From stunning murals to personalized tags, prolific street artists in Athens, Greece, have covered nearly every surface with paint.
Stroll through Plaka, Monastiraki, and Psiri, and you will find many businesses and abandoned homes covered in graffiti. It’s surreal to see once beautiful, traditional homes plastered with tags. From the looks of the places in the photos below, one might think they are located in unsafe neighborhoods, but they aren’t. Wall-to-wall graffiti is simply a common sight in Athens these days.
Neglected buildings and doors are prime targets for street artists. But don’t worry, if you visit Athens you will find plenty of homes in lovingly restored condition. Taggers tend to leave them alone.
Inspiration: Prolific and Thursday Doors.
Capturing Moments 
Some of it is just flat out vandalism but then there are some true pieces of art mixed in as well. Nice finds 🙂
I agree, Norm. Painting buildings with graffiti is technically illegal in Greece but not prosecuted. As a result, it’s proliferated like a cancer. While I appreciate the commissioned murals, I’m not a fan of the overabundance of graffiti.
That’s exactly my feeling! Lots of good finds here of both sorts.
janet
Thank you, Janet. 😊
Great selection, especially the first part! I have never been to Athens, but from your description of those run-down buildings it reminds me of Lisbon. I also publish street art themed posts from time to time, if you are interested, have a look at my blog!
Thank you, Kristy. I’ll take a look at your blog. I’ve been to Lisbon once many years ago and loved the architecture and the people. The food was fabulous as well.
Wow, this is on Plaka?? I’m sad. A lot has changed since we walked there.
Less graffiti is seen in Plaka than Monastiraki and Psiri. In Plaka, the graffiti is mainly on abandoned structures on the upper streets. Overall, Plaka still maintains its old town charm, as many of the neoclassical homes have been restored. The tourist shop area in Plaka has stayed the same over the past twenty years that I’ve been going Greece. But, if you walk to Plaka from the Athens Central Market by way of Psiri, be prepared to see a ton of graffiti. And, yes, it is sad. 😦
Very interesting, so much street art and graffiti. Now, I want to visit Athens. =) Nice photos!!
Thanks, Brenda! So sorry to have missed your comment until now. I hope you do get to visit Athens (and the islands.) Greece is a fabulous country.
No problem and thanks for writing back! Athens is officially on my “list.” =)
Oh my, what a treasure. I’d find Athens very hard to leave.