Plaka, Anafiotika & Syntagma (Αθήνα/Athens)

Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα) is the picturesque old historical neighbourhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. During the early modern age and until the early 20th century Plaka was noted at the time as the "Albanian quarter" of Athens[1][2][3][4][5] It is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists around the year, and is under strict zoning and conservation regulations, being the only neighborhood in Athens where all utilities (water, power, cable television, telephone, internet, and sewage) lie underground in fully accessible, custom-made tunnelling. Motor vehicles are not allowed in Plaka, and most streets are too narrow, thus not being able to accommodate them anyway. Museums in Plaka include the new Jewish Museum of Greece, the Greek Folk Art Museum and the Frissiras Museum. Excavations have proven that Adrianou Street is the oldest street in Athens still in continuous use with the exact same layout since antiquity. Of special interest is the neighborhood of Anafiotika, the part of Plaka that is built against the northern slope of the Acropolis; built by immigrants from the Aegean island of Anafi in the early 19th century, it features traditional Cycladic architecture. The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates near the Acropolis of Athens was erected by the choregos Lysicrates, a patron of ...