LIVING IN ILLEGAL SQUAT HOUSING | ATHENS 🇬🇷 

Everyone can make a video of nicer and fancier places in Athens, but this is the good, raw stuff. I live here, but for people who don't, these videos are a great way to experience the other side of Athens. Thank you Johnny and nice meeting you!

Johnny it is not Soviet Architecture it is actually Modernism .Both the Soviet Marxist and National Socialist loved modermism each one for their one reasons. The modernist's world was one of poor, carelessly planned cities where cheap density was a real blessing. They also replaced many historic buildings with ugly modern. It happens everywhere!

Thank you brother to try to showing around world ....Every time I see Athens, I remember my city, I remember Tehran The vibe in Athens and Tehran is very similar This is what many people say about traveling to two cities i know Characteristically, Greece's people are free and wear whatever they like and express themselves freely..

Please thank your host and guide. Her insights to life in Athens made very interesting viewing and have changed my perspective of the city. Please ask her to make some more videos with you on other districts, maybe even Pireus.

Johnny, consider visiting some Greek islands! They are epic and there's such a huge variety, culturally and geologically. Pristine beaches, otherworldly volcanic landscapes, and everything in between. You can even hop island-to-island to Turkey, as I did in 2019 shortly before Covid.

Thank you for this video. A refreshing topic for my newsfeed and i appreciate you incorporating a local perspective for the location.

The most heartwarming thing about this channel is that even when you are so judgemental and ignorant, people choose not to react and actually try to inform you and have patience with you. Just like your cool guide here and the local fella you questioned about the graffiti. Power to your guide, your constant disparaging remarks about the area and general naivety must have been so tiring.

Oh come on Johnny they have Asterix and Oblevix all over the world. You weren't perhaps exposed to it. It's the most famous comics in the world. Omg!

Great videos johnny, and what a knowledgable and beautiful guide you found!

Fantastic video with a wonderful tour guide. Looking forward to the next one. 🙌🏼

I don’t think you can judge the entire city by simply exploring a couple of small central neighbourhoods.

Wow brilliant vid Johnny! That lady is awesome! Take care pal.

24:15 Ohhh, Asterix and Obelix. I loved it when I was a kid. Brought such nice memories from my childhood☺

The woman guiding you is awesome and has a great and appreciative attitude for her city and its current state of being. Dude the Dad going through the bins is in a family too. It is confusing how uncomfortable you are in ungentrified places that aren't tourist spots. You keep tying to project your feelings onto the locals..take their answers as their answers and don't say what about that random old person over there. Clearly, people in that neighborhood like it and want to be there. Why don't you leave Athens if you can't appreciate the city for what it is..stop calling it a bad area because there is graffiti and scooters.. You don't understand defund the police. It was about redirection funding to entities better positioned for provide a certain service like a social worker to deal with domestic disputes, etc. There is very far left position that says there should be no police but it is supported by a very small minority of people.

It’s interesting to see the grittier side of a city, in my opinion, im always curious about that. Good video Johnny

It’s so funny this woman around 13:00 says that she doesn’t want cops on every corner and big tough cop intimidates her but the next second complains that she lost count how many times her car got broken into. It’s like do you want law and order or not?!

It would be interesting to see the inside of some apartments in that neighborhood.

Just remembered. The comic book character with the big moustache that Johnny found is called Asterix. His human counterpart is Jose Bove who dumped a truck load of cow manure on a McDonalds. Totally fitting with the place and circumstances you're visiting. Serendipity right there. They've had it from time to time at bookstands in the US but mostly in the 80s?? I think.

Watching this video made me appreciate where I live even MORE! Thankfully I'm not subjected to sensory overload with graffiti and run down neighbourhoods and major homelessness. My heart goes out to people having to endure hard times on a daily basis. If everyone tried to keep a more positive attitude and treat others how you would like to be treated, I truly believe things can and will get better.

It's almost complety clean there, just some grafitiy. As a Berlin based German I would not even notice it 😄🤷‍♂️

Actually "the park" was a parking lot that the citizens turned into a park by squating it .

My family is from Sparta when I go to visit my Grandparents I like to stay in Athens for a couple of days I love the City and Enjoy it. The first time I went to go visit my Grandparents I was on my own and had to take a Bus to Sparta from Athens and discovered some really cool Neighborhoods and fell in love with the City.

Johnny, how are you more worried about graffiti and squatters than actual residents of the neighborhood?

Your guest is full of positive energy and I would like to see more of her. keep it up

Hi Johnny, I didn't respond to your meet up suggestion last week because you said you'd be gone by now. I arrived in Athens today anyway. First time in Greece. I'm here for two more nights. Let me know if you're up for a few beers!

Those graffitis are sickening!!!!!!

Great vlog, thx Johnny

My favourite spot in Greece is Crete!

Thanks for sharing this video Johnny, 🙏 I have to say that all those graffiti are ugly , dirty and give the city a bad image unfortunately. Best of luck 🤙😎

Great video , really on point with showing the culture and the street vibe and I must say , one very cool young lady . I agree with the post saying visit an Island , I'd suggest Hydra , a favourite of Athenians to visit , short distance away , no cars or jet ski types , authentic and historic , most travel is by foot or ass or donkey. Best regards

Asking people in Exarchia if they are bothered by graffiti is like asking people in Haight Ashbury whether they are bothered by the smell of marijuana.

That is the coolest woman ever. I currently live in a country where people don't know how to communicate and everything is yes n no. Watching both of you makes me miss Europe!

JOHNNY FD we do have that Asterix viking comic books in America, I read them in middle school 25 years ago

The graffitis are not graffitis, they're horrible tags. I can't understand how someone in their good mind can like it. Looks awful, you can see that people who live there don't care about their city. In Latin America no one would even think to make a tag on a historical building and in general tagging is considered lame here as we have lots of great artists that do awesome graffitis that looks astonishing, and there are a lot of graffitis that look natural everywhere. It's a shame that Athens is in this way.

Thank you!

Have fallen in love with Greece, particularly the islands. Corfu was the biggest surprise, with Italian influences and so beautiful. Must admit I don't like the graffiti but suppose reflects the mess that Greece is in. Such a shame for such an amazing country.

i live in outside athens.the city centre is a nightmare.besides some neighborhoods like kolonaki and plaka the other is filthy and not safe.plus there is always traffic jams and strikes.the rest of reece is really beautifull and not only the islands.regions like makedonia ,pella.thraki ,evoia,pelloponesse have places that are magical

Serious answer to your question about why the building type changes...Emanuel Kant changed everything when he started the push for originality over craftsmanship in the 1600's and it why all of our building in the modern world hold function over classic natural beauty.

I think if you start looking into Tartaria, you will view these buildings in a completely different way

Athens is nice. I need to go there again.

This left and right politics is so annoying honestly

Very interesting video.

Graffiti Art looks cool on more modern buildings but when is on beautiful old buildings like these it looks crappy because the buildings are the art/history/culture of that city.

Ich liebe Athen den dieser Flair den diese Stadt hat ,und das Lebensgefühl hat keine andere Stadt in Europa, und ich war in vielen Städten! Auch die Architektur dieser Stadt ist unvergleichbar. Diese Stadt und seine menschen könnte man mit der Freiheit und lebensgefühl von Berlin der 70ger und 80ziger jahre vergleichen,das natürlich in Berlin schon lange nicht mehr existiert. So schade! Aber Athen ist Unvergleichbar schön ,wild ,und Frei!!❤❤❤

15:30 I hated those aftermarket alarms on cars in the early 2000's my god

In Portugal we also have Lucky Luke and Asterix .

Such potential in renovating those old buildings!

Beautiful area, vibrant town with life!!

Why are vloggers so obsessed with Exarchia? It’s literally just one part of the city, not even a bad part (if you want bad parts try Omonia, Metaxourgeio, Victoria, Vathis Square, Attikis Square...). Athens is a huge city with many neighbourhoods. There are posh and « nice » neighbourhoods in the center (Kolonaki, Koukaki, Pangkrati...) and neighbourhoods with a bad reputation (amongst locals, tourists can say whatever) (Victoria, Metaxourgeio, Kolonos, Kato Patisia). Also, there are a lot of stereotypes about the suburbs too. The Northern suburbs are the « Posh » suburbs, the western suburbs are the « poor, randown, high crime suburbs « (which isn’t even true but anyway) and the southern suburbs are also considered wealthy but not as posh as the northern ones. The fact that tourists have an opinion about the neighbourhoods of Athens while only knowing 3 of them is beyond me

We have Lucky Luke stories at our place to read in New Zealand!

If you don't enjoy graffiti, the neighborhoods you visited ain't the best. if you want to see beautiful neighborhoods in the center of Athens, you should go to Kolonaki (it is right next to Exarcheia, the richest neighborhood in the city) and Pagkrati which is one of the most beautiful middle-class hoods in Athens and trending at the moment.

Big tough guy ran away like a woman while accountants and software developers stay to fight the Russians. 😂

I find graffiti makes anyplace look like a dump.

You never read Asterix? Oh it is so full of humour and really great. I am in my seventies and would happily read them all again. They are translated into loads of different languages….. nice wander around this neighbourhood btw. I love it.

I stayed in a squat in Brussels. It was a cool experience, just realize it’s unsafe

this is where regular people live ? yes there are the touristic areas , nice and pretty but there is something cool about this place

What is the name of the documentary she mentioned?

How many properties have you owned in Kiev? And what exacly did you do with them before leaving ukraine?

Bulgarian and Greece borders are so high for asians and far easterners who have to get schengen visas, i had only visited those 2 countries bulgaria and greece as Turkey citizen once in my 48 years lifetime with durations of 1 week only in each country. On the other hand i had lived freely and visited 10 states in the USA for 2 years, 9 cities in China for 2 months, in Thailand's 5 cities for 2.5 months in duration. So you can understand where turkish citizens feel good, with best pamperings as it's neighboring countries rather than geography.

Athena was you tour guide! This area reminds me so much of Baltimore. What keeps the lid on the situation is not the police, but no one will tolerate BS we don't deserve. In short, average people, police and bad guys, look out for each other and keep things safe and real.

Thank you for the videos. Can u please improve the sound in your videos?

We have Asterix in Australia 👍

I first visited Athens about 18yrs ago and it was just as bad for graffiti then. It’s such a shame. The buildings are beautiful in the older parts but almost every clear space is graffiti within days.

Is it cheap to buy and live there? Looks like the perfect place.

how can someone not know asterix and obelix?????

What's the documentary she recommended?

Great depicition of Eksarxeia.. . It is a special area full of underground and youth cultures. Not all Athens is like that. This is only a really small part like 0,5% of the whole city. It's a place of political critique where power and money loses its meaning and real relationships flourish. That s why they are friendly to immigrants, people of colour, feminism, against homophoby and also criticing power and politicians.. All countries should have their Eksarxeia like Kreuzberg in Berlin or other cities... You should also visit Pagkrati and Mets areas. There are bars there too and nice coffee places as well as nice houses to see.. . Also southern Athens at the beach visit areas like Glifada up to Sounio with a car better..a feeling of the sea will do you well... . Also you can take the ship from Peiraius and visit beautiful Hydra island or Aigina or Poros island. Northern suburbs you can visit Halandri area. With the metro. There are coffee places and markets there.

Dude come to Kharkiv, we have a network of 80 volunteers, and office, and a dope cottage in the middle of the forest i'd love to drink wiskey at with you.

Strange that as a Canadian, I know about Luky Luke and Asterix

Great to see.

So sad that all those historical old buildings ruined by graffiti.

If everyone has to be his or her own cop, soldier, carpenter, reporter, farmer, surgeon... nothing worth doing will get done. This is what is happening in capitalist societies of enforced poverty, not just what might happen in speculated anarchies. But I don't know anything about any of that.

Look at the damage wrought by the Euro currency in Athens.

Still better than tent cities.

Language is the liquid we r all absorbed in, it's great for solving problems after it created them M.M. Love the graffiti 💞 🕊️🌍🌏🌎🕊️

Another good video, Johnny. I also donated a bit, hopefully it helps in some way. Slava Ukraini!

To me, graffiti is just a way to say "I'm selfish. I care about myself, my opinions, and whatever I want to do. Who cares about you, and destroying your livelihood or what you may have worked hard for."

I remember Athens as a beautiful city this is not the same Athens at all it is sad! They have no right to damage somebody else property!

Lisbon has similar graffiti.. most of Europe too. Japan is good for those that don’t like vandalism.

I think graffiti is designed and accepted by the locals to avoid gentrification and purposefully reduce demand and investment which could potentially price out locals. I'm pretty sure it's an eye sore for the locals but it's a compromise that they are willing to take as it's either that or being priced out if the area either through high rent or prices. Personally it looks ugly and I think gentrification is a necessity under a capitalist system. Because being priced out means people are not fixed to one location but are constantly migrating and creating new opportunities which boosts economic growth under a capitalist system i.e. you have human labour working more effeciently. Fyi I'm not in favour of capitalism but i'm just stating my observations.

Looks like Tel Aviv.... And yes Asterix is in the US too...

Is there any greek people left in Athens?

14:26 Ya Johnny go there to see the back door. This is my favorite RU-vid video

Such a shame that those grafittis have ruined the beauty of this city.

Were and how is Bald? Greetings from Belgium.

Very nice video great place good job my dear friend thank you for sharing Big Big Like 😊😊🌴🇮🇹🇮🇹👍👍

How is your apartment in Kiev? Apparently people are starting to return to Kiev now that the Russians have left. Any plans to go back?

Johnny! You were deprived in the cartoon department ;)

Johnny FD is like wow I hope at 02:07

The building at the beginning is renovated now

You can't speak of "Greece" when you have only seen smaller parts of Athens lol

So sorry to hear about Bald. RIP

Johnny FD you can settle in whichever apartment you wish, you can have the electricity, kitchen systems fixed easily. Greece is same as Georgia, New York , Florida states don't worry. When you see Schengen country sign, trust that country fully please. Schengen countries are as developed as California. Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia are only EU countries, just trying to reach becoming Schengen enlightment and developed stage. Aegean sea is warm and great, turquoise sea with lots of fish to eat, calamaris, squids, oysters to eat. Tom Hanks also proclaimed that he has greek wife and USA is covering towards its powers and diligence sharings to Greek islands only. Don't worry you are in American coverage, not like in Ukraine which had immediately remembered it that Ukraine is slave of Russia. Greece is slave of only democracy and human rights of westernmost europe. Ukraine before russia war had 3500 usd per person GDP per capita in 2021 while Greece has 19.500 usd per year per person GDP . Luxemburg has 115.000 usd GDP per person in 2021.

Cool video. But reality is that property values are destroyed this way. With the loss of property values, you lose the stable sort of residents who keep it up, so it further devolves. Not a good future there.

Go visit Kolonaki Johnny. much nicer place! Great restaurants and shops

Johny, Hello once again..... well from my perspective it is such a shame that a city of Greek mythology and great architecture is covered in Griffiti and tags!!! Not even South Central LA or NY city is that bad sir..... so what are the penalty for someone being caught defacing private or public property?.... I gues it must be a joke over in Greece since every street is peppered with that crap....nevertheless thank you for keep it real Johny FD

stellina is gorgeous love women with tattoos. tattoos show good charactor... damm. . love greece. would love to move to athens someday to retire. im from ireland by the way loi

Do you know if Mr.Bald is ok???

The first time I went to Greece over 10 yrs ago, I remember constantly running into these roaming packs of dogs though out the city. And there were all these gypsies running scams on tourists. The food was good though and the residents were super friendly.

Athens reminds me of Seattle, where I live. True anarchy allows for everything, including the rule of law; i.e. there can't be laws against laws. "HugoChavez" NeoHippies pursue ignorance, reward vice & punish virtue; hence homelessness.