|
ГрецияАфиныАфины Greece. Monastiraki Flea MarketThe Monastiraki Flea MarketThe Monastiraki flea market is the place to be on Sunday when it seems every Athenian is here either buying or selling. You have to get here early because after about 11am the crowd becomes impossible and if you want to take a break there are few tables available at the many cafes and restaurants in the area. You can wander around aimlessly or you can find someone who knows the flea market who can show you around if you are intent on buying something in particular. Much of the flea market is not really a flea market. It is a collection of small shops of which most of them are tourist shops with the same stuff you will find on Adrianou street in the Plaka. These are open normal shop hours and you can come here anytime. But weekends and Sunday in particular is when it is like a third-world flea market with people selling anything from antiques to what you might call useless junk and it goes on forever, beyond Monastiraki and into Thission and Psiri. Getting to the flea market is easy. If you are coming from Syntagma you will be walking down Metropolitan street, past the Cathedral and the square of shiny marble. There is a small Byzantine church in the shadow of the cathedral that you should take a look at called Agios Eleftherios.Nearly every stone of this little church was taken from an ancient building or older church including the stone from Galilee where Jesus changed water into wine. The church used to be called Panagia Gorgoepikofos which means the Virgin Who Grants Requests Quickly and inside is the Icon which they say performs miracles. There are some cafes in the square and this is where Pondrossou street begins. This section of Pondrossou is the high end section of Monastiraki. ![]() ![]() What to Buy? Anything that looks interesting. As noted before, Sunday is the best day to be here because you never know what you will find. But on regular shopping days the tiny shops contain everything from worry beads, furs, backgammon sets, toy evzone soldiers, ancient Greek bottle openers and cigarette lighters, Byzantine Icons, paintings, statues, postcards, high fashion such as T-shirts, handbags with pictures of the Parthenon and so on. (For jewelry see Byzantino.) If you find a deal that is too good to be true for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins keep in mind that there is a good possibility they are fakes and that if they are real you are not supposed to take them out of the country. There is a huge market in used phone cards, the same way Americans collect baseball cards. If you buy a set you will probably be the only person on your block who has them. There are a couple old print shops that are worth checking out. The entrance to the ancient Agora is about half way down the block on the left and you will see the Thission, the almost completely intact ancient temple that is actually a temple to Hephaestus. If you have not wandered around here yet then you should. You can cut through and go to the Acropolis. There is an entrance fee but there is a way of going up through the Agora up Areos street that is free. Nick Nikolau has been selling antiques in Monastiraki for the last twenty years. He is paid by several museums to seek out valuable pieces and claims he can find anything you want and at good prices. "Many of the pieces coming into Greece from Eastern Europe are priceless, but because the Greeks have never seen them before they don't know what they are worth". Nick is among a community of foreigners who sell imported and handmade jewelry, beads and other paraphernalia on the street during weekends. It is a stressful job because the police are constantly harassing them and making them take down their displays, sometimes confiscating them and making Nick and his friends pay a hefty fine to get them back. "It's like a game" says Nick. "They come. They harass us and make us take our stuff down. They leave and we set up again. It makes doing business very difficult. But we can't get a license to sell on the street and we don't sell enough to open a shop. The law does not allow us to get together as a coop and open our own shop either. Yet people like our stuff and buy. It is typical. They harass us and fine us but they don't offer any alternative. We are not criminals. We are artists and merchants. People need money to eat and some of us have families to support." Nick's story is an interesting one. Originally from Iowa, his father was a Greek antique dealer and his mother a teacher at the American Community School in Athens where Nick went to school. After going to college in Washington DC and working at the National Zoo during the great Panda Craze of the seventies, Nick returned to Greece to live a life that people write novels about. "I've seen just about everything." says Nick. Like many Athenians Nick can escape the city to a beautiful antique filled house on the coast of the Peloponessos. Not bad for a guy selling rings out of a suitcase in the Monastiraki flea market. Look for him. He's a nice guy and a good source of information and stories about Monastiraki and Athens in general. And if you are looking for antiques talk to Nick. If you know what you want, chances are he can find it. ![]() ![]() For instructions on how to do this see my Greek Island Primer: Step by Step Instructions for visiting a Greek Island on your own which includes the mysterious art of buying tickets for the Metro. The new line which will connect Monastiraki to Syntagma is still being built because they found so many antiquities they had to move it. It's a pain because that means to get there now from Syntagma you have to change trains at Omonia. You may as well walk. If the idea of staying in a hotel in this area is appealing the Attalos is very convenient and pretty nice and inexpensive. For convenience and entertainment it's not a bad area to be in because at night you have Psiri which is my favorite area for nightlife. (This is where I stay when I am in Athens). If you want to continue on for more entertainment keep walking into Psiri and find an ouzerie or cafeneon to spend the rest of the afternoon eating, drinking and talking. But only on Sunday. Otherwise head back to the Plaka or the Acropolis. If you want you can take my Monastiraki Tour or see Sunday in Abysinia Square: Athens Antique Paradise |