Asirmatos: The Dream Neighborhood in Athens

A city like Athens can still have traditional neighborhoods. It can still have "alive" people, in contrast with those that declare the opposite in order to make us feel scared.

I believe there are some districts which have not been influenced by the anxious and nervous vide of the city.

Such districts maintain an architecture, which is closest to the human nature, to the natural environment, and get their warmth from the sun shinning even in the basements.

There are no supermarkets nearby but there is a great market every Thursday, which is not letting you starve at all.

A district like this is the so called "Asirmatos of Petralona" , which was also used as the scene for the 1961 Alexandraki's movie named "The Dream Neighborhood"

Asirmatos, took its name from the Greek Navy's Wireless radar, based on the neighborhood. The district was first populated by Greek refugees from Attalia (Turkey), who came back to Greece on 1922.

This history fact is depicted in the architecture of the district and the houses, resulting in the creation of a special and friendly neighborhood DNA.

During the 50s, the refugee houses where replaced by the stone houses built by Queen Frederic that made the place look more close to the English architecture. Some of these buildings are still there and if you visit the place you will be able to see the different styles in architecture.

A great building of this era, the "Saint Sotira", is situated on the Philopapous ring road. A small, neat and freshly painted church, which gives me this aww-feeling every time i visit it.

This church is the point which indicates the beginning of my favorite part of Philopapou hill. My first steps are made on this ancient street that leads me to the top of the hill, through the silence of the ancient ruins around me. When i reach the top, i feel relived by the greatness of the view of the sea, the city and the people.

So this is "My Dream Neighborhood".