Anafiotika in Plaka, Athens

The story of Anafiotika began when Athens become again the capital of the modern Greek State (1834) and the first public and private building of this new town had to be built. In order for this to happen, builders were needed, who came from every corner of Greece and especially from the islands (poor unemployed people moved in Athens, hoping for a better future). The builders who came from Anafi island, built the palace and other historic buildings of the city, they settled with their families in the northern and western part of the Acropolis, where they created an island neighborhood (the houses where constructed according to the traditional folk architecture of Anafi) on the foothills of the holy rock of the Acropolis.

A neighborhood with narrow alleys and poor small onefloor homes which relayed their small substructures on the most important archeological rock of Greece.

After one and a half century, Anafiotika (what still remains from the demolitions) are still inhabited and some of the inhabitants are descendants of those craftsmen, who were the first modern Athenians, and still live in this time capsule, since not many things have changed in this neighborhood. Journalists, tourists and sometimes officers of the archeological service knock on those people doors, each one for a different reason. Some of the inhabitants claims that they are also amongst the attractions, since even if they try to dry their clothes someone will pop up holding a camera without even imagining that this might be annoying.

Such a picturesque scenery is amongst the places someone must visit in Athens. The easiest and most popular access to Anafiotika, is done from the small stairs which begin on the side of "Agio Giorgi tou Vrachou" (Saint George of the rock) which have the best view of Lycabettus and also all Athens.