Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Athens Flea Market
These days the description of the streets around Platía Monastirakíou as a flea market is
a bit of a misnomer - there's plenty of shopping, but mostly of a very conventional
nature.
Odhós Pandhróssou
, to the east, is almost entirely geared to tourists, an
extension (though not quite literally) of Adhrianoú. West of the square the flea market
has more of its old character, and among the tourist tat you'll find shops full of
handmade musical instruments, or stalls selling nothing but chess and
tavlí
boards. An
alley off Iféstou is jammed with record and CD stores, with a huge basement second-
hand bookshop. Around Normánou and
Platía Avyssinías
shops specialize in furniture
and junky antiques: from here to Adhrianoú, the relics of a real flea market survive in
hopeless jumble-sale rejects, touted by a cast of eccentrics (especially on Sundays).
Odhós Adhrianoú
is at its most appealing at this end, with a couple of interesting
antique shops, and some shady cafés overlooking the metro lines, Agora and Acropolis.
The stretch of
Odhós
Ermoú
fringing the flea market as it heads west from Platía
Monastirakíou is the southern edge of fashionable Psyrrí, and among the workaday
old-fashioned furniture stores here are some interesting new designer and retro shops; in
the other direction, as it heads up towards Sýndagma, the street is much more staid. In
the pedestrianized upper section are familiar high-street chains and department stores.
1
The Iridhanós River
Platía Monastirakíou • Metro Monastiráki
he
Iridhanós
(or Eridanos) runs across Athens from its source on Lykavitós hill, via
Sýndagma and Monastiráki to Keramikós. Celebrated in Classical times, it had
effectively been lost until the work on the metro expansion uncovered its underground
course early this century. Part of the ancient Greek and Roman system that turned it
into an underground drain can be seen at Monastiráki metro station, and through
railings and glass paving from the platía above. The brick vaulting of these ancient
waterworks constitutes some impressive engineering work and, in winter and spring,
substantial amounts of water still course through.
Hadrian's Library
Entry on Áreos • Daily: summer 8am-6.30pm; winter 8am-3pm • €2 or joint Acropolis ticket • Metro Monastiráki
Bordering the north end of the Forum site, and stretching right through from Eólou to
Áreos, stand the surviving walls and columns of
Hadrian's Library
, an enormous
building that once enclosed a cloistered courtyard of a hundred columns. Despite the
name, this was much more than just a library - more a cultural centre including art
galleries, lecture halls and a great public space at its centre. The site has only recently
opened to the public and is still being excavated: much of it has been built over many
times, and a lot of what you can see today consists of the foundations and mosaic floors
of later Byzantine churches. However, the entrance has been partly reconstructed, some
of the original columns survive, and above all you get an excellent sense of the sheer
scale of the original building, once enclosed by walls and covering an area even larger
than the current site. The
Tetraconch Church
, for example, whose remains lie at the
centre of the site, was built entirely within the library's internal courtyard.
The Museum of Greek Folk Art: Ceramics Collection
Áreos 1 • Mon & Wed-Sun 9am-2.30pm • €2 •
W
melt.gr • Metro Monastiráki
Squeezed between the walls of Hadrian's library and the shacks of Pandhróssou, the
Ceramics Collection
is housed in the former Mosque of Tzisdarákis. Built in 1759, the
building has had a chequered life, converted to a barracks and then a jail after Greek
independence, before becoming the original home of the Greek Folk Art Museum in
