Athens is a European capital city known for its history and its monuments, like Acropolis.  Lately Athens has become “the capital city of graffiti”. The street art is found around town more and more on walls of buildings, bus stops, benches, school walls, trains, kiosks, even on some of the ruins of the Acropolis, while never on banks and government buildings that have high security. Generally, this street art has become a way for young people to express their feelings following the economic debt crisis in Greece. The financial crisis, the economic instability of the country combined with high youth unemployment and underemployment and a general sense of unrest seem to have turned into a huge inspiration for artists leading to a real “graffiti epidemic”. Is it a political expression, an adolescent expression, vandalism or is it Art? How do Athenians feel about all those murals around them? How do tourists react when they visit the so called “paradise of graffiti artists”?   On the other hand, the authorities struggle to find funds for its removal and aim to protect the public spaces from graffiti, stencils, cartoons and slogans that, for some eyes, have spoilt the cityscape. So, where does Art end and vandalism begin? Athens police rarely arrest graffiti artists, still, many of them work discreetly at night, leaving their mark and aiming to make people think, often expressing their despair through rebellious messages. In conjunction with city authorities, who try to control graffiti artists by handing out permits and encourage them to paint murals in already decayed public spaces,  the Athens School of Fine Arts gives courses on street painting, but most of the artists think that this is a way for authorities  to neutralize and control their art and their free spirit.