Aerides ( el, Αέρηδες ) is a small

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

surrounding the

Tower of the Winds The Tower of the Winds or the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower in the Roman Agora in Athens that functioned as a ''horologion'' or "timepiece". It is considered the world's first meteorological stati ...

, from where it takes its name. It is a subdivision of

Plaka Pláka ( el, Πλάκα) is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residentia ...

History

Aerides was considered the centre of Athens during the reign of King Otto (1832-62). A market was located here and the so-called 'Plane Tree Square' (πλατεία του πλατάνου) which was a barracks in which the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of t ...

camped.

Aiolou Street Aiolou Street (also Eolou Street; el, Οδός Αιóλου) is a street in downtown Athens, the Greek capital. It is named after Aeolus, the god of winds in Greek mythology. The street is one-way and originally ran entirely southbound but sinc ...

starts at the small park in which the Tower of the Winds is located and at the crossroads with

Ermou Street Ermou Street ( el, Οδός Ερμού, ''Odos Ermou'', "Hermes Street") is a one and a half kilometer-long road in central Athens, Greece, connecting Kerameikos archaeological site with the Syntagma Square through Monastiraki, Psiri and Thiseio. ...

was where most of the city's commercial traffic gathered. To the north, a market called Abatzidika opened, dealing in coarse fabrics. The

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

of Athens (Μεντρεσές Αθηνών) is found on the north side of the park in which the Tower is located. This

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

holy school became a prison during Otto's reign. Those who were being executed used to greet the

plane tree ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...

in the adjacent square named after it. This is the origin of the Greek phrase "Greet the plane tree for us" (χαιρέτα μας τον πλάτανο), said when someone doesn't believe what the speaker has said will happen. With the move of military quarters elsewhere, over time this once busy neighbourhood became quiet. On 1 May 1965, Aerides became part of

, which it remains to the present day.

Aerides Bath

The

Aerides Bath The Aerides Bath or Bath House of the Winds ( el, Λουτρό των Αέρηδων) is the only surviving Ottoman-era public Turkish bath surviving in Athens, Greece. Located at Kyrristou 8, near the Tower of the Winds The Tower of the Wind ...

(Λουτρό των Αέρηδων) is a

Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

left over from the

Ottoman rule Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

. The bath remained opened until 1965.

Transport

Monastiraki metro station Monastiraki ( el, Μοναστηράκι, ) is an interchange station on the Athens Metro, between Lines 1 and 3. The original surface station on Line 1 opened on 17 May 1895. It became an interchange point of the network when the underground ...

on Line 1 and Line 3 is the nearest station of the

Athens Metro The Athens Metro ( el, Μετρό Αθήνας, Metro Athinas, translit-std=iso) is a rapid-transit system in Greece which serves the Athens urban area and parts of East Attica. Line 1 opened as a conventional steam railway in 1869 and electrif ...

References

Neighbourhoods in Athens {{Athens-geo-stub