostly young people. It used to have a very bad reputation because of drug dealing, bloody riots and all sorts of shady business around them. Even more it is known of its historical student sit-in at the Athens Polytechnio of November 19073, under the junta. More fresh unfortunate memory in people´s minds is the shooting of 15 years old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in December 2008 that caused major riots in Athens and all over Greece. You can visit the Shrine to Alexander Grigoropoulou, on the corner of Mesolongiou and Tzabella Streets, now unofficially named Alexander Grigoropoulou Street.

Well, if you don´t mind riot police hanging on the corners of an area, omnipresent graffiti, some alternative cool shops and colorful people, this is your relaxed place to be. At the same time it has its own unique vibe of never knowing what is going to happen next. That said this is not probably the best area to have a nice all family weekend with kids in Athens but for the young and restless person with a sharp head over his or her shoulders trying to find some cool rock clubs or Greek blues (rembetika) clubs.

The most famous meeting point is definitely the Exarhion square (the intersection of Themistokleous, Ikonomou and Stournara streets) where occasional theatrical shows and concerts take place. It is surrounded with cafes, bars and countless amounts of computer shops nearby which also gives it another name, Greek Silicon Valley. Vibrant and alternative area has also all the fair trade shops, organic food shops, comic/t-shirt/record shops and bookstores you can wish for. Places, where inhabitants such university students, immigrants, artists, intellectuals and politically active people will spend their leisure time.

If you feel it, join for a political conversation or wander around the neighborhood (at the day time) to find something interesting that only Exarchia can offer to you. Like one of the unofficial people´s parks that are built to pressure local officials to turn Athens more ecological and green place to live. You can find anarchists planting trees and flowers or building up a coffee shop to emphasize their message to the world to change it a little bit better place.