#thissio

Athens.  Thiseio

If there’s one neighborhood that’s as old as Athens itself, it’s Thiseio.

Here, walkers are rewarded with the sweet sensation of strolling in the shadow of the Acropolis beneath the Hill of the Muses crowned by the National Observatory of Athens, with the hills of the Pnyx and Filopappou outlined in the distance.

The name Thiseio derives from the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora, a temple that was once believed to be the burial site of Theseus. The temple became, for a time, the Church of Saint George Akamates, remnants of which are still visible. Later, it also sheltered the first improvised Archaeological Museum, as a kind of glorified storehouse. It is a true palimpsest of histories.

But if we’re to speak of a genuine urban experience, it must be sought in Thiseio’s narrow lanes and alleyways, behind pedestrianized Apostolou Pavlou Street. At times, ambling through the streets of Thiseio, you feel the true atmosphere of Athens on a small scale, the Athens of Athenians, of everyday people, reflected in 19th-century dwellings, houses from the interwar period, and apartment buildings erected in the 1970s.

Athens. Thisio

Athens. Thissio