Nikos Markou

Springing from Mount Penteli and Mount Parnitha, the Kifisos is the longest river in Athens, crossing the capital as it flows southwest toward Phaleron Bay. During the Roman era, the first aqueduct was constructed along its banks, and over time the river also served as a natural drainage system for rainwater.

By the mid-20th century, its natural beauty had begun to deteriorate due to continuous human intervention: the construction of sewer networks, uncontrolled urban expansion, the opening of new highways, and pollution from industries illegally established along its banks.

Yet in the northern stretch of its course, time seems to have stopped. Here, the vegetation remains dense and the presence of the urban landscape is almost nonexistent. Here, the river continues to survive stubbornly, as if aware that to cross the rest of Athens it must disappear beneath the city’s hardened concrete.