The exhibition of paintings by Andreas Vourloomis at SNFCC has a 1953 work entitled “Neighborhood of Agios Spyridon” in Pagrati. The view of the church, most likely, opens from the small street of Agios Spyridonos, which a little further crosses Arktinou street, where Andreas Vourloumis had his workshop at number 24. Agios Spyridon was also painted by Hector Doukas (1885-1960), decorated with flags and people on its steps, a celebration of Athens itself. A good way to immerse yourself in Pagration’s urban culture is to walk around the church and Goulandris Foundation.

The atmosphere in Pagrati, around Eratosthenes, is felt in the air, especially when walking through narrow places and climbs. Agios Spyridon is not an accidental church. It is claimed that it was founded in 1903 and that the architect was Savvas Bukis. It was completed in the 1920s, with possible changes to the original plan, with one church replacing an older and smaller one, which was common as the parishes of Athens grew. From the steps of the church you can see the embrace of buildings on the left and right, the urban osmosis, attractive by the fluctuations of urban and folk life. Today it is amazing to come across these simple views of the city, born from the rock behind the Stadium to the slopes of Pagration. Life is seething.

Opposite the Goulandris Foundation Museum stands the Naidrium of the Three Hierarchs, a remnant of a once undeveloped area. Inside the chapel, the flame of candles flickers, images as if from folk icons in the niches of houses create an enveloping fence. Up the slope, the steps of Constantino Versi lead us to the beautiful outer doors of the interwar period, and without realizing it, we found ourselves on Agras Street.

Agra is a mythical place. There is the blue and white house of Seferis, there is the end of the city, on the outskirts of the Stadium, there you feel the morphology of the earth, stone, soil, the air enters you. There are stairs on the streets. Zappa Street, stopping at the atmospheric cul-de-sac of Trassonos Street, leads to Ivik, and from there to the right again to Eratosthenes, where there is an abandoned old house with a beautiful gate.

But Agios Spyridon stands opposite and dominates. Return and climb its steps on the right side, which gradually lead to Dioskuridou Street. Right there, if you look a little to the left, you will see a pretty semi-detached house from the 1930s. I choose to take the Heron, I am attracted by the ruins and the green patch of land, the field, the city meadow, left there, barren. Geronos leads to Diophantus with his beautiful houses. I photographed the house on the right with a semicircular pediment more than 30 years ago, when it retained its original color – warm ocher. Here is this Pagrati with unexpected faces.

Because if you go along Theophrastou Street, you will see an old staircase, low houses and the field that first appeared from Heronos Street. Two abandoned cars in front of demolition marks give rise to images of visual direction.