Anafiotika

When Athens became the capital of the new Greek state in the 1830s, craftsmen were brought in to build it, and among them came stonemasons from the Cycladic island of Anafi. They settled on the rocky northeastern slope of the Acropolis and built themselves houses in the only style they knew: small whitewashed cubes with blue shutters, flat roofs and bougainvillea, packed along lanes barely a metre wide with stairs cut into the rock. The result is a fragment of a Cycladic village stuck to the side of the Acropolis, a few dozen houses of which perhaps forty survive, mostly still lived in. Cats sleep on the steps, laundry hangs between walls, and the alleys open suddenly onto views over the city.

History

The first houses were built in the time of King Otto, when workers from Anafi came to Athens to build the royal palace; the first two inhabitants were listed as G. Damigos, a carpenter, and M. Sigalas, a builder, and soon carpenters and stone and marble workers from other Cycladic islands followed. Part of the neighbourhood was cleared for archaeological research in 1950, and from 1970 the state began buying the houses; only 45 remain, along lanes from Stratonos street to the Acropolis rock that still have no names (Wikipedia, Anafiotika).

What to look for

• The island houses - whitewashed cubes with blue doors on the rock slope.
• The narrow lanes - stepped alleys a metre wide between the walls.
• The rooftop views - sudden openings over Athens toward Lycabettus.
• The chapels - two small churches, Agios Georgios and Agios Simeon.

When to go

Early morning or late afternoon; the lanes are narrow and crowd easily, and the quarter is at its best when the day-trippers have gone. Spring brings bougainvillea into flower.

Things to know

People live here, and it is a residential quarter rather than an attraction: no shops, no facilities and residents who ask for quiet. The lanes are steep, uneven and slippery in rain. Ten minutes covers the ground, longer if you sit and look.

Nearby

Plaka spreads below; the Acropolis entrance and the Roman Agora are minutes away.

Key facts