Plaka, Athens

Plaka is the oldest neighborhood in Athens. It is located directly under the hill on which the ancient monument of the Acropolis was built upon. Most of its labyrinth streets have been closed to automobile traffic, though you should still be careful for speeding motorcycles or other vehicles. At one time it was the nightclub district, but most of these clubs closed down when the government out-lawed amplified music in the area in the eighties in an effort to get rid of the undesirables. This strategy was quite successful and it is now an area of restaurants, Jewelry stores tourist shops, and cafes. Though it is fairly commercialized it is still a neighborhood and arguably one of the nicest in down-town Athens. The best example that could be provided about the beauty of Plaka’s neighborhoods would have to be the Anafiotika.

It’s a cluster of small houses built on the slopes of the Acropolis above central Plaka. The architecture of the houses greatly resembles that found on the Greek Islands. It's named Anafiotika because the original inhabitants were stone masons who came from the Cyclades island of Anafi to help build a palace for King Otto in the mid 19th century. While moving to Athens these builders brought with them not only their local culture but also their architecture. If culture is what you are after then Plaka is the place to visit. There are many museums among them the museums of Greek folk art, the Children's Museum, the Frissiras Museum of Greek painting and the Greek music instruments museum. You will be able to find plenty of antiquity sites such as the “Roman forum and Winds tower”, the “Temple of Olympian Zeus", the “Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane” and ofcourse the “Acropolis”.

The Roman marketplace which supplemented the original Greek Agora was founded by Emperor Augustus the name of which is inscribed on the magnificent gate called Archegetis. One of the most amazing units is the Winds Tower built in 50 B.C. It is a unique achievement of the ancient world and is decorated on each side by personnificated winds and their names. Within the ancient Agora museum, which was renovated in the early 2000’s, you can find a variety of peculiar artifacts used for several reasons such as cooking, physical training and ofcourse artifacts such as shields and swords. The “Temple of Olympian Zeus” is a ruined colossal temple in the centre of the Greek capital, Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Its construction began around the 6th century BC, but was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. During the Roman periods it was celebrated as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world. The temple's glory was short-lived, as it fell into neglect after being pillaged in a barbarian invasion in the 3rd century AD. After that it was never repaired and was left to remain in ruins. In the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple was extensively quarried for building materials to supply building projects elsewhere in the city. What we see today is what remains after the most recent collapse of a number of its pillars in the 1850’s. Within the vicinity of the “Ancient Agora” you will also find the marvelous “Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane”. It was dedicated to Hephaestus which was the patron-god of metal working and to Athena Ergane who was the patron-goddess of pottery and crafts in general. Being constructed in 415 BC it was meant to embody the richest evidence of Athenian tradition after the Greek victory over the Persians. It remains in excellent form even today, nearly two and a half thousand years after its construction.