Gazi: an afternoon walk in Athens' entertainment district

The district of Gazi, about a mile west of Athens city center is nowadays one of the main entertainment / nightlife hubs of Athens. This was initially the site of a gasworks factory (hence the name), planned by a certain French businessman named Francis Feralde in 1857, outside of city borders of the time, and constructed in various phases. It remained in operation in various forms from 1860 till 1984. The area around the factory was a neighborhood of laborers employed in the factory as well as connected businesses, living, even till today, in small, one-floor houses, more reminiscent of a village than a city neighborhood. 

In the last 30 years, a number of events have transformed the area: the closing of the factory, its designation as an historic landmark and subsequent transformation into an exhibition / concert space operated by the City of Athens, the (initial) fall of property prices and subsequent opening of various bars, pubs, restaurants, etc. with various loft apartments and architectural offices joining the party in the last 10-15 years. A major boost was given in 2007 with the opening of the "Kerameikos" Metro Station in the center of the district. Connection with other major pedestrian streets further enhances the area's attractiveness.

Here, I present you some photographs from an afternoon walk a couple of years ago. This is the quiet time of the day at Gazi, before the throngs of party-goers and club-revelers start pouring in...

Persefonis St., Gazi, Athens

An old-time coffee shop at Orfeos St., Gazi, Athens

Tapas bar at Dekeleon St., Gazi, Athens

Lots of abandoned buildings and graffiti, Gazi, Athens

Graffiti for all..., Gazi, Athens

Even more abandoned buildings and graffiti, Gazi, Athens

Entrance of a modern apartment building, Gazi, Athens

Old-timers, chit-chatting and painting the house at the same time, Gazi, Athens

Old, one-store houses and DIY greenery, Gazi, Athens

Bright red house, Gazi, Athens

One of many bars, at Konstantinoupoleos St., Gazi, Athens

Even more space for street art and graffiti, Gazi, Athens

Old lady crossing the railroad tracks [currently not in use], parallel to Konstantinoupoleos St., Gazi, Athens

More bars, at Konstantinoupoleos St., Gazi, Athens

Harley-Davidson Greek Club, at Konstantinoupoleos St., Gazi, Athens

Crossing the railroad tracks [currently not in use], parallel to Konstantinoupoleos St., Gazi, Athens

Entrance of the Kerameikos Metro Station, Gazi/Kerameikos, Athens, Greece

View from inside Kerameikos Metro Station, through a glass roof, to the Athens sky, Gazi/Kerameikos, Athens, Greece

Bar at Sofroniou St., Gazi, Athens

One of the buildings of Technopolis-Gazi in the background, the entrance of the Metro Station in the foreground, Kerameikos-Gazi, Athens, Greece

Buildings of Technopolis-Gazi in the background, with the outer area of Kerameikos Metro Station in the foreground, Kerameikos-Gazi, Athens, Greece

A building of Technopolis-Gazi in the background, with the small square / meeting point at the entrance of Kerameikos Metro Station in the foreground, Kerameikos-Gazi, Athens, Greece

The entrance of Kerameikos Metro Station, on Gazi central square

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An unorthodox walk of ancient Athens fortifications (and other minor sites)

Besides the major ancient monuments that most Athens visitors come here to see, a number of smaller, minor sites and marks are scattered around, dotting the urban landscape as visual reminders of the rich and varied history of the city. You may find yourselves unexpectedly facing them as you walk around Athens or you can create yourselves an admittedly awkward tour of Athens based on these minor sites, near and around the major ones. 

Most of these “mini-sites” are remnants of the ancient Athens fortifications. Walls that Athenians, urged by Themistocles, built at various phases in the 5th century BC, to protect the city from invaders and mainly the ancient Spartans. These are called Themistoclean Walls. Athenians were so hasty to build these fortifications that they used whatever type of material was available at the moment. Even parts of buildings, statues and funerary monuments were used as building blocks in the wall. An additional segment of fortification, called the Diateichisma and connected to the Themistoclean Walls was built near the area of Philopappos Hill. Another major fortification, 7kms long, are the so-called Long Walls, that were built to secure the contact of ancient Athens with its port of Piraeus, again in the 5th century BC. Parts of these fortifications have also been unearthed during excavations or construction of newer buildings and have been fenced and preserved. 

I put together a list of such minor archaeological sites, in the form of a long walk around Athens (see map at the bottom). If you follow this route you will also come across most major sites, but here the order is inverse. The focus is on the minor sites  while the major ones form the background!

Your unorthodox walk starts from the center of Athens, diagonally across Syntagma Square:

1) At the corner of Vasilissis Sofias Ave. & Panepistimiou (a.k.a. Eleftheriou Venizelou) St., in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you’ll see a planted dug-out, with a sign alerting to the presence of “Ancient Athenian fortifications”. 

Ancient Athens fortifications at the corner of Vassilissis Sofias & Panepistimiou, city-center, Athens, Greece

Walk along past the Parliament building, with the National Garden and the Zappeion to your left,  to reach…

2) The roofed excavations of some ancient Roman baths, at Leoforos Amalias.

Roman baths - Excavation at Leoforos Amalias, Athens (city-center), Greece

Roman baths - Excavation at Leoforos Amalias, Athens (city-center), Greece

Roman baths - Excavation at Leoforos Amalias, Athens (city-center), Greece

Walking further down, past Amalias, on Sygrou Ave. you turn right at No.46, on Petmeza St.

3) At the corner of Petmeza St. and Falirou St. you’ll see excavations discovered during the building of the Athens Metro in 1996-98. A number of graves, both ancient (5th century BC) and Early Christian (5th century AD) were discovered in this area, slightly outside the city walls and near the ancient road that led from Athens to the port of Falero.

Mini-archeological site at the corner of Petmeza St. & Falirou St. [Makrygianni neighborhood], Athens, Greece

Mini-archeological site at the corner of Petmeza St. & Falirou St. [Makrygianni neighborhood], Athens, Greece

Moving back towards the direction of the Acropolis, along various back-streets,  you reach the big pedestrian walk (Dionysiou Areopagitou) below the Acropolis. At the point where the pedestrian walk makes a sharp turn to the right and  starts heading down to Thission as Apostolou Pavlou) you’ll see a smaller pedestrian road heading off to the left, up a hill. Follow this to reach the church of Aghios Dimitrios Loumpardiaris constructed by architect Dimitris Pikionis.

4) Across the church you’ll see remnants of the Diateichisma fortifications. Follow the path up the Hill of the Muses (Philopappos) and you’ll see more remains of the Diateichisma to your right (and a great view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon as a bonus).

Diateichisma fortifications, Aghios Dimitrios Loumpardiaris / Philopappos Hill, Athens, Greece

Diateichisma fortifications, Aghios Dimitrios Loumpardiaris / Philopappos Hill, Athens, Greece

View of the Athens Acropolis from Philopappos Hill, Athens, Greece

Return back to the pedestrian walk and continue left (along Apostolou Pavlou) to reach the neighborhood of Thission. Turn left at Herakleidon St. (also mostly pedestrianized) with its cafeterias. 

5) As you walk along Herakleidon St., at the corner with Erysichthonos St., you’ll see another fenced dug-out with ancient ruins from the city’s fortifications. This part was called the Proteichisma (outer wall).

Proteichisma (outer wall) of ancient Athens fortifications, at Herakleidon St., Athens, Greece

Move on toward the end of Herakleidon St. and then to the right, inside the small park, at the end of Ermou St., to reach the entrance of… 

6) Kerameikos Archeological site and museum: this is the best preserved part of the Themistoclean Walls and you can even see them from the fence without going inside (I’ve presented Kerameikos separately in the past as it’s a site of major significance). The walls continue outside the archaeological site and part of them can be seen at the…

Kerameikos cemetery / archeological site: the ancient Themistoclean Walls can be seen at the middle-right.

7) …Museum of Islamic Art (22 Aghion Asomaton St.), at the basement level (Level -1), that has been constructed in such a way as to allow visitors to see the ancient walls that are right under the building (more on the museum of Islamic art here).

Walk back up the busy Ermou St., towards city center, past Monastiraki Sq. and turn left on Aiolou St. (also pedestrianized) for the final part of this walk of ancient Athens fortifications. 

8) At 86 Aiolou St., you’ll see the Headquarters of the National Bank of Greece. Part of the ancient fortifications was also discovered and preserved here, at the foundation of the building, making for a most interesting combination of ancient and modern architecture.

Ancient Athens fortifications at the ground floor of the National Bank of Greece headquarters, Athens, Greece

Ancient Athens ruins outside the National Bank of Greece headquarters, 86 Aiolou St., Athens, Greece

9) A few meters down the road, right on City Hall Square (a.k.a. Plateia Kotzia) you’ll find the final stop of this strange walk. It’s an unearthed segment of the ancient “Acharnean Street” (leading to the northern town of Acharnae) with ruins from ancient tombs and pottery shops on both sides of the ancient road.

Ruins of the ancient Acharnean Street, right outside the Athens fortifications, on modern-day Aiolou St. / City Hall Square in Athens city center, Greece

If you are even more adventurous, and in tip-top shape, for some additional “minor sights” you may head out from city center to Akademia Platonos and Colonus Hill to the west. I’ve presented them separately here (and here).

View A walk of Athens fortifications and other minor archaeological sites in a larger map

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The ancient cemetery of Kerameikos

It's not often that you have the chance to walk in a 30 centuries old cemetery, in the middle of a city, but Athens gives you just that opportunity! The ancient burial grounds of Kerameikos, outside the city walls of ancient Athens, have been turned into an archaeological site, very close to city center and easily accessible  on foot or by Metro. A small museum is also found inside the site, hosting burial monuments found in the area (statues, tomb plaques, toys and other belongings of the dead, etc.)

The ancient district of Kerameikos was located in the northwestern part of Athens. Part of it was inside the city walls -an urban area dotted with many pottery (ceramic) workshops, hence the name Kerameikos- while the part outside the city walls served as burial grounds. This function of Kerameikos as a cemetery lasted for at least 16 centuries! From around 12^th century BC to 4^th century AD, although the oldest, isolated graves found here date back to the Bronze Age! The River Eridanos ran and -kind of- still runs through it, though you could barely call it a stream today. [More on Eridanos and the rivers of Athens in a future post]. The presence of the burial grounds may be related to the presence of Eridanos and the fact that this area was a marshland in ancient times.

The key to understanding the site is to locate the walls (fortifications) of ancient Athens. As you enter the site and start walking down the path on your right hand side, you will see them to your right. The walls, surrounding the whole then city of Athens were built in three, separate phases and here you can see traces of all three of them. On your right hand side, behind the walls, lay the potters’ district, the Inner Kerameikos.

Outer Kerameikos. See the ruins of Athens fortifications to the right .

Two gates were built at these walls and their remains can be seen till today: the Sacred Gate and the Dipylon Gate.

As you walk down the path, you come across a dirt path which, in ancient times, was called the Sacred Way (Iera Odos) as it started from the Sacred Gate that is right there on your right and went all the way to the city of Eleusis (Elefsina in modern Greek), home of the religious ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Sacred Gate crossed over the River Eridanos, which can still be discerned as a small creek today.

Eridanos River, the Sacred Gate over it and the Sacred Way to the left.

There was also a separate branch which went southwest to the port of Piraeus, marked by archaeologists as the Way of the Tombs.

Further north laid the Dipylon Gate (which essentially means ‘double gate’). A double-arched, fortified, tower structure that was considered Athens' main gate back in the time. This was the starting point of the ancient Dromos (Road) that led to Plato’s Academy, 1 mile northwest of here. Right outside the Dipylon Gate was the public graveyard (Demosion Sema) where Athens' notable citizens were buried, at public expense. This is where Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration, at the start of the Peloponnesian War in 430BC. Part of this site is now occupied by what many archaeologists consider an intentionally large and invasive Christian Orthodox church.

Books on Pericles' Funeral Oration (Amazon.co.uk)
Books on Pericles' Funeral Oration (Amazon.com)

A funerary monument found on site. See how the dead (in this case the woman depicted here)  never look  face to face with their friends and relatives as they have crossed the line to the underworld. For ancient Greeks there was no afterlife. 

Both of these roads (the Iera Odos and the Dromos) used to be lined with funerary sculptures on both sides, as these were the major burial grounds of ancient Athens. The excavations that have taken place here allow us to get an idea of what these roads must have been like as sculptures can still be seen today, in their original positions, along the starting segment of the Iera Odos and are quite impressive. Try to imagine 12 continuous miles of road, lined with burial monuments all the way to Eleusis. What an amazing, awe-inspiring sight this would be! The sculptures currently left in the open air are exact replicas of the originals, kept inside the museum.

The Way of the Tombs (branch of the Sacred Way)

At the inside of the walls (near the eastern border of the site) was the Propylon – another, interior, gate. The road from here led all the way to the Acropolis and during the Panathenean Games a boat on wheels with the veil of the Goddess Athena was carried here all the way from the Parthenon. You can still see the cuts left in the stone to accommodate the boat's wheels.

The base of the Propylon. See the lines curved on the stones.

Overall, this is a beautiful archaeological park, very pleasant to walk around and not at all morbid, besides the nature of the site. It is planted with native Mediterranean vegetation, and has views to many Athens sights such as the Acropolis, Lycabettus Hill and the nearby Technopolis-Gazi former factory. Finally, the signs installed by archaeologists are surprisingly informative and easy to understand (in Greek, English, German). The small Kerameikos Museum itself is a nice addition to the site and completes the picture in a very nice manner.

A funerary monument depicting a bull. This is the original kept inside the Kerameikos Museum.

Part of an ancient tomb at Kerameikos archaeological site.

Directions

Location: Last block of Ermou St., right hand side (almost at the junction with Pireos St.) 

There are three ways to get to Kerameikos: 

a) Walk all the way down from Syntagma Sq. or Monastiraki Sq. along Ermou St. Ermou seems to stop at Thission but in fact it continues beyond the mini-square that interrupts it for another few blocks as a pedestrian street. The entrance is towards the end of the fenced area, on your right hand side.

b) Get off the Metro at Thission Metro Station (Green Line 1) and then turn left all the way as you exit the station. Follow the pedestrianized part of Ermou St., as above, till you reach the entrance.

c) Get off at Keramikos Metro Station (Blue Line 3). Walk towards the Technopolis Gazi and beyond it, to Pireos St.. Cross Pireos St. and go to the small grassy park. Walk through the park to reach the end of Ermou St. and the archaeological site on your left hand side.

Admission: 2€ / 1€ reduced for EU citizens >65, non-EU students / free for EU university students, persons <=18. Also, included in the unified ticket package that covers the "Athens Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Kerameikos, Kerameikos Museum, North slope of Acropolis, Southern slope of Acropolis, Olympian Zeus Temple" (12€ / 6€).

Additional sights nearby:

Thission with its cafeterias and restaurants is just a short walk away, along with the restaurants of Psirri and Monastiraki.
The two Jewish Synagogues of Athens are very close by. 

The Museum of Islamic Art (by the Benaki Foundation) is found right across the site.

Technopolis Gazi is also right there, together with various clubs / bars that have opened up at the lower part of Pireos St. (Bios, Nixon, etc.)

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Impressions from the Museum of Islamic Art in Athens

I have to admit I had low expectations from the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art at the Kerameikos / Psirri area. I mostly went there to cover it for the blog and to check out the nice view I had read it had from the top floor terrace. 

Benaki Museum of Islamic Art - Athens, Greece

In short, I was pleasantly surprised and had quite a good time looking at the exhibits together with a most interesting temporary photo exhibition from a Greek / Norwegian archaeological expedition in Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan (archaeologists Alexandros Tsakos and Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos). It's not really the photos themselves as much as the accompanying texts that provide a rare insight into the lives of the people inhabiting the area around the Nile. The photo exhibit runs till 19 February 2012.

"Gaddafi's egg"at the photo exhibition in the Museum of Islamic Art

The exhibits of the museum are spread out in its four floors. You start from the 1st floor (2nd floor for Americans...) and move upwards in chronological order. The exhibit runs from the 7th century CE to 19th century CE and covers the whole geographical area from Morocco to the Indies. Each floor starts with a large explanatory map, showing the spread of the Islamic world in each era and a short text explaining the major forces of that period.

Pottery items - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece

Clay pots. The circular items in the middle row are taps to keep dust and  insects from entering the pot

Oil-lamps. No reference made to Alladin!

Ivory chess boards from Egypt, 14th-17th century - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece

Turkish books from 18th-19th century CE - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece

Jewelry - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece

Guns and daggers - Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece.
This must be the flashiest gun I've ever seen!

...So, in a few pictures you can see that there's a little bit of everything for every taste found here and the visit to the museum will be more than worth your visit. Before you leave, don't forget to visit the basement, for a close look at the ancient fortifications of Athens, a segment of which was uncovered right at the building's foundations and is preserved for visitors. As for the terrace with the nice view I mentioned at the start? Well, take a look for yourselves, and hope that you get here on a beautiful, sunny day unlike myself :)

The terrace of the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art at Kerameikos - Athens, Greece

Address: 22 Agion Asomaton St. & 12 Dipylou St., Athens [Thission Metro Station]

Opening Hours: Tue, Thu-Sun: 09:00-15:00. Wed: 09:00-21:00. Also, see here.

Closed on: Mondays and Jan. 1, Jan.6, Clean Monday, Mar.25, Orthodox Easter Sunday & Monday, May 1, Holy Spirit Monday, Aug.1, Oct.28, Dec. 25-26.

Ticket Prices: 7€. Reduced admission 5€ for >65 and adults accompanying children.  Wed: free (optional 1€). Free for disabled persons and an escort, students and <18.
Photography: Non-flash photography is allowed

Public Transit: Buses 025, 026, 027 (Pireos Bus Stop) and 035, 049, 227, 812, 815, 838, 856, 914, A16, B18, Gamma18 and Trolley-bus 21 (Thermopylon Bus Stop / Asomaton Bus Stop). Also, Thissio Metro Station (Line 1) (400m walk) and Keramikos Metro Station (Line 3) (700m walk).
Accessibility: An elevator provides access to each floor. WCs in the basement are large but not equipped with holding bars.

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