The first time I visited Piraeus, in the 80s, the hash dens were
still there, clustered along potholed streets next to brothels,
noisy exhaust-repair shops, and dusty bakeries. Behind
fly-spattered windows were oily filo pastry tiropitas stuffed with
salty feta cheese and crusty loaves of yellow horiatiko village
bread made with semolina flour that backpackers (like me) would buy
- along with cheap bottles of retsina - in order to survive the
long ferry ride over to the islands.
Over the past decade, however, this ancient seaport - one of
Europe's busiest - has had a facelift. The San Francisco-like
switchback streets of Piraeus' once seedy hilltop enclave of
Kastella, with its pastel-coloured neoclassical mansions and
stunning views over the ritzy Athenian Riviera, is now home to a
string of cool new hotels, including boutique beauty The
Alex. Troumba - formerly the city's red-light district - is
packed with noisy bars and late-night clubs rubbing shoulders with
age-old delis and spice shops; the tiny, once tatty fishing port of
Mikrolimano is now the place to find some of Athens' best seafood
restaurants, while art festivals - including Pireos 260 - take
place inside the former factories that ring the port proper.
