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02-10-2004, 03:01 AM
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Senior Member
It's my post
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Join Date: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Greece
Age: 39
Gender: female
Posts: 4,897
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and...
... this is my neighbourhood according to athens 2004 org...
"Exarcheia
Saturday morning at the street market in Kallidromiou
It's one thing to frequent Exarcheia, and quite another to live there. In other words, it's very doubtful whether those who come down Mavromichali on a Friday night, leaving Alphaville or Technochoros for one of the bars or tavernas in Methonis Street, or its "traditional" population of students, rockers and anti-establishmentarians, have any idea of what goes on in Kallidromiou on a Saturday morning, just below the police station notorious for its clashes with the anarchists. And the tourists staying in the Dryades Hotel are always startled to come down the steps into Benaki Street and find themselves confronting a vociferous tribe calling the freshness and the virtues of their fruits, vegetables, fish and other foodstuffs. The main reason why the Kallidromiou market is so special is its location: this street is one of the handsomest in Athens, lying at the foot of Strefi, its lovely interwar neo-classical buildings bathed in the Saturday sunshine and echoing the lively hubbub of the market - totally different from the somewhat morose greyness of the buildings in the rest of Exarcheia. Small wonder it is a favourite with the local intelligentsia, who mix with the crowd and then follow the example of all the self-respecting locals and withdraw to one of the little places along the street for coffee and the newspaper, shopping bags (bulging proudly with fruit and tomatoes) set neatly on the floor beside them.
For the rest, it's like any other street market in Attica: the earlier you go, the greater the choice and the fresher the produce; if you leave it till later, the prices will drop. About one o'clock a restlessness sets in, the vendors begin to think of packing up: "I'm off now, down to Freattyda for a cappuccino and some fish", announces a greengrocer in front of the landmark Enoikos bar, dismantling his stall. The others, who still have stuff to sell, begin lowering their prices. By the time you've covered 150 metres, a euro will buy you five kilos of tomatoes: "Come on, madam, chip in and help bring inflation down", laughs a vendor watching the produce disappear from his stall. The classic wave of humour that ripples through all street markets spreads rapidly through this one - as often as not, for reasons we've never understood, concentrating on the section between Themistokleous and Zosimadon St., where the most dynamic vendors congregate. Yes, apart from a rock centre, the loveliest street in Exarcheia is also something else: a perfectly ordinary Athens neighbourhood."
the whole market thing is too extended for something that takes place once a week for just a few hours, if you ask me...  whatever...
at least i live in a rock centre  (well, not entirely there, a few blocks away... :P )
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