leafyheritage

Pangrati and the First Cemetery

A lived-in quarter of squares and cafés, then the marble city of the Athenian dead.

Photo: Nagaremono / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

3.3 km

Time

~ 80 min

Difficulty

Easy

Start

Evangelismos (Metro M3)

End

Evangelismos (Metro M3)

Best at

afternoon

Right now

30°C· Clear

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

Pangrati is where Athens lives when it isn't performing — a leafy, unhurried quarter east of the centre, built on squares, with the marble city of the dead at its lower edge. This is the walk that does both: the lived-in present and the formal past, a coffee and a cemetery in the same afternoon.

Start on Plateia Plastira, cafés round the rim and the volta — the evening stroll — beginning at dusk. Drop south to the quieter Plateia Varnava, then wander the backstreets between them, where the balconies run thick with plants and there's a bakery on every corner. There is nothing to tick off here; the texture is the point.

Then the First Cemetery, opened in 1837 as the burial ground of the new Greek state. Its cypress avenues hold the great and the forgotten alike, and at its heart Yannoulis Chalepas's Sleeping Maiden lies in white marble as if merely asleep. Leave through Mets, the steep neoclassical quarter below, and walk back to Evangelismos.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 59 m·↓ 74 m·92–138 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
Plateia Plastira
Start in the *plateia* that anchors upper Pangrati — cafés round the edge, the *volta* (the evening stroll) starting up by dusk. Take a coffee on the square; this is the neighbourhood at its most itself, neither touristed nor smart, just lived-in.
01
Plateia Plastira
Start in the *plateia* that anchors upper Pangrati — cafés round the edge, the *volta* (the evening stroll) starting up by dusk. Take a coffee on the square; this is the neighbourhood at its most itself, neither touristed nor smart, just lived-in.
02
2
Plateia Varnava
A few streets south, the quieter of Pangrati's two squares, with the church of Agios Spyridon and tables under the trees. Locals come here, not visitors. Sit a while if the light's good; the pace of the whole quarter is set on squares like this.
02
Plateia Varnava
A few streets south, the quieter of Pangrati's two squares, with the church of Agios Spyridon and tables under the trees. Locals come here, not visitors. Sit a while if the light's good; the pace of the whole quarter is set on squares like this.
03
3
Pangrati backstreets
Walk the streets between the squares — low apartment blocks, balconies thick with plants, a bakery and a kiosk on every corner. Nothing to tick off; this is the texture of a residential Athens that the centre has lost. Wander loosely.
03
Pangrati backstreets
Walk the streets between the squares — low apartment blocks, balconies thick with plants, a bakery and a kiosk on every corner. Nothing to tick off; this is the texture of a residential Athens that the centre has lost. Wander loosely.
04
4
First Cemetery — the gate
Enter the *Proto Nekrotafeio*, the first official cemetery of the modern Greek state, opened in 1837. The avenue inside runs uphill between cypresses and marble. Quiet, formal, often empty; treat it as the park-with-tombs it has become.
04
First Cemetery — the gate
Enter the *Proto Nekrotafeio*, the first official cemetery of the modern Greek state, opened in 1837. The avenue inside runs uphill between cypresses and marble. Quiet, formal, often empty; treat it as the park-with-tombs it has become.
05
5
The Sleeping Maiden
Find Yannoulis Chalepas's *Sleeping Maiden* (Koimomeni) — a girl carved in white marble as if merely asleep, the most loved sculpture in the cemetery. Stand with it a moment; the whole place organises itself around this one figure.
05
The Sleeping Maiden
Find Yannoulis Chalepas's *Sleeping Maiden* (Koimomeni) — a girl carved in white marble as if merely asleep, the most loved sculpture in the cemetery. Stand with it a moment; the whole place organises itself around this one figure.
06
6
The Mets edge
Leave by the lower gate into Mets, the steep little quarter of neoclassical houses below the cemetery. Walk the narrow streets back up toward the centre; from here it's a level stroll to *Evangelismos* on line three, or onward to the Acropolis side.
06
The Mets edge
Leave by the lower gate into Mets, the steep little quarter of neoclassical houses below the cemetery. Walk the narrow streets back up toward the centre; from here it's a level stroll to *Evangelismos* on line three, or onward to the Acropolis side.

Pangrati and the First Cemetery

On the map.

Things to notice.

Plateia Plastira

Plateia Plastira

Plateia Varnava

Plateia Varnava

Pangrati backstreets

Pangrati backstreets

First Cemetery — the gate

First Cemetery — the gate

The Sleeping Maiden

The Sleeping Maiden

The Mets edge

The Mets edge

Two more, on similar days.

The Panathenaic Stadium and Mets: marble and the quiet streets

Plaka and Anafiotika: the old town under the rock