Athens, the pros and the cons

I recently had the opportunity to take a walk around downtown Athens in the company of some foreign friends. Philhellenes to the core, they come with open hearts and open minds, full of curiosity and fascination for all the things that compose Greek reality. They are frequent visitors to Athens and know the city quite well, so a walk from the National Archaeological Museum near Omonia to the historic Plaka district was an excellent opportunity to see the city from our different perspectives and points of view.

We walked from Patission Street, along Panepistimiou to Syntagma Square, and from Ermou to Nikis and Mitropoleos, through the snaking backstreets of Plaka to the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, the Church of Agios Nikolaos Rangavas and along Pandrossou Street. It was a big circle of the very city center - and what a circle it was!

My friends are more anxious...