Gazi takes its name and its skyline from this place: a coal-gas works built in 1862, decommissioned in 1984, and reborn as the city's most atmospheric cultural venue. The brick retort houses and the two great gas-holders have been left largely intact and now hold exhibitions, concerts, and festivals, with the chimneys floodlit at night. The on-site Industrial Gas Museum walks you through the original machinery and the story of how gaslight came to Athens.
Check the programme — there is usually something on, from the summer jazz festival to open-air cinema — and the cafés in the courtyard are pleasant even when there isn't. The Kerameikos metro station is at the door.