Plaka, Athens

The Plaka district is built on top of the old residential area of ancient Athens and is known as the "Neighbourhood to the Gods" due to its proximity to the Acropolis and many archaeological sites. The Plaka area has a real mix to it, some streets have quite elegant buildings that are well looked after, and other streets have run downs buildings covered in graffiti. Some of the walls on some of the buildings have been built from pieces from older building, recycling their decorative pieces to create interesting walls and laneways. It does appear to be quite decorate here – even the bars on the windows have a bit of decoration.

We stopped at one of the tree-canopied covered cafes for lunch where we enjoyed a traditional Greek meal of Souvlaki with pita and tzatziki. It was very surprising that it was served with chips as we hadn’t had any so far on our trip but the salad was very welcomed, as I had been missing that.

One thing about the area is that no matter where you are, if you look up you can see the Acropolis atop the hill with the large Greek flag flying proudly overlooking the city. It is a pretty impressive sight. It was a wonderful first day in Athens which we finished with a stroll back down to Monastiraki Square for another Greek dinner. It is a bustling, vibrant area to enjoy the evening.Read more