Walking along Vassilissis Sofias Avenue (pt.3)

This is the third and final part of my phooto walk along Vassilissis Sofias Avenue. Here are part 1 and part 2.

Above and besides the Megaro Moussikis Metro Station, you'll see a park called Parko Eleftherias. The main feature is a bronze statue of former Greek Statesman Eleftherios Venizelos, seen here with the Hill of Lycabettus in the background.

Eleftherios Venizelos statue, constructed by sculptor Yannis Pappas in 1969 - Parko Eleftherias - Vassilissis Sofias Ave., Athens, Greece; Lycabettus Hill in the background.

Right next to it you have the building that lends its name to the metro station and is one of the major modern landmarks of Athens. The Athens Concert Hall (literally 'Mansion of Music' in Greek) which was inaugurated in 1991, after almost 40 years of planning and works. Ever since, it has become the main place for classical music concerts (and more) in Greece. A "sister Concert Hall" was created in Thessaloniki in 2000. A few years ago, the Conceret Hall's building was complemented with the restoration / creation of a park in the surrounding landscape, in the form of a garden that is referred to as Parko Eleftherias (the second half of it) or simply as the Garden of the Athens Concert Hall.

Panoramic view of the Athens Concert Hall, Vassilissis Sophias Ave., Athens, Greece. The US Embassy stands to its right.

I don't have a photo of the US Embassy as, quite frankly, I avoid taking a picture of it for fear of being black-listed as a dangerous element or something...  I will however, post a photo that does not belong to me (for the first and last time) and which comes from the 1960's when it was first built. It was a really beautiful building at the time, in full harmony with its surroundings, but now it has become something of a concrete monster and a fortress, due to the continuous upgrading of security measures. [Do contact me if you know anything about the source of this photograph].

U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece in the 1960's. Corner of Vassilissis Sofias and Petrou Kokkali St. Source unknown.

After "the Embassy", there's the small Mavili Square which for many years had been an Athens after-hours hang-out. Cafeterias, bars, a pastry-shop and the most famous sandwich shop in late night Athens.

The last part of Vassilissis Sofias gets increasingly impersonal and dissolves into the Ambelokipi neighborhood which stands for “vineyards” but is now one of the most densely built areas of Athens.

Buildings along Vassilissis Sofias, right after Mavili Square (to the left).

The entrance of a most characteristic block of flats, at the corner of Vassilissis Sofias and Xenias St., Athens, Greece

Hippokrateio Hospital, 114, Vassilissis Sofias Ave., Athens, Greece

The grand exception to this are the “Athens Towers 1 & 2” which were built in 1971. Athens Tower 1, at 103 meters (28 floors) tall has been Greece’s tallest building for the last 45 years. One could see it as a metaphor for the country’s “agrarian conservatism” and resulting stagnation of the past decades but that’s a different kind of discussion…

Athens Tower 1 and Athens Tower 2; Athens, Greece

Athens Tower 1 (left) has been Greece's tallest building since 1971.

The construction of tall buildings in Greece has faced a red light for the last 40 years.

After the towers you come to a major intersection. The continuation of Vassilissis Sofias is called Kifissias Avenue, as it leads to the northern suburb of Kifissia. To the right you have Fidipiddou St., and to the left you have Alexandras Avenue, which I have already presented in a similar post years ago.

 Why don't you follow me on Twitter and Facebook?