Athens Directions

by John Fisher

  Shops

  Dimitris Vasiliou

  Adhrianoú 1, Thissío tel 210 33 16 433.

  A neat little craft shop in Monastiraki’s Flea Market. Items on sale include attractive and colourful ceramics and handmade jewellery from the Cyclades Islands.

  Cafés

  Athinaion Politeia

  Apostólou Pávlou, cnr Akamántos.

  An enviable position in an old mansion, with great views from the terrace towards the Acropolis, makes this an excellent place to relax over a frappé. Light meals also served.

  Kirki

  Apostólou Pávlou 31 tel 210 34 69 960.

  Another café with a fabulous Acropolis view from its outdoor tables, serving good mezédhes as well as drinks and ice creams. Popular with the clientele of the late-night gay club (Lizard) upstairs.

  Restaurants

  Barfly

  Voutádhon 34 tel 210 34 60 347. Eves only.

  One of the “neo-industrial”- style eating places popping up all around the Gázi area, Barfly is a moderate-to-expensive American-style diner with Mediterranean overtones. Good burgers with just a touch of Greece.

  Dirty Ginger

  Cnr Triptolémou 46 & Persefónis tel 210 34 23 809. Summer only: Mon–Fri eves only, Sat & Sun daytime & eves.

  A tasty mixture of Greek and foreign food at moderate prices, with garden seating in the summer. With lively recorded Greek music, it attracts a young crowd.

  Dirty Str-eat

  Triptolémou 12 tel 210 34 74 763. Eves only, closed Sun.

  This mid-range to expensive restaurant has now expanded its menu to include meat in addition to the wide selection of seafood – from sardines and smelt to thick fillets of sea bass and snapper.

  Ikonomou

  Cnr Tróön & Kydhantídhontel 210 34 67 555.

  Basic, moderately priced home cooking served to packed pavement tables in summer. Recommended dishes are rabbit stew and oven-baked lamb.

  Interni

  Ermoú 152 tel 210 34 68 900. Eves only, closed Mon & Tues.

  Catering for a youngish clientele, Interni, with its minimalist decor, stresses Greek-European fusion food for serious diners and an easy “food bar” option for those with less time.

  Khrysa

  Dhimofóndos 81 tel 210 34 12 515. Eves only, closed June–Sept.

  Classy and fairly pricey restaurant with some pavement seating, serving international cuisine like smoked salmon and duck in various sauces, including curry.

  To Koutouki

  Lakíou 9 tel 210 34 53 655. Closed Sun.

  Like a country house with roof seating overlooking Filopáppou Hill, tucked just inside the flyover, this inexpensive, traditional taverna serves good mashed butter bean fáva and grilled meat.

  Mamacas

  Persefónis 41 tel 210 34 64 984.

  One of the restaurants that made Gázi fashionable, and still a favourite with the young, fashionable and well heeled. Traditional Greek food, mezédhes-style, with a modern twist. It’s fairly pricey, and like everywhere here doesn’t get lively till late – some time after midnight the DJs take over. Best to book.

  Skoufias

  Tróön 63 tel 210 34 12 210. Eves only, closed Sun.

  A pleasant and modern variation on the Greek taverna scene, with a variety of mid-range seasonal dishes – the honey-roast pork is the house speciality.

  Ta Sokakia tou Thiakou

  StratigoúKolokotróni 58 tel 210 92 49 614.

  A large, mid-priced taverna known for its pasta with lobster, lamb chops and mixed salads. Friendly management and service, with outdoor tables on a small square and live Greek music on weekends.

  Stavlos

  Iraklidhón 10 tel 210 34 67 206.

  Originally used as royal stables during the nineteenth century, now one of the more popular meeting points in the area, this hip hangout is as much an eating place as a bar, gallery and cafeteria. The food is a moderately priced mixture of fast fusion and standard Greek classics.

  To Steki tou Ilia

  Eptahálkou 5 tel 210 34 58 052. Closed Sun.

  This mid-range taverna on the pedestrianized road up towards Thissío station is so popular the owners have opened a namesake 200m further down. Renowned for some of the finest lamb chops in the city.

  T’Askimopapo

  Iónon 61 tel 210 34 63 282. Closed Oct–April.

  A wonderful winter taverna with unusual, reasonably priced dishes like meat in creamy sauces, and rooftop dining for balmy days.

  Thalatta

  Vítonos 5 tel 210 34 64 204. Closed Sun.

  Housed in a modernistic, marine-themed dining area, the fairly pricey Thalatta (“sea” in Ancient Greek) specializes in fish. Young in style and options, the menu is fresh, creative and busy.

  Votanikos

  Kastoriás 34–36 tel 210 34 80 000.

  A big, modern-brasserie style place in the Athinaïs complex, serving modern Greek food, as well as salads and the like. Mid-range to expensive.

  Zei

  Artemisíou 4, cnr Keramikoú tel 210 34 60 076. Eves and Sun lunch only; closed Mon & Tues.

  Charming old house serving imaginative Anatolian and Greek mezédhes in an enclosed courtyard. Best Thurs–Sat when it’s busy and there’s live rebétika and laïká music.

  Bars

  45°

  Lákhou 18, cnr Voutadhon.

  A big, lively rock-music themed bar/café which makes a good place to meet up in Gázi.

  Stavlos

  Iraklidhón 10 tel 210 34 67 206.

  In the heart of the Thissío bar area, this daytime café/bar/restaurant evolves at night into a funky bar/club with jazz and soul sounds.

  Clubs

  Camel Club

  Iraklidhón 74, Thissío tel 210 34 76 847. Opens 11.30pm.

  Indie rock and pop music are the themes at this newish bar club, drawing mainly a young crowd; Fridays feature music from the 1980s.

  Cone

  Triptolémou 35, Gázi tel 210 34 58 118. Daily midnight–4.30am.

  Small gay club that packs in the crowds with Greek music.

  Floga

  Perséfonis 19, Gázi tel 210 34 13 952. Daily 10pm–4am.

  Relaxed, upstairs gay bar/club with a view over the Tekhnópolis centre.

  Raj Club

  Plateía Ayíon Asomáton, Thissío tel 210 62 77 382. Opens midnight.

  Scattered over three levels, the Raj dishes out a mix of mainstream dance to a backdrop of ethnic, Japanese and 1970s decor motifs. Guest DJs make occasional appearances.

  Sodade

  Triptolémou 10, Gázi tel 210 34 68 657. Daily 11pm–3.30am.

  Stylish gay crowd and great music – one room plays Greek and mainstream, the other quality dance music.

  Platía Omonías and around

  While Pláka, Sýndagma and Kolonáki are resolutely geared to tourists and the Athenian well-heeled, Platía Omonías(Omónia Square) and its neighbouring streets revolve around everyday commerce and trade. Chaotic, gritty and working class, Omónia in fact couldn’t be more different from ordered, chic and urbane Sýndagma.

  It is, however, one of the liveliest areas of Athens and boasts an extensive patchwork of small shops and bazaars plying everything from power tools to flowers, punctuated with vast markets selling an abundance of fresh produce.

  As far as more conventional sights go, the area is home to a clutch of small though quite enjoyable specialist museums and a series of elegant Neoclassical buildings strung out between Sýndagma and Omónia, a legacy of the ambitious building programme that followed Greece’s independence in 1821.

  The core of the city’s modern market or bazaar is concentrated on Athinás and Eólou streets. The stores, though stocked mainly with imported manufactured goods, still reflect their origins in the Oriental souk system in the way that they are grouped together by specialization. Electrical goods, for example, dominate on Platía Klafthmónos and Aristídhou, while food stores cluster around the central market in the
middle, especially along Evripídhou, and clothes are found on Eólou and Ayíou Márkou.

  Barrelling resolutely southwards from Omónia Square towards the Acropolis, throbbing Odhós Athinás, once the area’s red-light district par excellence and now home to a bustling series of markets and small shops, offers some of the most compelling sights, sounds and smells of urban Athens as East and West mingle in a riotous blend of cultures and peoples.

  The meat and seafood market

  Cnr Athinás and Evripídhou.

  The liveliest of the markets is the meat and seafood market, set in a grand nineteenth-century building. Its fretted iron awnings shelter forests of carcasses and mounds of hearts, livers and ears – no place for the squeamish. In the middle section of the hall is the fish market, with all manner of bounty from the sea glistening on marble slabs.

  The fruit and vegetable bazaar

  Athinás.

  The fruit and vegetablebazaar is arrayed around a suspended archeological dig.Grocers pile their stalls high with sacks of pulses, salt cod, barrels of olives and wheels of cheese.

  Just west of here, Athens’ increasing multi-ethnicity is evident in the streets around Evripídhou, where a growing community from South Asia, predominantly Bengalis, gathers in large numbers around the spice-rich minimarkets and cheap and cheerful curry houses now springing up.

  The flower market

  Eólou.

  The flower market, gathered around the church of Ayía Iríni, has stalls throughout the week, but really comes alive with the crowds on a Sunday morning. Eólou itself also offers fine views: walk it north to south, coming from Omónia, and your approach takes you towards the rock of the Acropolis, with the Erechtheion’s slender columns and pediment peeking over the edge of the crag.

  Platía Omónias

  Platía Omónias has little to offer in terms of aesthetics, but it is the heart of Athens for a good portion of the population. A continuous turmoil of people and cars, it is Athens at its earthiest and most urban. As one of the principal interchanges on the expanded metro, the underground section has been totally made over and is now stripped of the dingy shops it once housed, while the square above has been undergoing phases of seemingly perpetual renovations and makeovers. The perimeter of the square is dominated by kiosksselling everything from watchstraps to porn, clustered in front of a mish-mash of shops and fast-food outlets. Though slightly seedy in atmosphere, the square and its surrounds are as safe as anywhere else in the city.

  National Historical Museum

  Stadhíou 13. Tues–Sun 9am–2pm. €3.

  The National Historical Museum focuses on Greek historyfrom the Fall of Constantinople through to the time of King Otto. There’s a strong section on the War of Independence that includes Byron’s sword and helmet. Unfortunately, minimal labelling leaves the visitor a little short of the historical context of the displays. There are also photographic archives, an ethnographic collection, a library and historical archives.

  City of Athens Museum

  Paparigopoúlou 5–7, Platía Klafthmónos www.athenscitymuseum.gr. 10am–2pm, closed Tues. €5.

  The City of Athens Museumis concerned with a fairly narrow period of modern Greek history – the reign of King Otto and Athenian cultural life in the post-Otto period, and is housed in two of the oldest buildings in the city of Athens. The main building was the residence of the German-born King Otto in the 1830s before the new palace (now the Parliament, on Sýndagma) was completed in 1843. Appropriately enough, one floor is dedicated to the royal couple. Highlights include their exquisitely furnished private studies, dining room and throne room.

  The second building is connected to the first via a covered walkway and comprises a collection of period furniture as well as an art gallery.

  The museum’s exhibits include paintings and prints, carvings and everyday items such askitchenware, crockery and decorations,as well as rich collections of furniture displayed in a series of lavish period rooms which include the king’s throne room as well as his personal office and that of his wife and consort Amalia. There is also a fascinating model of the city as it was in 1842, with just three hundred houses and a section of the ancient city walls.

  Numismatic Museum

  Panepistimíou 12. Tues–Sun 8.30am–3pm. €3.

  Housed in a grand building, this vast collection comprises over 600,000 coins, ranging from Mycenaean times through Classical, Macedonian and Roman to Byzantine and the modern era. In addition, there are weights, lead stamps, medals, precious stones and a rich archive of documents.

  Shops

  Bachar

  Evripídhou 31.

  Aromatic bags of teas, herbs and medicinal remedies in large sacks.

  Eleftheroudhakis

  Panepistimíou 17.

  The city’s best bookshop, with five floors of English books. There’s also an Internet café and an excellent cafeteria with a large selection of vegetarian dishes and sweets.

  Iy Folia tou Vivliou (The Book Nest)

  Panepistimíou 25, in the arcade and upstairs.

  The city’s most eclectic selection of English-language fiction, with a good collection of recent academic work on Greece, and back issues of the Korfes hiking magazine. There’s also a full-sized travel shop on the ground floor, with the complete line of Rough Guides and Anavasi maps.

  Hondos Centre

  Platía Omónias 4 tel 210 52 82 804.

  The city’s top department store; though it’s definitely no Harrods – low-ceilinged, cramped and crowded – the Hondos Centre is reasonably priced and stocks just about everything you could want. It has several floors of clothes, as well as a top-floor café with Acropolis views.

  Lalaounis

  Panepistimíou 6.

  Home-base outlet of the world-renowned family of goldsmiths, whose designs are superbly imaginative and very expensive.

  Lambropoulos

  Eólou 99 tel 210 32 45 811.

  One of Athens’ oldest and biggest department stores, Lambropoulos is also one of the biggest, stocking clothes, household goods, sporting goods and electrical items at reasonable prices.

  Road Editions

  Ippokrátous 39.

  Has a good mix of English and Greek travel guides, plus their own and other companies’ maps.

  Xylouris

  Panepistimíou 39, in the arcade.

  Run by the widow of the late, great Cretan singer Nikos Xylouris, this is currently one of the best places for Greek popular, folk and (of course) Cretan music. Stocks items unavailable elsewhere.

  Restaurants

  Athinaïkon

  Themistokléous 2 tel 210 38 38 485. Closed Sun.

  An old ouzerí that has recently relocated, but without losing its style – marble tables, old posters, etc. Good-sized, mid-priced mezédhes include shrimp croquettes and mussels simmered with cheese and peppers.

  Bar Guru Bar

  Platía Theátrou 10 tel 210 32 46 530.

  Busy and sometimes noisy “fun restaurant” with a Thai twist. The moderately priced dishes are pretty authentic, though dressed up to appeal to its fast, funky clientele.

  Cellier le Bistrot

  Panepistimíou 12 tel 210 36 38 525.

  With a Greek/international menu and a wide selection of wines, all dishes are carefully prepared and well presented. It’s popular with the business community for lunch, while at night there’s live piano music.

  Ideal

  Panepistimíou 46 tel 210 33 03 000. Closed Sun.

  A mid-range restaurant with bright, cheerful art deco decor, serving traditional, old-style mayireftá, imaginative daily specials and a decent selection of foreign-inspired dishes.

  Klimataria

  Platía Theátrou 2 tel 210 32 16 629.

  A mid-range, old-world type of taverna with rightly popular sessions of Smyrna-inspired rebétika music sessions. It serves a variety of rich mezédhes, with carafes of ouzo or draught retsina.

  Lefteris

  Satovri�
�ndhou 20 tel 210 52 25 676.

  A simple, cheap to mid-range grill restaurant serving decent souvláki, special stuffed beef patties and mayireftá; the draught wines are also very good.

  To Monastiri

  Central meat market (entrance from Eólou 81). Open 24hr.

  The best of the three restaurants here; the raw ingredients are certainly fresh, and it serves patsás (tripe and trotter soup), reputedly a good hangover cure.

  Nargis

  Sofokléous 60 tel 210 52 48 775.

  Tucked inside a stoa, this small Bengali canteen wins no prizes for decor, but has an authentic Indian atmosphere and meat and vegetarian curries at very low prices.

  Pak Indian

  Menándhrou 13 tel 210 32 19 412.

  A beautiful Indian restaurant, somewhat at odds with its surroundings. The food is excellent – fresh and delicately spiced, and there’s interesting (recorded) music, as well as the occasional live concert.

  Taÿgetos

  Satovriándhou 4 tel 210 52 35 352. Closed Sun.

  A no-frills, budget restaurant with great souvláki, grilled lamb and chicken sold by the kilo. There’s also a decent selection of mayireftá and palatable draught wine.

  Vangelis

  Sahíni 6, cnr Liossíon (sign in Greek).

  One of the friendliest and most authentic tavernas in central Athens, with a relaxing garden in use in summer. Mixture of grilled and oven food with superb kondosoúvli and kokorétsi their real speciality. Handy for the train station.

  Live music

  Elatos

  Trítis Septemvríou 16 tel 210 52 34 262. Closed Wed.

  An eclectic assortment of dhimotiká.

  Rodon

  Márni 24, Platía Váthis, Ambelókipi tel 210 52 47 427. Closed in summer.

  The city’s most important venue for foreign and Greek rock, soul and reggae groups – there’s a good atmosphere in this converted cinema.

  Stoa Athanaton

  Sofokléous 19 tel 210 32 14 362. 3–6pm & midnight–6am; closed Sun & May–Aug.

  Rebétika place fronted by bouzoúki veterans Hondronakos and company, and serving good taverna food at reasonable prices, but drinks are expensive.

  The Archeological Museum, Exárhia and Neápoli