Visiting Athens- Part 2 3rd Junior High School of Acharnes, Athens Greece Collegi Sant Miquel, Barcelona Spain
Monastiraki is a flea market neighborhood in the old town of Athens, Greece, and is one of the principal shopping districts in Athens. The area is home to clothing boutiques, souvenir shops, and specialty stores, and is a major tourist attraction in Athens and Attica for bargain shopping. The area is named after Monastiraki Square, which in turn is named for the Church of Pantanassa that is located within the square. The main streets of this area are Pandrossou Street and Adrianou Street.
Its history Monastiraki was the market place of Athens during the Turkish occupation. The market included the Roman (market) agora, and the library of Handrian.The famous streets of Areos, Pandrossou and Hepheastus were full of small shops. Although there are lots of market places in Athens nowadays, Monastiraki still maintains its picturesque colour.
The hospitality of Monastiraki There are many people around the streets selling souvenirs like bracelets or advertising their restaurants or shops. If you decide to buy something from them or if you enter their shop they will make you feel comfortable and welcome. It is a great place for everyone to buy or eat something..
Monastiraki flea market Shopping in Athens is a favorite pastime for tourists and Athenians and one of the best places to buy just about anything is the Flea Market at Monastiraki. There will be shops with icons painted by monks from Mount Athos and monasteries around Greece. You will find everything you want here from jewelry to trinkets, from original designs to mass produced T-shirts advertising Greece. You will find plastic worry beads and the real thing, bouzoukia that can't stay in tune or hand-crafted instruments that will be coveted by your musician friends.
Things you can do in Monastiraki There are many archaeological sites you can visit at Monastiraki. Some of them are the Church of Kapnikarea, the library of Adrianou, the Winds Tower and the Romanian market. Monastiraki is right below Acropolis so there is a great view of it. There are many restaurants and cafes you can have a great time there. There is a great nightlife there, many bars and bouzoukia where you can have a great night listening to traditional music and eat traditional food.
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin The Pantanassa Church( The church of the Assumption of the Virgin) was the church of a big monastery which flourished at the end of the 7th century. However, after the Greek revolution it lost its fame and became a small monastery -monastiraki- the name of the area nowadays. It is located in Monastiraki square. Pantanassa means : Queen of all. It is one of the traditional epithets of the Virgin Mary in Greek Orthodoxy.
Church of Panagia Kapnikarea One of the most beautiful Byzantine churches built around the 11th century. It was named after its founders, “kapnikarious� the tax collectors during the Byzantine era. In the 1940s icons by the well known painters Kontoglou and Papanikolaou decorated the church. It is located in middle of the shopping area of Ermou street in the centre of Athens.
Library of Handrian The library was built between 125 and 132 AD by the Roman emperor Handrian who was an ardent admirer of Greek culture.It was a cultural complex with lecture halls , a theatre a transcription room and a library hall. In the garden there were marble statues of Athena and Handrian. Mosaic marble tiles decorated the floors of the halls while there were papyrus rolls stored in forty niches in the library. The building was seriously damaged in 267AD during the invasion of the German Heruli tribe What is saved of the original library is a section of the outer wall with huge Corinthian columns.
Tower of the winds The Tower of the winds known also as the Horologion of Andronikos Cyrrhestes is an octagonal marble clock tower in the Roman Agora (market). It is believed to be the world’s first meteorological station. It was built by Andronicus Cyrrhus a Macedonian astronomer around 50 BC.It is called the Tower of the winds as the frieze depicts the eight wind deities. In its interior there was a water clock driven by water coming down from the Acropolis. Several buildings are based on the design of the Tower of the winds such as the tower of the winds on top of the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, England.
The Mosque The Mosque of Tzistaraki was built in 1759. For its construction the Turks demolished one of the pillars of the temple of the Olympian Zeus.That infuriated the pasha of Evripos who asked Tzistaraki’s displacement. The same year plague broke out in Αthens and the Athenians blamed it on Tzistaraki because they believed that there is a misfortune buried under each ancient pillar. If the pillar is knocked down the misfortune spreads in the city.