35
Undaunted, however, I insisted and he gave me directions which involved taking the
Metro to Omonia Square and then a taxi. I decided, however, that I would walk from the
Metro station thinking it would only take me twenty minutes or so, judging by the map. I
had not visited Omonia Square for years; in fact, on pervious visits to Greece I had
avoided Omonia because of its reputation for being an unpleasant area frequented by
unsavory, strange, and even dangerous characters (see Faubion 1993:39). I did not know
what to expect. Once I arrived at Omonia station I exited the underground and entered
the crowd on street-level. I was surprised to see hundreds of people of various
backgrounds: African, Asian, Roma, Indian, etc. Perhaps most striking was the diversity
of clothing styles people wore ranging from dashikis and hijabs to suits and yarmulkas,
and the multitude of languages, most of which I couldn’t identify. Many of the people
moving past me were on their way through the square towards other parts of the city;
others seemed to have traveled there to loiter. I was instantly attracted to this place, the
most alive, diverse Greek space I had ever witnessed.
As people continued to push around me I gazed up at the mix of neoclassical and
more modem architecture letting my mind drift to Omonia’s early history. During the
reign of King Othon, this was intended to be the center of Athens33; and indeed it felt that
way standing in the crowd. The Square is situated at the confluence of Leoforos Pireos
(Pireos Avenue is named for the large commercial port and accessed via Panagi Tsaldari
Street), Leoforos Athinas (Athena Avenue), Leoforos Stadiou (Stadium Avenue),
Leoforos Eleftheriou Venizelou (Eleftheriou Venizelou Avenue named for the famous
Greek Prime Minister), Leoforos Tritis Septembriou (September Third Avenue, to
33 Von Klenze and Stamatis Kleanthis were principally responsible for planning the shape of contemporary
Athens, and particularly for envisioning Omonia Square (Faubion 1993:38-39, 66-69).