Greece Trip #14: Famously Photographed Street with a Haunting!

We found some simple pleasures in Athens in the Plaka neighborhood that included a great bakery for lunch and a popularly photographed street (because of a flowering vine that drapes the entrance of the street).  Down that very street, I also encountered a haunting! 

(Photo: Tom and Rob in front of the  Bougainvillea that draped the entrance to a street.Credit. RG)

WHAT FLOWER IS POPULAR IN GREECE? Bougainvillea's versatility and beauty, coupled with Greece's warm Mediterranean climate

 (which enables the plant to bloom year-round), has made Bougainvillea the go-to ornamental plant for gardeners across the Aegean. ... Next to the olive tree, it just may be Greece's definitive flower.

(Photo: Haunted street with the Bougainvillea. Credit: R.G) 

ABOUT THE PLAKA AREA -  Plaka occupies the area right underneath the Acropolis, set among Syntagma square, Monastiraki Square, the Ancient Agora and Thissio; the Amalia Ave. and the Makriyianni area. It is Athens’ oldest and most picturesque area, also known as the “Neighborhood of the Gods.” We stopped and took a photo in front of the Bougainvillea draped over the entrance of what we think is called Lisiou Street. 

THE HAUNTED PLACE -   We walked down that street with the Bougainvillea and as we neared a street that ran perpendicular there was what appeared to be a tavern. It was called Kouklis' House. The entrance was down a few steps from street level and there were double doors painted black.  On the doors were images of a harp, and the door was padlocked closed. 

As a medium, I can usually sense whenever there's a ghost in or near a structure as I walk near it. That's exactly what happened. I was overwhelmed by the presence of a male ghost in or around that building. He suddenly shared his pain of death along with dread, fear, and anxiety. He said he was murdered there and he was a merchant that worked with food (turns out it was fish). 

He also gave me a word I hadn't heard before - "Alitos" or "Alimos."  When I got home I researched them and found out that Alimos was a fishing town on the outskirts of the city-state of Athens (also known as Halimous (Ancient Greek: Ἁλιμοῦς; also Alimous  Ἀλιμοῦς) and constituted one of the demes or suburbs of Athens. 

That made sense to me because I sensed that he was a merchant, and he was murdered on that street near what is now this Kouklis House. 

(Photo: I sensed the ghost here outside of Kouklis' House. Credit: R.G) 

(Photo: Street across from Kouklis' House where the ghost was lingering. Credit: R.G.) 

NEXT: A FERRY TO THE ISLAND OF MILOS