Best Addresses Athens restaurants
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Best Addresses Athens
THE PERFECT TABLE 48 The Restaurant 48 Klefton, And Armatolon. Ambelokipi Tel.210-641-1082 One of the most popular places in the city, with a clientele of the famous and infamous. Athinaikon 2 Themistokleous St. Tel.210-383-8485 Greek mezedes are similar to Spanish tapas savory appetizers ordered in combination to make a meal. Ideal 46 Panepistimiou St. Tel.210-330-3000 Ideal specializes in Greek comfort food, just like Grandma used to make Kafeneio 26 Loukianou. Tel.210-722-9056 This spot is one of the most popular eateries in fashionable Kolonaki! Kalokerinos 10 Kekropos St. Tel.210-323-2054 This jubilant spot can be a bit touristy.
Karavitis 35 Arktinou at 4 Pausaniou. Tel.210-721-5155 Near the Panathenaic Stadium and across the street from the statue of Harry Truman sits this cozy, traditional eatery. Kollias 3 Plastira St, off Kalokerinou St. 210-462-9620 This restaurant serves extremely fresh, innovative seafood dishes. Platanos Taverna 4 Diogenous Tel.210-322-0666 superb, home-cooked food. Strofi Tavern 25 Rovertou Galli, Athens, Greece Tel.210-921-4130 this taverna is the perfect place to refuel after a day hiking through the ruins Bairaktaris 2 Plaza Monastiraki, Athens 10555 Tel. 210-321-3036 A Taverna of a Bygone Era
Neon Omonia Tel. 210-522-3201 1 Dorou, Athens 10431 Stop for Coffee on Busy Omonia Square
Tavern Erato Tel.210-342-7966 134 Andrianou Street, Athens 10555 Delicious hot greek cuisine
Taverna Xinos 4 Geronta, Athens, Greece · Tel.210-322-1065 This restaurant has kept patrons coming back since 1935.
Sholarhio Restaurant Tel. 210-324-7605 14 Tripodon, Athens 10558 Traditional Family Restaurant
Vlassis 8 Paster, Athens, Greece · Tel.210-646-3060 Authentic recipes from the Greek Isles are the specialty and include octopus stew, Alexandra Alexandras & Zonara 21, EKSARHIA Tel.210-642-0874 Delicious homemade cuisine in a frugal space Geros Tou Moria 27 Mnisikleous Street, Athens 10556 Tel.210-322-1753 Traditional Travern Unforgettable Food
Carte Postale Tel.210-321-9892 7 Andrianou Street, Athens 115 25 Your Neighborhood Restaurant Psara’s Restaurant Tel.210-321-8733 16 Erotokritou Street, Athens 10556 Good Food, Wine and Music T. Stamatopoulos Tavern Tel.210-321-8549 26 Lissiou Street, Athens 15344 A Place for Community Dining
Best Addresses Athens
THE PERFECT NIGHTCLUB Folie 4 Eslin St, Athens. Tel.210-646-9852 Tours An all-ages crowd comes to boogie to a range of musical styles, including reggae, Latin, funk, and hip-hop. Horostasion 2 Skouleniou St, Athens. Tel.210-331-4330 By day, coffee shop, but by night, it is one of Athens’ hottest clubs. Plus Soda 161 Ermou St, Athens. Tel.210-345-6187 Heavy, thumping techno is the music of choice either to drink to or dance Wild Rose 10 Panepistimiou St, Athens. Tel.210-364-2160 Stop by Wild Rose for a night of drinking and dancing with resident Athenians and visiting Beautiful People Cubanita Habana Club 28 Karaiskaki Street, Athens 10553 Tel.210 331 4605
To Bar 89-93 Syngrou Avenue, Athens 11745 Tel.210-920-6000 The Groove K44 44 Kostantinoupoleous Street, Athens 10676 Tel.210-342-3560 Making Minimal Plentiful GB Roof Garden Constitution Square, Athens 105-63 Tel.210-333-0000 A Splendid View GB Winter Garden Constitution Square, Athens 105-63 +30 210 333 0000 Delightful Cafe Styled Restaurant Alexander’s Bar Constitution Square, Athens 105-6 Tel.210-333-0000 Extraordinary Surroundings
the perfect bar Alekos Island 42 Tsakálof, Athens This relaxed bar doesn’t even own a telephone, making it the perfect place for a few drinks and a chat with friends Asante 78 Damareos, Athens Tel.210-756-0102 Multi-ethnic music is the highlight at this small bar. Balthazar 27 Tsoha St, Athens Tel.210-644-1215 Named for conquering emperor, Balthazar, this establishment is one of Athens’ hippest spots for a nightcap. Jackson Hall 4 Milioni St. 10673 Tel.210-361-6098 This hip spot is popular with the Kolonaki fashion crowd, Athens’ young professionals, and homesick American tourists. Memphis 5 Ventiri St, behind Hilton Hotel Tel.210-722-4104
Athenians have been coming to this club for years, taking advantage of its slate of rock, dance, and blues music. Aspro 4 Aristofanous Street, Athens 10554 Tel.210-331-3218 120 Red and White wines T-Palace Bold & Beautiful Tel.210-322-2210 3 Vassileos Georgiou A Street, Athens 10564 Inoteka 3 Avissynias Square, Athens 105 55 Tel.210-324-6446 Sampling Greek wine Nixon Bar 61B Agisilaou Street, Athens Tel.210-346-2077 Ice, Ice, Baby Brettos 41 Kydathineon Street, Athens 10558 Tel.210-323-2110 Rustic Charm
Best Addresses Athens
LIVE MUSIC Dexameni Dexameni Sq. Tel.210-361-3942 Outdoor movie theaters are a favorite pastime with Athenian folks, and this venue is one of the best. Dora Stratou Folk Dance Theater Arakinthou and Voutie. Tel.210-324-4395 Greece’s preeminent folk dance troupe, which has been delighting audiences since 1953 Half Note Jazz Club 17 Trivonianou St. Tel.210-921-3310 make a reservation early if you want a table at this well-regarded jazz club, located next to the Athens City Cemetery. global influences. Megaron Mousikis Concert Hall Sofias St and Kokkali St. Tel.210-728-2333 One of Athens’ newest structures is this world-class music hall, which boasts a marble exterior and warm, wood-panelled interiors.
BEST COFFEE SHOPS Rockwave Festival 42 Panepistimiou. Tel.210-360-8366 This festival, inaugurated in 1996, has grown into a much-anticipated event Sound-and-Light Spectacle Pnyx Hill. Tel.210-922-6210 A show that could be called “Disney meets the Ancients,” music booms from a PA system, and giant floodlights sweep over the Acropolis Stoa Athanaton 19 Sofokleous St, Central Market. Tel.210-321-4362 This venue is one of the best spots in which to experience rebetiko Stamatopoulou Palia Plakiotiki Taverna 26 Lysiou St. Tel.210-322-8722 This fun tavern makes its home in a renovated, circa-1822 house in the Plaka district.
Aiolis Aiolou 23, Athens Tel. 210 3312839. A large café housed in a lovely neo-classical building. The tables outside are usually occupied by tourists enjoying their drinks in the sun but the real attraction of Aiolis, is the atmospheric interior with its high ceilings and wooden panels Briki Dorileou 6, Athens Tel. 210 6452380 A laid-back, chilled-out kind of entertainment, your average funky, minuscule Soho square type of bar, open all day for coffee, draft beer and fun cocktails until the early hours of the next morning. Café Avyssinia Avyssinias Sq, Tel. 210 3217047 Bohemian café-bistro situated in the quaint and attractive Monastiraki Flea Market area, it offers real Greek coffee, ouzo, as well as a tasteful selection of “mezedes”. Museum Café 28 Oktovriou (National Archaeological Museum). Situated right next to the Museum, in a pleasant environment surrounded by potted plants and trees
Da Capo Tsakalof 1, Kolonaki Sq, Tel. 210 3602497. Famous outdoor café, where any self-respecting nouveau riche Athenian wants to be spotted among politicians, actors and high profile celebrities Dioskouroi Café Adrianou 39, Monastiraki, Tel. 210 3253323. Dioskouroi’ were the sons of Zeus and Leda. This is one of the few cafés under this label in the region and is situated in the picturesque spot just above Monastiraki Filion Skoufa 34, Kolonaki, Tel. 210 3612850. Despite its unremarkable décor, this lively café manages to retain its multitude of regular customers (many of them famous actors and writers), because of its cosy laid-back atmosphere and congenial environment Krinos Aiolou 87, Tel. 210 3216852. This café has been around since the twenties. Most of its regulars too! Its old style has been kept intact, despite the occasional refurbishments.
Best Addresses Athens
SHOPPING AREAS
ATHENS MUSEUMS
Kolonaki Kolonaki is the first word that a good shopper should know. Just a stone’s throw from Syntagma Square, Kolonaki has always been the most fashionable and chic area of Athens, teeming with shops, trendy coffee shops and hip restaurants.
Antiques Antique shops can be found mainly in the Monastiraki area, where the largest open-air market of Athens takes place every day 8 am-2 pm. It’s certainly worth considering a visit, since it’s colorful and friendly and offers a broad variety of antiques from glass and silver items to pieces of furniture and old appliances.
Ermou Street Ermou Street, recently paved for pedestrians only, is another much longer street not to miss if shopping is among your travel objectives. Off Syntagma Square, it has always been Athens’ busiest shopping street and is packed with clothing, accessory and quality souvenir shops. Other major shopping sites in Athens are Kifissia in the north and Glyfada on the south coast close to the airport.
Eolou & Agiou Marou The two other main shopping streets of Eolou and Agiou Marou are the streets where you can find incredible bargains in clothes, fabrics, yarn, shoes, and cafes where you can catch your breath after a period of furious shopping. There are old women from Russia and young men from Persia, selling silk shirts, socks, and underwear on the street.
Jewerly Greeks have always been good at making jewelry, as proved by both ancient and modern history. Consider taking a walk around Voukourestiou and adjacent streets where exceptionally designed and handmade pieces can be found at such goldsmiths as Vildiridis, Bulgari . The internationally best known names are Ilias Lalaounis and Zolotas
Athens Central Market. You probably won’t be in the market for any meat or fish but you can buy some fruit, olives or nuts for your room. If you go down Evripidou Street and cross Athinas street you will come to an area that is the Athenian Eqiuvelant of China town.
National Archaeological Museum 44 Patision st, Athens One of the world’s finest and largest collections of ancient Greek art and a must-see for visitors. Acropolis Museum 4 Makriyanni Street, Athens It’s wonderful to step inside this cool museum after touring the archaeological sites. Byzantine Museum. (22 Vassilissis Sofias Ave, Athens The most important collection of icons and Byzantine art in Greece, housed in a Florentinestyle villa. Goulandris Natural History Museum 13 Levidou St., Kifissia, Athens Rich collection of fossils and flora found on the mainland and Greek islands. Greek Folk Art Museum.(17 Kydathineon Plaka) Large collection of 18th- and 19th-century Greek embroidery, costumes, jewelry, ceramics, copper pots and domestic articles
Frissiras Museum of Contemporary Greek and European Painting 3 & 7, Monis Asteriou str. Kidathinaion str), 10558 Plaka The Frissiras Museum of Contemporary Greek and European Painting is the only museum of its kind in Greece. It houses a private collection of contemporary paintings and drawings as well as temporary exhibitions of Greek and European artists, in two fully renovated neoclassical buildings of the 19th century. Kerameikos Museum 148 Ermou The ancient cemetery of Athens at the bottom of Ermou past the Monastiraki flea market has a nice little museum. The site itself though off the beaten path is one of my favorites. Lots of pottery and tombstones. See Kerameikos Museum of Greek Folk Art 17 Kydatheneon St Plaka Embroideries, wood carvings, jewelery, and other traditional folk art. The museums not-tobe-missed collection of ceramics is housed in a beautifully renovated former mosque at 1 Areos Street on Monastiriki Square. Open daily except Mondays from 10am to 2pm.
Best Addresses Athens
PERFECT BEACHES
PERFECT PLACES
Glyfada is just a 20-minute drive from downtown. Take Syngrou Avenue toward Sounion. When the road forks, bear left onto Posedonos Avenue. Follow Posedonos all the way to Glyfada. This seaside resort area offers four of the country’s best marinas, sandy beaches and a variety of water sports. Vouliagmeni is a 45-minute drive from downtown and only a few kilometers past Glyfada on Posedonos Avenue, past some of the most expensive villas in Greece. Eventually the road forks. If you go to the right, you’ll find Kavouri Beach on the right side of the road. Kavouri is the more exclusive beach, frequented by wealthy Athenians. Varkiza is another seaside resort, just beyond Vouliagmeni on the same road to Sounion, 40 minutes southwest of downtown. Posedonos Avenue changes into Alkyonidon Avenue and will take you to Varkiza without any turnoffs. The drive affords a panoramic view of a sheer rocky outcrop of the Attica peninsula. Loutsa is a sandy beach located in the east coast of Athens. The place is well known from the windsurfers.The coast road of Loutsa offers a lot of fish taverns, cafes, bars and clubs
Anafiotika Northeast slope of Acropolis, Athens, Greece This quaint section of the city is located on the slope of the Acropolis, above the Plaka. Narrow streets wind between white Cycladic cube houses, brightened by pots of well-tended flowers and drying laundry. Dhafní Monastery Athinon Ave, Athens, Greece Tel.210-581-1558 Six miles west of Athens, along the road to Delphi, sits this beautifully maintained Byzantine structure. The monastery was built in 1070 in classic “Greek cross octagon” style, and its mosaics are considered one of the great treasures of the Middle Age. Kessarianí Monastery Mount Imittós, Athens, Greece Tel.210-723-6619 This monastery is still maintained by a small group of monks, who make ends meet by allowing visitors to explore their historic residence.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES National Gardens Amalias St, Athens, Greece This large park, once the king’s private gardens, is now free and open to the public. A stop here is a wonderful reprieve from Athens’ noisy, smoggy streets. Olympic Stadium Leofóros Ardhittoú, Athens, Greece This familiar stadium is where the Olympic torch is lit every four years before beginning its journey to the current site of the games. Piraeus Athens, Greece This working-class suburb of Athens surrounds the city’s main port and encompasses much of its commercial activity. Visitors frequently come to hop ferries to the outer islands and to dine in some of the country’s best seafood restaurants.
Astir Beach Club Vouliagmeni Apollonos St, Athens, Greece Tel.210-890-2000 This beach club is one of the best in Athens. Its soft sands are located on a private peninsula, and leafy green plants provide privacy and atmosphere. Glyfada Golf Course Chrysostomou Smyrnis St, Athens, Greece · Tel.210-894-6820 This par-72 course was built in 1962 and remains the only golf course in the city. Karavi Beach Club 198 Posidonos Ave, Schinias, Greece Tel.210-945-5950 Mount Parnitha National Park Aharnai, Athens, Greece Hiking and gambling might seem an unusual combination, but at this park – 20 miles north of Athens – you can do both. A cable car at the base of the mountain whisks visitors to the Hotel Mont Parnes casino at the summit.