the first cemetery of athens, opened in 1837, was – in its day – the “luxurious” cemetery for the city. many greek and foreign notables are buried there, including the actress melina mercouri; andreas and george papandreou, father-and-son prime ministers; georgios papadopoulos, the dictator during the junta period; heinrich schliemann, the german archaeologist who excavated the city of troy; and the british author t.h. white.
the luxurious graves are, frankly, pretty luxurious.
 |
 |
 |
i imagine that ancient delphi looked like this at its height, with the treasuries from each city lined up one next to the other displaying their gifts to the temple. |
graves of orthodox priests.
the newer section of the cemetery is more plain and more crowded. also, unlike the older section, the newer section’s headstones usually incorporate photographs somehow, with a mix of modern and older photos.
 |
 |
 |
there also are a lot of cats.
 |
 |
 |
of course, this is a working cemetery. in the 90 minutes i was there, i saw two funeral processions, and there were another two waiting to go.
 |
 |
COHN17 