Omonia - Omonia

Omonia
(Athens)
Omonia square at night
State

Omonia (in Greek Ομόνοια ') is a vast square of the center of Athens, the hub of a district teeming with hotels and catering services and with a major tourist attraction constituted by the National Archaeological Museum, located on the nearby Via Patissio.

To know

On the occasion of the 2004 Olympics, Omonia has resorted to the "facelift" for the umpteenth time. Nonetheless, the district continues to be considered less touristy than Syntagma, the other large square of the city ​​center and closer to the quaint neighborhoods of Plaka is Monastiraki.

Omonia district was known before the Olympics (year 2004) for its red-light houses, its pickpockets and its dazed-faced, half-open mouthed "impasticchettati" who were later chased away by the police as part of the massive recovery of Omonia in view of the 2004 Olympics. Today the outcasts evicted from Omonia seem to gather in the not far square of Monastiraki but, according to the latest news (June 2007), some are returning to the site of their former home, now that the roar of the Olympics has long since ceased.

Concordia Square (this means Omonia) during the day it is only a crucial hub of public transport with huge Fast Food in its surroundings and at night a place that still has little to offer despite yet another and very expensive attempt to make it "on a human scale". Tourists with the ambitions of night owls will necessarily have to migrate to one of the neighboring districts described below.


How to orient yourself

The very long Patission straight line in its initial stretch between Omonia Square and the National Archaeological Museum. A busy area at all hours of the day, full of hotels and huge Fast Foods

Many of the main city arteries radiate out from Omonia. Starting from the North and turning clockwise we find:

  • 1 Via Tritis Septembriou, a very long straight that points north. It is the parallel of 2 28 Oktoviou, the avenue overlooked by the buildings of the archaeological museum and the Athens Polytechnic. Continuing on you will find the intersection with the very long and very busy road 3 avenue Alexandras which delimits the center of Athens to the north and in the vicinity of which is the park called "Pedion tou Areos", or the field of Mars. Further on is the district of 1 Kypseli (Literally "beehive" and never a more appropriate term) with the via Fokionos Nigris, a pedestrian area with many elegant restaurants but now a little decayed.
  • 4 Panepistimiou Avenue (Avenue of the University) is 5 via Stadiou - Two long parallel avenues that both end up Syntagma square. There are numerous neoclassical buildings among which the one of the University of Athens. Akadimìas (viale dell'Accademia) is a third avenue that runs parallel to the previous ones and starts from the nearby one 6 Kaningos square to end on the side of the Palace of the Parlamentos (Queen Sofia Avenue) where the embassies are located, including the Italian one. These are avenues subjected to intense vehicular traffic and which become more elegant in the stretch closest to Syntagma square.
  • 7 Via Aeolus (in Greek Αιόλου, pronounced Eòlu). A very busy shopping street that has long been transformed into a pedestrian area. It has always been famous for its shops offering clothing at bargain prices. It is dedicated to the god of winds and in fact ends in the "Aerides" district (The winds) of the Monastiraki district, where the Andronicus hydraulic clock is located, a Roman monument more simply known as the "tower of the winds".
  • 8 Via Athinàs - This very central street is dedicated to Athena, who has always been the patron goddess of the city, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. Along the way opens the Kotzià square, another space that has undergone numerous restorations. It is overlooked by the modest neoclassical building of the Athens city hall and the headquarters of the major banking institutions in the country. Among these stands out the headquarters of National bank of Greece, the work of the architect TicinoMario Botta and built in 2001. Near the intersection with Via Sofocle (Sofokleous in Greek) is the building that houses the Athens Stock Exchange (Chrimatistirio Athinòn) and some prestigious antique shops that also act as auction houses. Continuing, we find the central market building (Varvàkios Agora) dating from the early twentieth century and restored in 2004. The road ends in the famous square of Monastiraki, at the intersection with via Ermoù. The street, while passing through the financial district of Athens, has a mixed character, in part still very popular.
  • 9 Odòs Pireòs (Street of Piraeus) - Connects Omonia square with the port of Piraeus. Before the Second World War it was the industrial area of ​​Athens with many, various factories today partially restored. At the intersection with 10 via Ermoù there is the Museum of Ceramics (Keramikòs) burial area of ​​ancient Athens and a little further on the 11 Thision (Theseus), the neighborhood with splendid views of the Acropolis and, on the other side, Gàzi, the restored district of the night owls.
  • 12 Aghiou Konstantinou (Avenue of San Costantino) - The street where the national theater building stands. It flows into the square of Karaiskaki after which, with the name of "Achilleos", it joins the urban section of the motorway to Corinth. Of course it is super busy and is mentioned because along its path there are some hotels which, in the opinion of the writer, are not a particularly happy choice.

Neighborhoods

Bronze statue of the god Poseidon found at sea in 1926 near Cape Artemisio and exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
  • 2 PsirìPsirì it is a once ghostly and ruined neighborhood avoided by all that, towards the end of the twentieth century, was saved in extremis by a careful restoration and today is all the rage among young Athenians. It extends behind Koumoundourou Square, between the southern section of Athinàs Street and Ermou Street. It can also be reached easily from Syntagma square, along Ermou street to Monastiraki square.
  • 3 Gazi (in Greek Γκάζι) - was, like Psirì, a neglected and dilapidated place transformed into a trendy entertainment district with many clubs for night owls built around the old "Gazometro", a structure similar to the one encountered in Rome on the first section of the Via Ostiense. As part of the "Technopolis" project, the municipality of Athens subsequently restored the obsolete gas company facilities, using them as a venue for various cultural events, from the screening of film premieres to concert halls or pictorial exhibitions. Other buildings house a museum dedicated to industrial history and the institute of new technologies. Still others house the offices of the deputy mayor and a radio museum attached to the municipal radio offices (Athina 9.84 FM). Gazi is located at an equal distance from the squares of Omonia and Syntagma, between via Pireos (at street number "100") and via Sacra (Ierà odòs). It is not far from the Museo del Ceramico (Keramikòs). The closest metro stations are those of Kerameiko and Teseo (Thisìo) Map of Gazi on Google maps
  • 4 Exarcheia - is a classic student neighborhood behind the National Archaeological Museum, characterized by narrow and stuffy streets like its homonymous triangular square. It still has a cheerful character and is full of night clubs, bars (Kafeteries) and restaurants (tavernes) which generally offer dishes in the purest Greek tradition. To make the usual comparison, it can be assimilated to the San Lorenzo district of Rome, except that Exarchia is built around a hill called "lofos Strefis" and has many stairs in its upper part.

The other wards of Omonia have nothing special but should be mentioned because there are many accommodation establishments or because they are simply to be avoided. These are:

  • 5 Plato's Academy (in Greek Ακαδημία Πλάτωνος) - This term indicates a district separated from the center by the railway tracks. The neighborhood was popular in style until 1980 after which it saw a progressive escape of its inhabitants, such that today it is easier to hear a Slavic language on its streets rather than Greek. In 387 BC the philosopher Plato founded there the philosophical school which functioned until 526 d. C., the year in which it was definitively closed by decree of the Emperor Justinian. Excavations were carried out several times during the twentieth century, identifying and bringing to light the foundations of the gymnasium, the peristyle and other academic buildings. Nevertheless, its interest is extremely limited, being more than anything else a small neighborhood park with a few pieces scattered here and there and moreover difficult to trace, hidden as it is among ugly condominiums and abandoned factories and moreover poorly marked.
  • 6 Vathi - The district around the homonymous square whose official name is Piazza Anexartisias (Independence Square) but no one calls it that. It is the crossroads of roads subjected to intense vehicular traffic and generally rather depressing. We must also pay a little attention, not to the Greeks who are generally very correct, but to non-EU citizens who sometimes commit thefts especially to the detriment of cars parked in the darkest corners of the neighborhood.
    National Archaeological Museum of Athens: Aphrodite and Eros oppose Pan's insistence. Hellenistic marble work of the 2nd century BC coming from the island of Delos
  • Ayìu Pàvlu - An isolated and generally quiet district inhabited by the very small bourgeoisie and not at all exciting but there are hotels at affordable prices (not everybody). It stands on the side of the railway station and on its central square, where the church of the same name stands (dedicated to Saint Paul) and surrounded by modern apartment buildings are a couple of nice, moderately priced tavernas. It must be said, however, that the inhabitants are not used to the presence of foreign tourists.
  • 7 Viktorias Square (Platìa Viktorìas) - This square, where there is a stop of the old subway, is at the center of a rather seedy and depressing district, especially in its most hidden corners. On the near and very long straight of the 13 via Fylìs several brothels are still lined up. Typically these are low-grade brothels where Athens reveals its affinity with Amsterdam but above all with Asian metropolises of the caliber of Mumbai. Filthy, mean and smelly, Via Fylìs is never mentioned in conventional guides, perhaps out of modesty or because unlike the red light district of Amsterdam does not constitute a tourist attraction (it's just a seedy ghetto beyond beliefYet it is precisely here that Athens reveals its cruel face of an Asian metropolis, contemptuous of the most elementary human rights, as well as the innate attitude of its inhabitants for mercenary and casual sex. Of course, venereal diseases should swarm even if the preventive rules are respected but it is futile to hope to follow the "customers" or groups of adolescents who have fun making the rounds of the "messes", advocating the "tsatsà" (the owner) that they be shown the "gòmena" (the girl), as those who are not Greek are excluded from this "garden of revelry", according to the established logic of the country that the foreigner, both the western one loaded with money and the poor immigrant from the east is in any case a harbinger of misfortune. By way of information we report that on the web there is a site with an emblematic title bourdela.com where the members exchange with a flowery language (in Greek) opinions and advice on this or that brothel, even compiling report cards with relative votes and lots of detailed comments, in line with the squalor of "odòs Fylìs".


How to get

On the train

Peloponnese Station (stathmòs Peloponnisou)
Larissis station
  • 14 Athens station (Stathmòs Larissis), Odos Domokou. To the west of Omonia square, in a somewhat secluded position, not large and never crowded. In Greece, buses continue to be preferred over the slower train which is often subject to delays or long stops. The station can be reached by metro (Red line) and it's just two stops after Omonia. In reality, these are two stations joined together by an overpass (pedestrian). The other is called the Pelopennese station. It can also be reached from the airport via an urban train service but it is preferable to use the metro, which is faster even if it involves a change at the train station. Syntagma.

By bus

Young people with time available but not money and in general those who have opted for super cheap holidays, will have to take into account the information given below, also considering that the bus in Greece it is a far preferable means of transport to the train for medium-long range travel.

  • 15 KTEL Kifisoù. The name of the main inter-regional bus station, approximately at the intersection of the highway for Corinth with the other for Thessaloniki (Viali Kifisù & Viale Athinòn). The urban bus nº 051 leaves from inside the station and ends in via Menandrou (described below). The "Χ93" bus provides direct connection to Athens International Airport.
  • Terminus of via Menandrou, Very close to Omonia square. From the square, take via Pireòs and take the first right (Via Zinonos). The second intersection is the one with via Menandrou. From this terminus the urban bus nº 051 leaves, which takes you inside the station "KTEL Kifisou", described above. Source: O.A.S.A - Athens City Transport Organization
  • 16 KTEL Liosion, Viale Liosion nº 260. Athens' second inter-regional bus station serving only destinations in the Central Greece (Delphi), ofEuboea, of the Thessaly (Volos & Mount Pelio) and of prefecture of Pieria. To get there, you need to take the metro from Omonia and get off at Attikìs station and then get on the first bus that transits via Liossion. (nº 747, 701, 704, X93, Γ10)
  • 17 Regional bus terminus, via Mavromatèon. At the intersection between Alexandràs and Patission avenues there are two regional bus terminus useful for those wishing to visit other tourist centers of theAttica or embark for the islands from alternative ports a Piraeus (very congested in summer). The localities served are: Rafina (port), Nea Makri, But to you, Marathon, Aghia Marina, Grammatikò, ZoumperiLaurium, Porto Rafti, Sounio, Skala Oropoù-Dilesi, Aghioi Apostoli is Varnava


How to get around

By metro

Omonia is served by:

  • Green line 1 (M1 ISAP) which goes from Kifisià at the port of Piraeus. Stations of tourist interest are:
    • Towards Piraeus:
      • Monastiraki - The next stop from where you exit to discover the picturesque neighborhoods of Monastiraki and Psirì
      • Thissio (Theseus) - It could also be useful to reach Gazi.
      • Petralona
    • Towards Kifisià:
      • Irini stop - An important station for the "fans" as it gives access to the Athens stadium area, where important international sporting events often take place.
  • Line 2 (M2 red color).
    • The next stops are:
    • In the reverse direction, the most important stops are:
      • Stathmos Larissis - At the Athens train station


What see

Equestrian monument to King Constantine I at the entrance to the "Pedion tou Areos" park in Egypt square, at the intersection of Patission & Alexandra avenues

The only real big draw in Omonia is the National Archaeological Museum. Technopolis, in the Gazi district described above, is a very successful experiment. The rest is of secondary interest or, at least, for fussy tourists or tourists with specific interests. Out of pure curiosity, we report that on Viale Patision, right in front of the Archaeological Museum is the Italian Cultural Institute, founded in 1954 and dependent on our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Continuing in the direction of the "Pedion tou Areos" park, we find at nº 61 (corner with Skaramanga street) the building where Maria Callas lived in an apartment on the fifth floor during the difficult years of World War II. (The commemorative plaque next to the door has recently been removed ). To make ends meet, the famous soprano, at the time seventeen years old, was reduced to cheer with his voice the atmosphere of the Omonia brothels, frequented by Italian and German occupants. It was then that the singing teacher Elvira de Hidalgo worked at the National Opera of Athens (Ethnikì Lirikì Skinì) [1] for Callas to be hired (1941). To the theater commission Elvira de Hidalgo said: "Maria Callas will ruin herself by singing for the soldiers in exchange for a loaf of bread. We cannot allow this precious talent to go to waste." Callas' idyll with an Italian soldier dates back to that time, an idyll that was soon finished due to the transfer of the unit where the latter was militant. In the apartment in via Patision, Callas stayed with her mother Evangelia Dimitriadou and her sister Yakinthi until 1945, when the three women decided to return to the United States embarking from Piraeus. Callas was deeply embittered by the injustices, envy and gossip she had been subjected to during her four-year stay at the Athens Opera. The directors of the theater in fact tended not to make her appear on the stage because they feared that she might overshadow older singers with her splendid voice.

Monuments

  • National Theater, 22, Agiou Konstantinou street. An imposing but low-rise building (only one floor) erected between 1882 and 1890 by the architect Ernst Ziller in the eclectic style of the time on commission of King George I.
  • 1 Plato's Academy. Academy of Athens on Wikipedia Academy of Athens (Q193093) on Wikidata

Museums and galleries

The masterpieces of the museum
Artemisio's jockey
Athens Archaeological Museum
  • 2 National archeologic museum (Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο), 44 Patission (Next to the Athens Polytechnic), 30 213 214 4800, fax: 30 210 821 3573, 30 210 823 0800, @. Ecb copyright.svg5 € (March 2018). Simple icon time.svgTue-Sun 09: 00-16: 00, Mon 13: 00-20: 00. Undoubtedly one of the major attractions of the capital Greek and universally known. It is located in a square on Patission Street at 44. The collections are housed in a neoclassical building from the end of the 19th century. Among the many masterpieces there are numerous examples of early Cycladic art and the treasure of the Atrides found in the tombs of Mycenae by the famous German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann as well as exceptional bronze and stone statues and wonderful collections of ceramics, the oldest of which date back to the 5th century BC. National Archaeological Museum of Athens on Wikipedia National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Q637187) on Wikidata
Municipal art gallery
  • 3 Athens City Hall Picture Gallery (Δημοτική Πινακοθήκη. Pronounced: Dhimotikì Pinakotìki), Via Pireòs nº 51 (At the corner with Koumoundourou square), 30 210 3231841. Ecb copyright.svgFree admission. Simple icon time.svgMon-Fri 09: 00-13: 00 and 17: 00-21: 00. Closed on Sunday afternoons. There are canvases by Greek painters from the first half of the twentieth century. Municipal Gallery of Athens on Wikipedia Municipal Gallery of Athens (Q1576793) on Wikidata
  • Epigraphic Museum.
Radio Museum
  • 4 Technopolis, Via Pireos 100, Athina 11854, Greece (Keramikòs metro station).
  • 5 Museum of Islamic Art - Benaki (Μουσείο Ισλαμικής Τέχνης), 22 Ag. Asomaton & 12 Dipilou St (Metro line 3 Monastiraki station, Theseion train station, Trolleybus 21, Bus 026, 027, 031, 035, 049, 731, 811, 812, 815, 820, 836, 838, 839, 851, 856, 865, 914, Α16, Β18, Γ16, Ε63), 30 210 325 1311, fax: 30 210 322 5550, @. Ecb copyright.svg€ 9 full, € 7 reduced (March 2018). Simple icon time.svgThu-Sun 10: 00-18: 00. Objects of Islamic art are collected in this museum.

Parks and gardens

  • Pedion Areos (Field of Mars). A public park near the intersection between Alexandras and Patission avenues, the only green area of ​​the district of some importance but not very well cared for and not even particularly attractive. It can also be extremely dangerous to venture into the park after dark (but even earlier) or simply cross it, as it is frequented by gays who in the past have been subjected to aggression by bands of immigrants. Before the Olympics, a gay man of Greek nationality was killed by two Albanian thugs.


What to do


Shopping


How to have fun

In the summer the night clubs (nychterinà kentra) most important migrate from the center to Glyfada or on one of the other waterfront districts. Some of the venues described below may be closed in August.

  • REX, 48, Panepistimiou avenue. A luxurious cinema from 1935 which in 1987 was acquired by the Ministry of Culture which, after having carefully restored it, entrusted it to the management of the National Theater. Another room has been acquired by a private individual and functions as a "Music Hall" where sometimes in winter great names of Greek song perform. In the other two halls, also known as the "Kotopouli Theater", there are theatrical performances as part of the Athens Festival.
  • El Duende, 6, via Kakourgiodikeiou (Psirì), 30 210 3230839. Simple icon time.svgClosed on Mondays. Not open for lunch. Spanish restaurant-bar with live flamenco music (not every night).
  • Twenty, 20, Lepeniotu (Psirì), 30 210 3254504. A dancing club in a courtyard with a typically Mediterranean air thanks to a few olive trees and a few palm trees. International and Greek music until the first light of dawn.
  • Candy Bar, 11, Aristofànous (Psirì, corner of via Katsikoyanni), 30 210 3317105.
  • Villa Mercedes, via Andronikou and Tzaferi n ° 11 Gazi, 30 210 3422606, 30 210 3422886. Club with cocktail bar and restaurant. It belongs to Vasilis Tsilichristos, the most famous of the DJs in Greece who also animated the summer nights of Ibiza.
  • Salon de Oro, 22, Aristofànous (Psirì), 30 210 3244891.
  • Erotic Club Theater card, 117, via Pireòs (Gazì), 30 210 3423198, 30 210 3454004. Simple icon time.svgOpens at 11am. Closed on Sundays. A strip show venue.


Where to eat

Perhaps the only real advantage of Omonia lies in the extreme ease with which you can find food at any time of day or night. There are in fact numerous large chains of Fast Foods, both international and national (Greek), present in the Omonia district and sooner or later you end up entering it. The premises are sometimes multi-storey and air-conditioned but the food is what it is. Those who want something more traditional for lunch will have to move to Via Panepistimiou where there is the popular restaurant "Inteal" while in the evening they will have to migrate to Psirì, Gazi or Exarcheia.

Average prices

  • Inteal, 46, Panepistimiou, 30 210 3303000. Restaurant where employees usually go for their lunch break, so try to go a little before the offices close.
  • Yàntes (ΓΙΑΝΤΕΣ), 44, Via Valtetsiou (Exarxeia), 30 210 3301369. Tavern with garden. Prepare organic dishes.
  • Rosalia, 58, Valtetsiou (Exarxeia), 30 210 3302933. Taverna serving simple dishes in the purest Greek tradition but very popular.
  • Avalon, 20, via Leokorìou (Psirì, corner of via Sarrì), 30 210 3310572. Simple icon time.svgOpen until 01:30. A "monastery" style place that serves pasta (hot), meat dishes and mussels (perhaps to be avoided).
  • Pai Keròs (And time goes by), 16, via Taki (on the square of Psirì), 30 210 3212858. A refined "mezedopolio", which is a place that serves snacks in the likeness of Spanish tapas with live music every night. Also open at lunchtime.
  • Orèa Pentèli (On the small square of Psirì), 30 2103218627. Another "mezedopolio" with live music in an old building that has been perfectly restored.
  • Skolion (Comment), 5, via Katsikogianni (On the square of Ayi Anàryiri - Psirì), 30 210 3246098. A mezedopoly where local singers exhibit their repertoire of rempetika music.


Where stay

Omonia is chock full of hotels of all categories even luxury, which is a certain wonder as the district can be described as anything but luxurious. Choosing to stay there is not advisable either in the summer period, when the area has a particularly desolate aspect or in other seasons due to the distance of pleasant districts such as those of Plaka or Monastiraki closer to Syntagma. To make a comparison it would be like staying in a hotel near Termini Station or Piazza Vittorio a Rome but even worse. Those who are bothered by noise would do well to avoid choosing a hotel on a main artery where vehicular traffic is intense at all hours of the day and night and the double glazing only partially muffles the noise. It must be said, however, that quiet hotels often arise in neighborhoods frequented by immigrants from Eastern Europe who have taken the place left empty by the Athenians and perhaps still not entirely recommendable. Before the 2004 Olympics, some of these establishments also functioned as "hotels by the hour" but it must be said that love affairs were often simulated and actually served to conceal drug consignments or other shady transactions. There are also hotels for gay couples such as "Oneiro" (Dream) in the Exarcheia neighborhood a short distance from the Pedion tou Areos park, an area famously frequented by gays. Those who travel with their own car and park it in poorly lit areas risk finding it with smashed glass. The advice is not to leave your car in places where no one else has parked. The restoration did not concern every corner of the Omonia district. Unfortunately many Tour Operators in our house offer to stay in Omonia hotels.

Average prices

High prices


How to keep in touch


Other projects

  • Collaborate on WikipediaWikipedia contains an entry concerning Omonia
  • Collaborate on CommonsCommons contains images or other files on Omonia
3-4 star.svgGuide : the article respects the characteristics of a usable article but in addition it contains a lot of information and allows a visit to the district without problems. The article contains an adequate number of images, a fair number of listings. There are no style errors.
Panorama of Athens from the Acropolis
Athens: districts and tourist districts, surroundings, excursions