In a neoclassical building in Athens on the oldest street of one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the western world, residents gathered last week with much on the minds.
Items on the agenda included noise pollution, congestion and other modern afflictions, but there was one that was met with instant relief: Haris Doukas, the city’s mayor, had decided to set up a taskforce to save Plaka, the ancient quarter at the heart of the capital’s historic centre.
“It was the news we had all wanted to hear,” says Lydia Carras, who presides over The Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, Ellet, on whose premises the residents frequently assemble. “Finally, measures are being taken.”
A battle has been launched at the foot of the Acropolis as Greece prepares for another bumper tourist season. For Carras, who founded the heritage society 50 years ago with her late Anglo-Greek shipowner husband, Costas, it’s a battle redolent of older struggles. More than four decades after the “neighbourhood of the gods” survived being overrun by nightclubs and terrace bars, its discovery by developers, avaricious investors and global real estate firms, is again posing an existential threat. On the back of the tourist boom, entire buildings had fallen prey to the short-term rental industry and Airbnb. The few shops that have held out are, like residents, on the brink of extinction.
“Plaka is meant to be protected as it’s so unique,” says Carras. “Thanks to special zoning laws enshrined in presidential decrees it was saved all those years ago. The reality now is that residents are leaving and not only because laws are being violated; the crowds, the noise, the chaos have made their lives unbearable.”
Visitors, she said, did not want to experience “lifeless stage sets” but inhabited areas that felt authentic and real. “This is a small neighbourhood. It was built for residents, not what we’re seeing today.”
In his cavernous city hall office Doukas does not disguise his consternation. The projections of tourist arrivals are nothing short of pleasing – further proof that Athens is no longer a pit stop for travellers en route to the islands. But at record highs the forecasts are also replete with risk.
This year, 10 million visitors, two million more than in 2024, are predicted to descend on the capital, many for city breaks that have made it so popular. If only a fraction head towards Plaka, there will be “intolerable pressure” on its labyrinthine network of alleys and streets.
“Of the 35 million tourists Greece is set to receive, 10 million, nearly equal to Greece’s entire population, will visit Athens,” he says. “For the first time we’ll be Greece’s top destination, but it’s unsustainable. Plaka, in particular, is oversaturated. It can’t go on.”
A recent “carrying capacity” study commissioned by the municipality and drafted by the university of Piraeus, urged authorities to take immediate action if Athens wanted to avoid becoming a victim of its own success.
“There’s not a day to lose. We have to act if we don’t want to become the next Barcelona, which is why the task force, with the support of the municipal police, will have every service at its disposal,” explained Doukas, a professor of energy policy before the centre-left Pasok party fielded him for the post.
after newsletter promotion
Citizens, he said, could call the force anonymously if they spotted infractions. “Based on complaints we’ll be knocking on doors. It’s already happened several times with short-term rentals.”
Few neighbourhoods in Europe have been lived in as continuously as Plaka. Nestled on the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, its mansions and two-storey buildings, wrapped around the Agora and other archaeological sites, it is an area that has been inhabited since neolithic times. For Greeks the quarter is not just a window on the classical world but an unbreakable link with antiquity.
“When inhabitants leave, places die,” says Giorgos Zafeiriou, an architect who heads Plaka’s residents association. “We’ve seen it time and again.”
The situation had become “desperate” for the district’s diminishing community, long forced into a fragile coexistence with the owners of cafes, restaurants and bars. In summer the influx put extraordinary pressure on Plaka’s antiquated infrastructure, he said, especially its sewage system. Worries about overtourism were such that residents joined the network of Mediterranean Historical Cities to exchange experiences on how to deal with the issues.
“What we’re seeing,” says Zafeiriou, “is a fight for the soul of Plaka. But there’s cause for optimism, too.”
One ray of hope is an upcoming, potentially landmark ruling from the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, on the legality of 16 buildings being converted into Airbnb units in Plaka, given its protected residential status. Brought by Ellet, the action will be pivotal in determining whether land use regulations, enforced to preserve the neighbourhood’s character, have been contravened. If the judges rule in favour a precedent will be set.
“The two presidential degrees establishing Plaka’s particular urban planning rules were specific. Hotels could exist but only in selected spots,” notes Dimitris Melissas, a professor of law representing Ellet at the 5 March hearing. “Here we have buildings acting as clandestine hotels, offering accommodation and breakfast and meals on terraces, where commercial activity is also strictly banned. That we argue is unconstitutional.”
With soaring rents fuelling an incipient housing crisis, the centre-right government recently banned new, short-term rental registrations on online platforms in central Athens.
Passed in January the legislation has raised hopes that hedge funds and developers, who moved in a decade ago, snapping up property at rock bottom prices during Greece’s debt crisis, will also begin to move on.
“Foreign investors see Athens as some kind of El Dorado. They’re reaping the profits, not Greeks,” says Doukas, warning many could end up with stranded assets if they continue to defy the decrees protecting Plaka. “First, they attempted to get around the ban on hotels in the neighbourhood through Airbnb and now they’re trying to get around the ban on Airbnb by advertising properties as ‘serviced apartments’, thanks to an oversight in the new law that clearly needs to be amended.”
The message, he says, is simple. Investors should “forget it” if they want to invest in short-term rentals in the neighbourhood of the gods.
“Go elsewhere! Plaka is our connection with antiquity. It’s integral to the strength of Athens. We’re not going to allow it to become some tourist luna park, an endless shopping mall, denuded of residents and destroyed.”
