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undergo. Its once grand, colonial-style ho- In Petralona, there is an open-air cin-
tels now coexist with newer, more com- ema, has been screening films since the
mercial developments, creating an eclectic 1930s, serving as a reminder of the neigh-
space where the old and new grapple for bourhood’s transformation—from a ref-

attention. Just beyond the sprawl of these ugee settlement to one of Athens’ most
central squares, the neighbourhoods of sought-after locales. In Thissio, the Na-
Thissio and Petralona offer an entirely tional Observatory offers an entirely dif-
different experience. These working-class ferent perspective of the city, not through
areas, having undergone gentrification the lens of politics or commerce, but
since the 1990s, have become magnets through the celestial. Its 1902 telescope
for students, young professionals, and art- still peers at the same stars that have
ists. They blend a classical sense of his- watched over Athens for millennia, while
tory with a distinctly modern, café-driven the “Time Room,” once responsible for
culture. Along Iraklidon Street, you’ll setting Greek official time, remains a rare
find locals lingering over coffee or sipping link between the ancient and the modern.
wine in the shadow of the Acropolis, dis- Meanwhile, Gazi and Kerameikos, once
cussing everything from politics to the lat- gritty industrial districts, have been re-
est in Greek cinema. made as cultural hubs. Gazi’s Technop-

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