Monastiraki, Athens

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Put on a toga to really enjoy the true ancient atmosphere.
There's a financial crisis going on and people seem pretty stressed and depressed. So a good thing to cheer up people, including yourself, is to put on a toga - the ultimate ancient piece of clothing! Very versatile, comfortable and good-looking (or god-looking).

It's simple:
First go to a garment shop. You don't want to use sheets, it will look cheap.
Buy some nice white garment, approx 5 meters x 1,7 meters.
Wrap it up (figure it out yourself of google).
Enjoy walking around like a true free athenian!

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Monastiraki Square is full of people, and fun to hang out in for a while. When I was there, a magician was performing, several large pushcarts had strawberries for sale, groups of Greek teens sat around talking, and the guys with fake watches, toys, etc. had their merchandise spread out on pieces of cardboard.

The old mosque in one corner of the square is now a museum, I was told, but I didn't have a chance to visit it. There is also a very nice old church. Hadrian's Library is around the corner, and a market street adjoins the square.

It is indeed a feast for tourists. Various things, souvenirs, food and drinks, sweet stuff, from Mickey Mouse to ancient coins stuff and so on and so on. An ideal place to have a dinner outside in the hot summer evenings. Monastiraki has preserved the historic athomsphere of Athens and is a must-visit for everyone.

Sunday morning, I was wandering around, when I found myself in the bustle of Monastiraki.

I loved the atmosphere, stall holders selling antiques/junk, men laden with bundles of sponges, or peacock feathers. Calls from the vendors, smells of food cooking nearby. People sitting at the surrounding open air cafes, putting the world to rights, or enjoying a leisurely coffee.

The old mosque adds to the character of the square.
There is a metro station in the square.

For me, this was one of my favourite places. I love just wandering around a city, then discovering a place like this, that I hadn't planned to visit. Also, it doesn't cost anything !!

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Monastiraki is an interesting place where locals and tourists flock to. It is a quaint collection of antique, souvenir, clothing and shoe shops. I was really amazed at the large number of shoe shops in this flea market. After having trudged through the Acropolis and the Ancient Agora, the soles of my sneakers were already giving way. These shoe shops were a blessing and I managed to get my old shoes replaced.
This is an area where you can get souvenirs of Greece. It is cheaper to get them here in Athens than in the islands.

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Photo 1 It is open air one, the first level (Line1, the old station). Back on the bridge is a café ouzeri with excellent appetizer for ouzo or beer.
Photo 2 The metro station “ MONASTIRAKI” is the place you have to get out when you are interesting to pay a visit at Old Athens. The Monastiraki square is the entry point to Plaka at the east side, Roman agora, Flea market at the west, and to the way to Agora and Akropolis.
The building at the right is the stationm left an old mosiu- is a muzim now and far back the Roman market.
Phpto 3 Go for a walk at Monastiraki area.
(flee market).
Photo 4 live group on front of Roman Agora.
Photo 5 Indians at Monastiraki square

Monastiraki (little monastery) is a market in Athens under the Acropolis
one of the best places to buy souvenirs-antics or second hand
every Sunday it is full of people trying to buy or to sell something
that happens since 1910 (bargain for everything)

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I loved walking through the streets of Plaka and Monastiraki, neighborhoods so full of character and life. There's just so much energy emanating from both locals and tourists alike. Plus, you can do a lot of shopping in these areas too. I don't recall if they necessarily offered the best buys, but it's a shopping option nonetheless.

Monastiraki (little monastery) is an old part of Athens which nestles under the ancient Acropolis, and Monastiraki Square is the hub of life around here and the main street leading off takes one to narrow streets with a thousand artefacts to buy and sell. On one corner of the square is a relic of the Turkish occupation, the Mosque, minus minaret, built by an Athenian Moslem, Tzisterakis in 1759.

At its centre lies Abyssinia Square which is the place where the Sunday bazaar has been held since 1910. Monastiraki is a true fair for the one who strolls through it. Thousands of things are for sale. Anything from Nazi uniforms to Mickey Mouse clocks to mock Roman helmets and old money can be found in these narrow alleyways and streets. Souvenirs galore, some of them very good bargains, set among jewellers, and furniture stores with pine cabinets stacked high among semi-antiques. Ceramics, terracotta and marble ware, old chess sets and new ones made of silver, marble and brass, old copper pans and bronze hearth sets, jostle with chandeliers and phonographs, anything from souvenirs, to junk, to antiques. Bargaining is very acceptable here as it is throughout Greece, and it can be good fun too.

Monastiraki shows a lot that is Greek, in its shopping habits and tradesmen, its people and variety. It hasnt changed very much in centuries. A visit will show you a lot of the capital and its people, its mixture of old and new, a fascination that will keep you busy and guessing, and inevitably, shopping.

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This is the heart of tourism of Athens downtown area; thousands of tourists are there all the time.

Monastiraki itself is a very good place to see and to stay some eating some food and start walking in its shopping street.

Prices are little bit higher than everywhere else but you enjoy shopping there.

There is also McDonalds street inside the square of Monastiraki.