Athens Through My Eyes
If you've followed Porpe Artifacts for a while, you've probably noticed that I'm drawn to quiet details. Weathered stone, worn textures, handmade objects, simple forms, and the beauty of things shaped slowly over time.
That way of seeing didn't begin when I started making jewelry. It began in Athens. I grew up in an Athenian neighborhood about twenty minutes from the Acropolis, and some of my earliest memories are of walking through the center without any particular destination. As I grew older, those walks stretched farther, leading me into neighborhoods, side streets, galleries, cafés, and tiny workshops that most visitors never notice.
Looking back, I think those walks quietly taught me how to observe. They taught me to slow down, to notice craftsmanship, and to appreciate places that reveal themselves gradually rather than all at once. Perhaps that's why I make jewelry the way I do today. For me, design begins with observation.
When I return to Athens, I don't arrive with a list of monuments to visit. I put on comfortable shoes, leave plenty of room for detours, and simply start walking.
This isn't a guide to Athens, it's Athens through my eyes.
Where Every Walk Begins
For me, every walk through the center of Athens starts in exactly the same place, Syntagma Metro Station.
Thousands of people pass through it every day, often without realizing they're already standing inside a museum. Before I even step outside, I always take a moment to look at the archaeological finds uncovered while the metro was being built.
I love that about this city; history doesn't wait for you behind museum doors it simply appears.
From there, I head toward Ermou Street. I don't worry too much about where I'm going. The best parts of Athens have a habit of finding you.
Syntagma Metro Station — archaeological finds uncovered during construction
Leaving the Main Street
Ermou is one of the busiest shopping streets in Greece. Most visitors walk straight down the middle.
I usually do the opposite. The little streets branching off to the left and right are where I naturally find myself slowing down. Independent cafés spill onto narrow sidewalks, locals stop for their morning coffee, and small businesses quietly exist between familiar storefronts.
These are the streets that feel like Athens to me.
Every good walk starts with coffee. I don't worry about finding the “best” café. I turn into one of the little streets, find a place that catches my eye, and sit down. In Athens in the summer, mine is usually a freddo cappuccino or freddo espresso. Then I start walking again.
A Taste of Northern Greece
From Ermou, I naturally drift toward the upper part of Mitropoleos Street. I like this part of Athens because the old and the new seem to coexist without making too much of a fuss about it.
One place I always come back to is Hatzis. I usually order the sweet bougatsa, filled with cream and finished with powdered sugar and cinnamon. The savory cheese version is just as good, but I almost always choose the sweet one. It’s one of those small tastes that immediately feels like Greece to me.
Hatzis, Mitropoleos Street
Visit an art gallery
A little farther down Mitropoleos Street is one of my favorite galleries. Whenever I visit Kori Gallery, I leave inspired.
I love seeing what contemporary Greek artists are making—the forms, materials, small objects and unexpected ideas. It reminds me that Athens isn't only a city surrounded by its ancient past. It's also a city where people are constantly making new things.
Perhaps because I spend so much of my own life making things by hand, these are the places I naturally look for wherever I travel.
Kori Gallery
The Makers' Street
I usually continue toward the upper part of Kolokotroni Street, but it's the little alleys connecting it with Ermou where I tend to lose track of time.
This might be one of my favorite streets in the city, it has energy without feeling rushed. There are independent shops, little workshops, handmade jewelry, ceramics, stationery, leather goods, and tiny businesses that make you slow your pace almost without realizing it.
From there, just keep wandering. Some of my favorite discoveries have happened without planning them. A handmade notebook, a ceramic cup, a beautifully crafted piece of jewelry. A conversation with someone passionate about what they make.
Along Kolokotroni Street
As the city begins to glow
As the afternoon begins to soften, I make my way back toward Mitropoleos Street for dinner at Ella. I've had enough good meals here that it has become one of those places I return to without thinking too much about it. The food is unmistakably Greek, generous and full of the flavors I associate with being home.
I don't rush dinner. There's somewhere I like to go afterward.
About five minutes away, on Ermou Street, is Ermou 18 – Beyond the Horizon. It's surprisingly well-hidden roof top, and plenty of people walk past without ever knowing it's there.
At Ermou 18, look for the small covered passage lined with shops—what we call a stoa in Greece. Walk inside and find the elevator. Take it to the top floor. When you get out, you're still not quite there: take the stairs up one more level.
And then Athens appears.
I love coming here around sunset, or even a little later. The streets below are still busy, but everything feels calmer from above. The warm light catches the old buildings, conversations drift across neighboring terraces, and little by little the Acropolis begins to glow.
Of course, there are higher and trendier rooftops but this one feels like a secret shared by someone who knows the city well.
Ella Restaurant - The Acropolis from Ermou 18
The Athens I Come Back To
The Athens I love has never been about collecting sights. It's about wandering without a destination, stopping for coffee because a café feels inviting, walking into a gallery simply because the door is open, discovering a tiny shop where someone is still making things by hand, or finding a rooftop that almost nobody notices from the street below.
Those are the moments that remind me why I continue returning—not just to Athens, but to the slower way of experiencing a place.
Porpe Artifacts,
is a woman-owned jewelry studio in Bothell, WA. Sterling silver, 14k gold filled, and 24k gold keum-boo — all made by hand, one piece at a time. Explore the collections · About the studio
