Plaka

Plaka is the old quarter under the north slope of the Acropolis, a grid of nineteenth-century houses on ancient street lines. It is the only part of central Athens that survived the twentieth-century rebuilding largely intact.

Overview

The neighbourhood was cleared of unlicensed building and pedestrianised from the 1970s, which saved it and also turned much of it into a souvenir trade. Anafiotika, the cluster of whitewashed Cycladic houses climbing the rock at the top, was built by island masons brought to construct the royal palace and looks nothing like the rest of Athens. Byzantine churches stand at street corners throughout, several below modern pavement level.

Highlights

Climb to Anafiotika early, when the lanes are empty and the light is on the whitewash. Eat away from the main tourist run — the streets nearer Monastiraki and Psyri are better value. The Museum of Greek Folk Art and the Lysicrates Monument are the two stops worth planning.

Overview

Highlights

Location