favorite spot of the younger staffers of nearby embassies, although some tourists and
locals come too. Foreigners are usually struck by the incredible view, but locals are
generally more attentive to what they consider to be the “cleaner air” at the top of the hill,
perhaps more an indication of how hot and smoggy the city can get than of the
cleanliness of the breeze up above it. At night, the view from Lycabettus Hill transforms.
Buildings and parks fade into darkness while the illuminated Acropolis seems to float on
a rocky pedestal and the lights of cars, storefronts and homes reveal the labyrinthine
quality of Athens’s streets. Thejuxtaposition between the city’s archaeology and modem
pathways is captivating.
Walking along the streets of Athens can be difficult. In nearly every place I went,
apartment buildings stood tall and close together, streets and sidewalks were almost
universally broken and cracked, garbage bins were pushed haphazardly against curbs and
often overflowed with refuse, people bustled about pushing other pedestrians and
speaking loudly into mobile phones, cars and motorcycles drove quickly and parked on
sidewalks, black soot covered buildings, and the homeless begged for money. However,
I also saw a wide variety of architecture, I experienced hundreds of families descending
on inner-city squares and cafés for evening tea and coffee, I was welcomed warmly into
neighborhood bakeries, breathed in wonderful aromas emanating from kitchen windows
in the evenings, I walked beneath thousands of fruit trees that lined the streets offering
everything from figs to lemons, and heard what seemed at the time to be every language
spoken around the world. Both descriptions of Athens are accurate and, to varying
degrees, describe every suburb of the city.