Gazi & Kerameikos: the gasworks and the Sacred Way
An old gasworks turned arts centre, the city's ancient cemetery, and the road to Eleusis. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Technopolis (the old gasworks)
Start where Athens kept its industry instead of clearing it: the 19th-century gasworks, now an arts complex. The brick retorts and the two gasometers still stand, lit at night. Walk the yard between the furnaces even if nothing's on.

2. Plateia Asomaton and the Gazi bars
The square where Gazi's nightlife gathers — bars, late kitchens, the crowd that the metro brought when it arrived in 2007. Best after dark; come back for a drink once you've done the ruins, or start here and reverse the walk.

3. Kerameikos archaeological site
The ancient potters' quarter and the city's main burial ground for centuries — grave markers, the Street of Tombs, terrapins in the stream. The least-visited great site in Athens. Pay the small entry; you'll often have the tombs to yourself.

4. The Dipylon and the Sacred Gate
Inside the site, find the foundations of the two great gates in the ancient city wall. From the Sacred Gate, the *Iera Odos* (Sacred Way) ran to Eleusis for the mystery processions. Stand at the threshold and look west down the line of the old road.

5. Kerameikos Archaeological Museum
The small site museum holds the finds — the marble bull from Dionysios's tomb, grave stelae, painted pottery from the workshops that named the quarter. Twenty quiet minutes; the bull alone is worth the door.

6. Ermou's quiet end toward Thiseio
Leave east along the unfashionable lower stretch of Ermou — flower stalls, the church of Agioi Asomatoi — toward Thiseio, where the old Metro 1 station and the Acropolis view wait. End with a drink on a Thiseio terrace if the evening's gone well.

Gazi & Kerameikos: the gasworks and the Sacred Way