‘Sin City’

Have you ever watched the movie Sin City? That dark, hopeless city, full of evil doers sends out the breath of despair all the time. On the night we arrived in Athens, Sin city was my first impression of the city.

Narrow and interlaced streets sit closely side by side. The buildings are not as high and delicate as we imagined. In Chinese architect, Jiyuan Tang’s words, “the economic downturn makes the whole city seem pretty bleak.”

Along the streets from Monastiraki to our hostel, trees are bare and seem almost dead while there are many cruel-eyed cats strolling around those old and shabby houses. There is a surprisingly amount of graffiti in different colors and styles. Although some of this graffiti is cute and interesting, the majority of it is really scary. It really is like a scene in Sin City.

We met a friend of those graffiti artists, John Lewis Buchan, who told us that some of the artists did the graffiti to express their discontent about the politics and economics of Athens, although the majority of those artists just want their colourful graffiti to add more energy to this holy city.

 ‘Holy City’

However, as we stayed in Athens longer, we found out that it is not a ‘sin city’: the holy city is still holy.

 Ancient architecture stands erect among those modern-day buildings. You cannot only see some of them at a distance but also encounter some of them on a casual corner. It is really an amazing experience to think how ancient people built them and to feel the thousand years’ history of those buildings.

The most famous of ancient architecture, the Acropolis, was built on the mountains thousands of years ago which is now in the centre of Athens. It was the origins of Greece culture. If you stand on the top of the mountain, you can see the whole of southern Athens. It is really gorgeous because all those white and yellow buildings compose a spectacular scene in front of you.

Nowadays, it has been a little bit ramshackle and is being repaired, but it is still standing there telling everybody that Athens has its character and a rich history which should be respected.

Maybe different people will get different impressions of this city, Athens. But no matter what they think, I really love it here.