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We have now been in Greece for over three months which is longer than we originally intended but Covid restrictions change so quickly country to country that it can be difficult to keep up!

We have decided that Spain will most probably be our next destination. However, it was a little complicated to arrange the Covid test that we need to take before flying again as there was nowhere near to our accommodation in Metz to get one done. With this in mind, for convenience, we decided to find our next accommodation near to a hospital that does the test.

We eventually settled on the suburb of Ampelokipoi which seems to be the medical district of Athens. Here there are a high number of hospitals and medical centres which means accessing a Covid test will be very easy plus the metro line from here goes directly to the airport making it an ideal destination. We decided only to book two weeks this time so that we are able to assess restrictions and make a decision then.

THE AREA

Ampelokipoi ( translated as ‘vineyards’ ) is a residential district of Athens. It is still classed as central Athens but is approximately a 2-mile walk from tourist attractions such as Syntagma Square, The National Gallery, The Byzantine Museum and Museum of Cycladic Art. Not too long to walk but a taxi or metro ride might be a better option for some. The district is built on a hillside so the streets tend to be steep with steps connecting parallel streets. Usually, some kind soul has added seating of some description as a resting area for the less mobile

We are staying in the centre of Ampelokioi and the area is similar to Kypseli. It is really densely populated with rows of four or five-story concrete apartment blocks. There is an explanation for the sea of similar apartment blocks that you see in many Greek cities. There is a scheme in Greece known as ‘antiparohi’ ( anti-pah-ro-hee). This is where locals give a developer their house and land. The developer then demolishes the house. He then builds an apartment block and, as payment for the initial land gives back three apartments within the new block. Often these apartments are then given to three members of the same family or are used as a rental pension. It was a very popular scheme in the ’60s and is still happens today. However, it is far less prevalent now as there are so few single houses with gardens left in the Cities to develop.

Similarly to Kypseli, there are also lots of parks to visit and as many of the streets are lined with trees. This is particularly nice at the moment as they are mostly laden with oranges. Don’t be tempted to pick one though! These are very bitter to taste but great for marmalade!

Should you want to escape the concrete jungle a twenty-minute walk will take you to Psihiko ( ps-hee-ee-ko ), a more leafy affluent area. This is where the ‘old money’ of Ampelikipoi is. Many of the worlds embassy buildings are here set amongst some grand residential buildings. As always there is a good smattering of small parks with shaded seating areas throughout the area. There are walking routes signposted around the streets and we spent a lovely afternoon meandering the streets musing how drastically areas can change in such a short distance.

Ampelokipoi is famous for being the home town of the Panathinaikos football club. Other than that there is a distinct lack of anything you would call a tourist attraction here. This, however, does give a great opportunity for those looking for less expensive accommodation during their stay in Athens. You will be able to stay in a four-star hotel in this district much cheaper than an equivalent one just a five-minute journey away on the metro. This also applies to Airbnb accommodation, we paid £220 per week for a nice two-bed apartment. More about that later in this post.

There are three metro stations located in Ampelokipoli. These will quickly and cheaply will take you just about anywhere you want to go. The cost of travel on the metro is really cheap at a little more than one euro per journey meaning you could save literally hundreds of pounds choosing this area for your stay.

The accommodation

Our accommodation choice in Ampelokipi has been a really pleasant surprise. As we are approximately 2-3 miles away from the major tourist attractions the cost of Airbnb accommodation dropped significantly which is good news for the budget!

We have rented a two-bedroom fourth ( top ) floor apartment with amazing rooftop views of Athens, the mountains beyond and the sea in the distance. There is just one apartment on each floor making it very quiet. It has two decent-sized verandas, one to the front and one to the back of the building. This means that during the summer months you have your choice of a sunny or shaded veranda all day long.

Our hosts, Efstathios and his wife, Eleftheria are lovely and lived in the apartment themselves until they decided to move nearer the sea and let it on Airbnb. In the entire building there are only four apartments, one on each floor making it very private.

The apartment is spotlessly clean and due to the fact that it was a family home previously has a cosy ‘lived in’ feel to it which we really like. It’s well equipped with everything you could possibly need for a short or long stay including WIFI and Netflix on the TV.

If you ever decide to visit Athens and are looking for great value accommodation a couple of miles away from, but with really easy access to the madness of the tourist areas then we highly recommend you consider here as a place to stay.

www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/26347096