I had another interesting day in Athens. While searching for a restaurant, I stumbled into Monastiraki Square again. Monastiraki Square is THE place in Athens to watch people and observe the epitome of Greek diversity and inclusiveness!
People
While enjoying lunch at an outdoor café, I saw – all body sizes, shapes, colors, homeless people, subtle and not so subtle butt watchers, nose pickers, young, old, and middle-aged, beggars, artists, grouchy babies, drug addicts, street kids, super jocks, couples quarreling and in love, leg and foot shakers, police in riot gear eating lunch, elegant Greek locals, college kids, sorority girls, gypsies, naughty children, tourist families with eye-rolling teenagers, rich ladies with small fluffy dogs, impoverished foreign immigrants and refugees, harried food servers and cooks, Orthodox priests, robust New Yorkers (?), all color of hair in the rainbow, skin-tight shorts and miniskirts, jealous husbands and those with roving eyes, pigeons fighting over scraps, flirts, noisy motorcycles invading areas where they shouldn’t be, and stray dogs and cats! It was mind-boggling – even with smaller street crowds during August break – when many Athenians try to escape hordes of unruly tourists and the oppressive summer heat by heading to secluded Greek islands!
Wish I’d captured some of the incredible faces in the crowd – but that would take a more skilled photographer with a powerful zoom lens. It’s awkward photographing strangers, and could potentially turn into an unpleasant situation, but just the same…
An astonished observer, I tried to be inconspicuous, I sat quietly trying to blend with the crowd, wondering how I fit into the landscape and who was watching me :o)? International travel out of your comfort zone in an unfamiliar environment is humbling, and at the same time, indescribably exciting and energizing!
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“There aren’t many places like Monastiraki Square, that perfectly showcase the multi-layered mix of cultures which we call Greek civilization.” athensinsiders.com
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Buildings and Shops
Monastiraki displays an enormous diversity of buildings, shops, and people! There’s a mixture of Ottoman-era mosques, Orthodox churches, ancient ruins, cultural icons, temples, streetart, graffiti, neoclassical buildings, and majestic monuments. The Acropolis – an important monument of Western civilization – stands as an ever-present backdrop overlooking the entire eclectic scene. Monastiraki is described as “an architectural representation of the melting pot of cultures that pass through Greece, a crossroads of three continents – Europe, Asia, and Africa”.
Athens shops, flea markets, restaurants, and food options are as diverse as its buildings and people. They include a massive combination of souvlaki (traditional Greek taverns), kafeneios (coffee houses), and hip, modern cafés, Chinese souvenirs, high-end boutiques, genuine Greek art pieces, antique shops, and cheap imitations of everything.
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“If there’s one place where almost the whole history of Greece – and Athens – throughout the years is hauntingly present, it’s Monastiraki Square. A can’t-miss spot of the city of Athens, Monastiraki Square was – and still is – a boiling cauldron of people, ideas, civilizations, and religions.” greekingme.com
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