Skip to main content

The tattooed city

One axiom of urban living is that the more graffiti there is, the less you notice it. If I lived behind these shutters, I could not bear to be without it.


I used to think Brussels was the most-heavily graffitied capital in Europe, but I think we have new frontrunner. Non-demeaning political messages expressed in spray paint are an indication of social health, imo.  Are there bright-line provisos? Sure, and if you can't tell the difference between "Kill the Jews" and "Fuck Cops" we have nothing to talk about. Most people have a slightly rebellious streak when it comes to prevailing notions about high culture. If we did not, everything Banksy touches would not be worth its weight in gold bricks.


This is Athens' hard-left neighborhood of Exarcheia, where calls for "mobilization" and "resistance" are everywhere. You know what else is everywhere? Cops. With riot shields. With those weird shoulder-pad thingies that make them look like a robot Peter Weller. Intimidating cops in green uniforms. More-approachable "helper" cops in blue uniforms. 


Tiny Exarcheia Square is blocked off ― fenced off ― with chain link and corrugated metal sheets (already graffitied) . I asked an officer why the square was no longer accessible, and he said it was for people's safety. In poker, this is called a "tell."


Anyway, soak it up. There are lots of other reasons to like Exarcheia. Its narrow streets and mature trees create a lot of shade, the residents I spoke with (including a Donald Trump admirer who said he was able to buy an apartment here for a pittance during the 2010s financial crisis) were all smart and interesting, and the food is great.


















"Airbnb for tourists
Camps for immigrants
Welcome to Greece"
This is absolutely a conversation we should be having. 




Next

Previous

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athens sunsets

I have the rooftop to myself. Anybody in the 7-story building can come up here, but nobody does. I am fortunate ― a different apartment or neighborhood, a vindictive landlord (they exist) , could have made this a very different trip. Watching the rain come down on a cool evening knowing that I can pop out and get a dark Fix beer and chicken souvlaki at the same place, be back home in less than 5 minutes and unwrap the sandwich while it's still hot has made this the perfect getaway. Urban density at its best.    Previous Next
Post a Comment
Read more

Rest and unrest

I have had the best sleep of my life the past two nights ― at a Phoenix hotel and here in Athens ― featuring beautiful, uncomplicated dreams, the kind of stuff fit for Artemidorus, a professional diviner who trekked Greece in the 300s A.D. jotting down what people told him about their  unconscious lives. Many Greeks still keep dream books, called Oneirokrites . This is my street, Ekateou, in a neighborhood called Neos Kosmos (New World). It is quiet and safe, a 20-minute walk from the city center. The video I posted last night ended with a view of the Acropolis, which came into clearer focus after sunrise today. My view very much reminds me of the two weeks I spent on a rooftop in Beirut . I will get to know the routines of 75 neighbors very well. And, of course, they will benignly be spying on me. Reminded by experience for the zillionth time that Google navigation is garbage, my first order of business was to learn how to find Monastiraki Square by memory. I won't know if I succ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plateia Syntagma

I came to Athens' busiest square only to find out where the X95 bus left for the airport. While I was here, a changing of the guard broke out in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Parliament building.  I had a passing familiarity with the evzone soldiers' fustanella skirts (400 pleats ― one for each year under Turkish rule) and pompommed shoes, but the slow high-kick choreography? No, I was not prepared for this level of Balkan/oriental strangeness. Two and half weeks ago this was the site of a pitched battle as police dodged firebombs during a protest over soaring energy costs. Greek politics are wild. Check out Costa-Gavras' 1969 movie "Z" if you haven't already. It's in French for some reason. Anyway, if you have an early flight, here's where to catch the bus. (The metro doesn't start running till 5 a.m. and a taxi ride before then will cost $70.) A guy in this kiosk will sell you a ticket for 6E or so. It's in front of the Chin...
Post a Comment
Read more