An epidemic of falls on the ‘mean streets’ of Athens

Locals and tourists alike complain that navigating the Greek capital’s sidewalks by foot can be fraught with peril

Early this year I took a fall. In broad daylight, on a street in downtown Athens, I tripped, clipping my right foot on a marble step jutting on to the pavement in front of the entrance to a furniture store. The step’s railing, grabbed in a desperate attempt to break the fall, then did what I never expected: ­collapsing in my hands, it threw me with even greater force across the pavement. A broken shoulder was diagnosed. Seven months later physiotherapy continues.

In this I am far from alone. The mean streets of Athens are an ­obstacle course daily blamed for such injuries (or worse). Like the marble step that town hall officials later branded illegal, all ­manner of “visual noise” – starting with ­motorbikes and cars – occupies ­valuable pavement space.

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