Plaka

This guide to Plaka in Athens traces how a corner of the Cycladic island of Anafi ended up wedged into the rock beneath the Acropolis. In the 1830s King Otto summoned stonemasons and carpenters from Anafi to help rebuild Athens, but the city had no housing ready for them, so the workers turned to a quirk in the old property law itself. The first two to test the loophole were a carpenter named Damigos and a builder named Sigalas, working through the night. Best explored slowly, on foot, in the steep lanes just above the main square.