Hotels near Monastiraki Square and Flea Market

Monastiraki Square is Athens's working-class market heart - a tangle of antique shops, leather sandal makers, vinyl stores, and Sunday morning flea market stalls anchored by the 10th-century Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, Hadrian's Library ruins, and the Tzistarakis Mosque (1759, now a folk art museum). The Acropolis rises directly above the square.

The flea market itself is on Pandrossou and Ifestou Streets - busiest on Sunday mornings 8am-2pm when locals haggle over coins, vinyl, military memorabilia, and rebetiko bouzoukis. Melissinos the Poet Sandal Maker (Aghias Theklas 2) has hand-cut leather sandals for EUR 35 - John Lennon and Sophia Loren were customers.

Pro Tip: Skip the souvlaki places on Mitropoleos and walk one block to Bairaktaris (since 1879) or O Thanasis on Mitropoleos itself. The rooftop bar of the A for Athens hotel opposite has the best Acropolis-framed sunset cocktail in the city.