From Exarchia to Patision you feel, at least as a passerby, that you are going deeper Athena. If you observe everything around you, this is a palimpsest of urban history. But it’s also a joy to walk around Athens, away from the screams and tension, in hours of peace and quiet. I had friends from Italy with me, we walked around the museum and decided to go around the territory from Exarchia to Victoria Square. This is a good trip if you’re in the mood for urban logging. So, an autopsy, but above all pleasure.

We followed the route, but the variations are endless. Looking back, we can say that the central position Egypt Square in the town-planning formation of Patision, it is like a radiant star, a symbol of the era of rise. But we will return to Egypt Square, as an urban phenomenon of the period of 1910-1970s, after a walk through Exarchia. From Tositsa (paying tribute to Lele Karagianni) we reached Zaimi and then climbed Sturnari. Foreign friends heard about the Blue Tenement House, they wanted to see it. We also saw the Vox and walked down the quiet pedestrian street Themistocleous towards Kallidromiou. Graffiti filled the look. But beauty on an Athenian scale prevailed. In the ruined “Eolo” Kallidromi we went down the Kunturiot. We saw deep ocher at Methoni’s charming house, but stopped at the famous ruins, a little further on, on the corner with Oikonomou. House of Napoleon Lapatiotis. It’s only a matter of time before it collapses, how much sadness this long-term abandonment generates.

There are some beautiful houses on Tsamadou Street and from Deligianni we went to Notara. We proceeded to Metsovou, descended to Bouboulinas, and there we were lucky, because we found the church of Agios Vasilios open. I loved seeing the admiration for Constantine’s Nazarene iconography of Artemis. From there we arrived at the entrance to the Areos field. Unfortunately, the entrance was spoiled by houses for the Easter market, but we were already in the Mavrommation, whose facades shone in the sun. “They remind me of Vasilisa Sophia,” I heard the comment of one of my companions and realized that if you have interest and curiosity in a place, you notice similarities and differences. You also lovingly understand what you find problematic.

We briefly entered Green Park and walked down the elegant little street of Kotsik, because I wanted to get off at Patishen. We crossed the street to see the ruined neoclassical house, the corner of Antoniadou and the University of Economics. We turned left onto Derynyi, where the municipality is repairing the sidewalks (I hope the acacia trees are still there), and left on September 3rd. At the corner, we saw Kleonos Kratonellis opposite the checkpoint building.

But further, in the closed and plundered OTE, the attention of foreign friends was attracted by the ceramic paintings of P. Valsamakis, which we saw framed by various graffiti. In Hayden, we looked at Victoria Square, climbed Guildford, saw a house designed by V. Tsagris with a Catholic cross, Kitsikis tenement house on the corner and a view of the majesty of Egyptian Square. Athens showed us the way.