This hidden part of Athens often eludes visitors.

Anafiotika is a neighbourhood, a hidden island village located under the northeastern side of the Acropolis Hill, part of historical Plaka, it’s nicknamed ‘An island on the mainland’.

The neighbourhood was built in the reign of Otto of Greece - the Bavarian prince who in 1832 became the first modern King of Greece.  Construction workers were needed to work on the King's Palace and they came from Anafi, a tiny island in the Cyclades chain with a population of roughly 271 people today.

Feeling homesick, they built homes under the Acropolis and made a neighbourhood to look just like that of their island origins.

For archeological reasons, in 1950 many of the little houses were destroyed and in 1970 the Greek state started to buy them.

Today there are only 45 houses remaining, yet wander through the alleyways and seeing this unique neighbourhood – planned so that it resembled a Greek island – really does make you feel like you've stepped back in time.