Insider 130 November - December 2016

THE CITY MAGAZINE OF

November - December 2016 Year 15. Issue 130 €4.50 ISSN 1790-3114

LET’S CELEBRATE! GASTRONOMY Nikkei, Five-Star Christmas Recipes, Café Avissinia CITY LIFE Athens Hotels – The Big Boom, Urgent Conversations TRAVEL & CULTURE Best Winter Reads, 6 Super December Escapes, Greek Art Collectors PLUS Our Festive Shopping Guide with Gift Ideas for Everyone! insider athens |MAPS November - December 1 ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD & WINE, NIGHTLIFE, SHOPPING, NOVELTIES, AND2016 MORE

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As the mounds of kourabiedes and melomacarona pile up at local zacharoplasteia – and all of your friends’ “Year That Was” montages start to garnish your Facebook feed - you know it’s time to take stock of the past 12 months and analyse the good, the bad and the ugly. And what a sizable chunk of ugly we’ve had in 2016!

At Insider, as we enter our 16th year, we take pride in bringing you stories that are bold, beautiful and uplifting. Not because we want to present a parallel universe where everything seems perfect - but precisely because it is when everything else seems dire and ugly, that we need to draw sustenance from stories that are truly inspirational.

This issue teems with celebratory stories, such as the heart-warming story of Meg Cope, a recent Athenian lifestyle émigré who has transformed a family tragedy into a flourishing creative endeavor; or our report on the current luxury city hotel boom, as foreign investors demonstrate through bricks and mortar, their growing confidence in a more prosperous economic future for Greece and its capital.

It is also a time of giving and showing gratitude. So dive into our Christmas Gift Guide and indulge in the festive recipes, exclusively recommended for Insider readers, by six of Athens’ leading chefs.

And we in turn want to thank you, our readers and clients, for your loyalty and enthusiasm in supporting us over the years!

Kales Yiortes!

Sudha Nair-Iliades

Publisher - Editor

Contributors in this Issue

Sudha Nair - Iliades

Anna Roins, Stella Sevastopoulos Sherri Moshman Paganos, Julie-Anne Amiard

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Photos Justin Brendel, Heather Nomi Tshuma

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insider athens | November - December 2016 1

Amanda Dardanis

A print journalist for over two decades, Australian-born Amanda Dardanis started out at News Corp Australia where she has covered specialist rounds from news and politics; property and tourism; to crime and entertainment. In London, she held senior creative roles at glossy titles including Marie-Claire, Woman’s Own, and the Mail on Sunday’s YOU magazine. Since moving to Athens in 2009, she has written on Greece for international publications like The Times London, the Guardian UK and Australia’s Sunday Telegraph – and also contributes to local Greek publications.

Muriel Noël

French by origin and a long-time Greek resident, Muriel is a trained geographer whose love for the media veered her towards a career in publishing with French lifestyle magazine VSD and Maison Française, a design magazine. After a career that spanned several years, she moved to Athens, where she has been actively involved with the French community. Muriel splits her time between Paris and Athens and is the force behind Insider Publications’ French magazine, Bonjour Athenes, its French website and weekly newsletter.

Fokia Kitsou

Fokia is Insider’s graphic designer and a student of graphic design at the Technological Educational Institution of Athens.

Born and raised in Athens which she adores, her native city has often been the subject of her photographic essays. Fokia is passionate about travel, art and fashion and plans to further her studies in the field of fashion design.

Michel Devanakis

Award-winning graphic designer, fluent in English, French and Greek, Michel moved to Athens in 1997 to create Studio ZIP, after a long and interesting career in France and Canada. His background in Marketing is a major asset in his creative approach and his services are sought after both in Greece and abroad. An artist in his ‘rare’ spare time, Michel is passionate about discovering obscure destinations. He is the Art Director of Athens Insider, Bonjour Athenes and Insider Weekly.

Justin Brendel

Justin Brendel, an intern at Athens Insider, is an American exchange student from Haverford College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He hails from Atlanta, Georgia and enjoys making spontaneous decisions, travelling, journaling, taking pictures, and being outside. Justin is currently studying Religion and Economics and may pursue a career in journalism.

Anna Roins

Anna Roins is a lawyer and a freelance journalist who writes articles on social and community issues. She is also a regular contributor to AUTHORLINK, assigned to conduct interviews with bestselling global authors.

Sherri Moshman Paganos

Leaving Manhattan in the mid-1980’s, Sherri Moshman Paganos came to Greece for a two year sojourn that turned into a 30-year career as an educator, as well as a non-fiction writer and poet. She loves the wonders of living here: food cooked with tradition and care, swimming in the clear sea, watching films and concerts under the stars, and taking walks into the past in vibrant Athens neighborhoods like Plaka and Thiseio.

Stella Sevastopoulos

Since moving to Greece in 1994, Stella Sevastopoulos has been art critic and English Editor for ‘The Art Magazine’, and also served as Arts Editor for ‘Athens News’ for 8 years. She wrote her MA thesis on ‘Oscar Wilde and Hellenism in Victorian England’. To read more about art in Athens, visit Stella’s blog at www.artsceneathens.com

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Athens Hotels: The Big Boom

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CITY LIFE

Greeks are a World-Class Puzzle

20 Good Things come to those who Wait

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Athens Hotels: The Big Boom

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The Cigar Report

18

Amanda Dardanis introduces the new crop of luxury lodgings changing the face of the capital’s downtown hotel landscape.

Make a strong statement by lighting up a cigar at one of Athens’ most cigar-friendly addresses.

ARTS

Greeks are a World-Class Puzzle

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Three Warming Winter Reads

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Stella Sevastopoulos catches up with one of Greece’s most avant-garde of creative souls, Eleni Mylonas.

Insider’s books expert Anna Roins recommends three “improving” new book releases, pitch-perfect for cosy evenings by the fireplace.

Good Things come to those who Wait 24 Stella Sevastopoulos leads a tour of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (or EMST) and its new show “Urgent Conversations” - the first to be finally held at the refurbished FIX brewery.

SHOPPING SPECIAL

Christmas Agora

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Re-Designing Life

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Insider plays Santa with our festive shopping guide packed with great inspiration for everything from luxury gifts to fun stocking fillers.

Read how a family tragedy for former London eye surgeon Meg Cope led to an uplifting new life and exciting fashion career here in Greece.

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Dwelling with the Gods

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PEOPLE

The Power & the Passion A Night at Nikkei

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Insider unveils three of Greece’s Modern Medicis: entrepreneurial powerhouses spinning the business of acquiring art into an art form in itself.

TRAVEL

Get Captured by the Castle in Methoni 38 Sherri Moshman Paganos re-visits Methoni and finds a grounded castle town by the sea that has resisted the tides of change.

Dwelling with the Gods

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Justin Brendel embarks on an alpine adventure of epic proportions on Mount Olympus.

6 Super December Escapes

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Sections Arts & Events

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Fast Lane

10

City Life

14

Books 22 Travel 38 Gastronomy

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Kaleidoscope

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From alpine villages, medieval castles and romantic seaside towns, Greece in Winter has some pretty cool moves.

GASTRONOMY

52 Christmas on a Plate

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A Night at Nikkei

Amanda Dardanis road tests the city’s most talkedabout ambassador of the Japanese-Peruvian food fashion.

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Café Avissinia: An Athenian Treasure 52 George Pittas pays homage to everyone’s favourite Monastiraki eatery Café Avissinia and its humble origins as a flea market tea room.

Christmas on a Plate

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What six top Athenian chefs will be serving up for Christmas this year (and there’s not a turkey in sight).

Cover image by: Fokia Kitsou

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Exhibitions

arts&events MUSEUM OF CYCLADIC ART Cycladic Society 5,000 Years Ago

Until March 2017 Until January 5

What was daily existence like in the Cyclades five millennia ago?

This new exhibition - to celebrate the Cycladic Museum’s 30th anniversary - looks beyond the simplistic Cycladic figures so loved

by Modigliani and Picasso and aims to uncover a more threedimensional imprint of this fascinating age.

Much mystery remains about life across the Cycladic Archipelago due to the absence of written records from the time. But Cycladic Art stands as silent witness – and provides important clues about the social structure, activities, living environment, convictions and beliefs of the Cycladic islanders in the Early Bronze Age (3,2002,000 BC).

Neofitou Douka 4, tel: 210.722.8321, www.cycladic.gr

Until January 29

BERNIER-ELIADES GALLERY Kahlil Joseph You may not have heard of him. But you’ve almost certainly seen Kahlil Joseph’s work. The Seattleborn-and-raised maestro of music videos has worked with the likes of Beyonce and FKA twigs.

Now, Athens audiences can see a representation of Joseph’s dramatic body of work at his first solo show. The display features three of his most talking-point creations: Until the Quiet Comes (2012); m.A.A.d, a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar; and Wildcat, shot by award-winning cinematographer, Malik Sayeed.

Eptachalkou 11, Athina, tel: 210.341.3936, www.bernier-eliades.gr

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART Urgent Conversations A double cultural highlight as the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) finally inaugurates its new premises at the old FIX Brewery with “Urgent Conversations: AthensAntwerp.” Billed as a visual dialogue between works from the EMST and the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), GreekAmerican avant-garde artist Eleni Mylonas is just one of the voices in this intriguing new exhibition that features 22 separate dialogues.

Kallirois & Frantzi, tel 211.101.9000, www.emst.gr

Until January 15

ONASSIS CULTURAL CENTER Hybrids Want to see science meet art? Technology, activism and pop culture proceed hand in hand at Hybrids – Borderline Between Art and Technology, staged by the OCC in collaboration with Ars Electronica, in Austria. Can a work of art create new forms of energy? How would you represent your digital persona in this socially networked world of ours? Tickets are €5.

Exhibition Hall, Syngrou Ave 107, tel: 210.900.5800. www.sgt.gr

Until March 12

MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART postGods An exhibition exploring artist Alexandros Georgiou’s last two pilgrimages to India through mail, handmade cards, reworked photographs, souvenirs and other material - accompanied by texts narrating the artist’s adventures and experiences during his journeys. Georgiou’s observations have been described as daring, ironic and disarmingly honest. He travels with the cheapest means, usually buses or trains, and becomes literally one with the place and its people.

Aghion Asomaton 22 & Dipilou, tel 210.325.1311, Kerameikos, www.benaki.gr

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Christmas

December 9-18 FALIRO TAE KWON DO Peter Pan on Ice Every child’s beloved hero Peter Pan visits Athens to dazzle on ice alongside the Russian Ice Stars. The 800sqm Tae kwon do arena welcomes Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook and all the wonderful characters created by the imagination of J. M. Barrie. From the London chimneys and the house of the Darling family to Captain Hook’s pirate lair and the camp of Tiger Lily, the show is a magical romp back to the Neverland, a world full of energy, fun, music, beautiful sceneries and stellar dance moves: frantic spins, stunts, fencing, flaming hula hoop-all performed with absolute precision and synchronization by the Russian Ice Stars. For showtimes and tickets (from €6), visit www.viva.gr.

Aeroporou Aristoteli Moraiti, www.stadia.gr

December 2-January 2 GAZI TECHNOLOPOLIS Christmas Factory Athens Athens’ biggest and most magical Christmas theme park spreads festive joy to young and old for the fourth year running. Kids can meet Santa, explore his sweet factory, or whiz around in his sleigh on the “Tornado” roller coaster. Christmas Factory also features imaginative games, creative performances, toy workshops, special guests – and a Christmas bazaar. Entry is €5.50.

Peiraios 100, tel: 210.898.1739, www.thechristmasfactory.gr

December 17-28

ATHENS CONCERT HALL The Snow Queen One of Hans Christian Andersen’s most powerful tales – the story of friendship and the triumph of love over wickedness – is performed by the Kiev National Opera Ballet. Young Gerda must battle the evil snow queen in order to save the soul of Kai, the man she loves. Music includes well-known composers such as P.I. Tchaikovsky, Anatoly Lyadov, Jules Massenet, and others. Tickets range from €28 to €60 (children are half-price).

Vass. Sofias & Kokkali, tel: 210.728.2333, www.megaron.gr

28 December

STAVROS NIARCHOS CENTRE Christmas Opera Gala The bright, luminous world of the opera fits perfectly with the festive atmosphere of Christmas (some of the most tender love stories, such as Mimi and Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, take place during the Yuletide season). The Greek National Opera (GNO), presents for the first time operatic melodies in the impressive space of the Lighthouse, in a Christmas Opera Gala with its renown soloists, accompanied by a piano. The arias and duets from famous operas will come together with the city of Athens, lit up for Christmas, in the panoramic view of the SNFCC Lighthouse at 20.00.

Evripidou & Doiranis, Kallithea, tel: 210.877.8396, www.snf.org

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arts&events Theatre

During December

TO TRENO STO ROUF Women of Passion A buoyant show for English speakers, inspired by a trio of Greece’s most celebrated female icons, Medea, Maria Callas and Melina Mercouri. Women of Passion/Women of Greece pays tribute to the stars’ shared values, such as a passion for life, love, art, creativity, freedom and democracy. During the one-hour performance, the three mythical female figures make a symbolic train tour from ancient to modern Greece. Performances are staged every Saturday at 7.15 pm.

Admission 12 euros.

Constantinoupoleos St, tel: 210.529.8933, www.totrenostorouf.gr

STAVROS NIARCHOS CENTRE One Man Circus

December 22-January 6

Imagine an entire circus show performed by one man only! The man – ‘avec un talent fou’ (‘the talent of a mad man’ - Maurice Béjart) attempts to demonstrate the most daring of all circus performances.

‘L’Homme Cirque’ is an innovative and often hilarious combination of acrobatics, music and dance, performed by David Dimitri, the ‘Lord of the Wire’ (New York Times). Everything the audience sees is real.

Several of his stunts are incredibly daring – such as the Human Canon Ball act - and could go wrong at any moment, putting this Circus Man in some very precarious situations.

Evripidou & Doiranis, Kallithea, tel: 210.877.8396, www.snf.org

Dance

December 21-26

GREEK NATIONAL OPERA Giselle Immerse yourself in the dreamlike music of Giselle as one of the most famous ballets returns to the Greek National Opera, with choreography

by Irek Mukhamedov, based on Marius Petipa’s classic composition.

When a village girl falls in love with a man who betrays her, she dies of a broken heart. Transformed into a spirit, she battles to save her lover in a wood haunted by the ghosts of jilted women. Tickets from €15, from ticketservices.gr.

Olympia Theatre, 59-61 Akadimias Street, tel: 210.366.2100, www.nationalopera.gr

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PALLAS THEATRE Opus Cactus Want to treat yourself or your family to a theatrical spectacle this Christmas, but don’t fancy something as traditional as the Nutcracker?

Opus Cactus, the long-running show by world-famous danceillusionists MOMIX, is just the ticket. This mesmerizing tribute to the American South West has travelled the world for over a decade and comes to Athens this Christmas season. Opus Cactus is a luscious sprawling fantasy that portrays nature through highly sensual and artistic dance that transports audiences into a surreal fantasy world full of surprises. Athletically-honed dancers manipulate their bodies and props in astounding ways.

Voukourestiou 5, tel: 210.321.3100, www.a-th.gr

During December

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All things Bright and Beautiful at Benaki Pireos 138

summer games at the beach. Plus an amusing collection of Couture Biscuits – where fashion meets baking – depicting edible fabric patterns like Herringbone Tweed, by London-based STUDIOLAV.

New bar, new restaurant, new shop … when the Benaki Museum Pireos embarks on a revamp, it does not do things by half!

As for the Museum’s shop, it too has freshened its public image, with a lighter aesthetic that puts more emphasis on design and presents young Greek and foreign artists, as well as new articles and books relating to the gallery’s contents (alongside some slightly more “baffling” conceptual materials and articles!).

Last month, the museum’s Pireos contemporary art annexe celebrated the official unveiling of its photogenic new leisure space. The premise’s recreational area - formerly a little uninspiring -has been completely redesigned and refurbished by architect and designer Constantia Manthos. Large wooden tables, lush green plants, and a cheery teal and tomato colour palette have now created a warm and welcoming atmosphere; while a rebooted café menu by Deipnosofistiriou (who cater for the Goulandris Natural History Museum café in Kifissia too), offers great Mediterranean-international cuisine.

Contemporary art can sometimes be a rather serious affair. But the new café also introduces some lovely light-hearted touches such as playful “Beach Puddings” by Greece is for Lovers, a re-imagining of a classic Greek dessert, inspired by the “malleability of sand” and

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Behind the re-boot, the Benaki Museum hopes to broaden its audience by offering visitors a locale to see, discuss, exchange views and experiences, as well as a place to sit comfortably, drink, eat, visit exhibitions – and expand horizons.

If you drop in to see the new refit for yourself before November 20 – you’ll also be able to enjoy the wonderful photography of Constantinos Pittas in “Images of Another Europe”.

Café-Restaurant, Benaki Pireos 138, 138 Pireos & Andronikou, Athens, tel. 210.345.3111. Hours (Wednesday to Sunday): shop (10h-22h), coffee (from 10 am to late).

Visit the House that Paddy Built Some thrilling news for those who’ve been following with interest the fate of the Mani estate of the late British war hero and author Sir Patrick “Paddy” Leigh Fermor – often celebrated as the finest travel writer of his generation.

Nearly 5 years after his death in 2011 (at the age of 96), the magnificent seven-bedroom property that Leigh Fermor shared with wife Joan at Kardamyli, in the southern Peloponnese, is now open for scheduled visits, upon arrangement with the Benaki Museum.

Cherished for his exuberant prose, Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor’s most praised works were A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water: part of his trilogy about his year-long walk across Europe from Rotterdam to Istanbul in 1934, aged 18.

Universally known as “Paddy”, Leigh Fermor was one of the most charismatic and adventurous personalities of the last century. As a member of the British mission, he played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War. A great admirer and lover of Greece, he and his wife-of-50-years Joan chose to live

at their Kardamyli residence for the rest of their lives.

Leigh Fermor – who had no children - bequeathed the house to the Benaki Museum, along with some 7,000 books. Set on 2 acres of sprawling gardens dotted with olive groves, Leigh Fermor’s dream was that the property would serve as a creative retreat for other writers whom might visit for several months - and that it would also operate as a hub for educational activities and notable figures from the intellectual and artistic worlds from both Greece and abroad.

The Benaki Museum acquired full ownership of the property after the donor’s death, in the autumn of 2011. Now, thanks to a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to fully cover the necessary repair and restoration works to the Kardamyli property, Paddy’s beautiful seafront home has finally opened its doors to the public for scheduled tours of the property, focusing on the donors, the history of the house and its use by the Benaki Museum.

The scheduled visits will take place every Thursday at 17.00 and every Saturday at 11.00. To book, phone Myrto Kaouki at the Benaki on 210.367.1090 (Monday-Thursday 10-4pm) or email plfproject@benaki.gr.

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Princeton University makes itself at home in Athens.

Princeton University – that esteemed seat of learning – has just opened an official home base for Princeton scholars in Greece.

Greece and Hellenic culture, from antiquity to the present, has long been an important spoke in Princeton’s tradition of deep commitment to the humanities. On Nov 1, the University opened Princeton University Athens Center for Research and Hellenic Studies. Three years in the planning, the center is led by the University’s Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and is the first time that Princeton has opened a research and scholarship center anywhere outside of the United States.

At the official opening ceremony, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber, predicted the new Athens facility would become a “thriving hub of activity” and he tasked it with “building upon the study of ancient and modern Greece and to do so in a way that understands the broad influence of Greece in the world”.

The center — located in the Stanley J. Seeger ‘52 House, a 1930sera townhouse in downtown Athens renovated by Nasos Antachopoulos and Yannis Younis of Athens-based A6Architects — features conference facilities, a seminar room, offices, study spaces, informal common areas and a terrace with a view of the Parthenon in the distance. Situated down the street from Aristotle’s Lyceum in a historic, diverse neighborhood, the center is close to libraries, museums and archaeological sites.

Princeton students will now have the opportunity to study and conduct research in Greece ranging from an archaeological excavation in northern Greece to six-week PIIRS Global Seminars focused on Hellenic history and theater.

Among the guests at the opening was Michael Cadden, chair of Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts, who has taught “Re:Staging the Greeks” seminars here in Greece.

‘I love the idea of having a Princeton home base in Athens to help center our activities and to encourage contact with other Princeton faculty and students pursuing projects in Greece,’ Cadden said.

‘And we’ll be able to invite our Greek friends over to our place. The Greeks take hospitality very seriously!’

Supermarkets to charge for Plastic Bags in 2017 Athens is poised to catch up with many other world cities by introducing a plastic bag levy next year. Could the days of bag-befouled Greek streets and coastlines be numbered?

Greece is cracking down on its internal plastic bag usage not only because environmentalists (and we locals) are fed up with seeing bits and pieces of plastic litter the country’s streets and coastline, but also because the EU has spoken.

In 2015, the European Parliament issued a piece of legislation that called for all EU member countries to pick its environmentally friendly poison in regards to how they wish to go about tackling this plastic problem: “Either take measures to ensure that average yearly consumption of these bags does not exceed 90 lightweight bags per citizen by 2019 and 40 by 2025, or alternatively, ensure that, by 2018, they are not handed to shoppers free of charge.”

It appears that Greece is taking the levy-on-bags route, meaning that every bag you use will cost between €0.05 - €0.10 cents, according to a recent report in Ethnos newspaper that also said the new law was expected to be tabled in Parliament next year. Hopefully this ‘bag tax’ will help reduce the average Greek’s annual use of 242 plastic bags.

Thin plastic bags are the biggest environmental enemy, as they are much more likely to become litter than thick trash bags. According to European Commission statistics, 89% of plastic bags are only used once while 100 billion of these bags are handed out every year in the EU. Pieces of these bags find their way into alleyways and coasts causing harm to land and sea creatures alike (and indirectly to ourselves once these animals form part of our food chain). Put in that light, forking over an extra €1 or so at the supermarket cashier is not a particularly taxing tax, in our view!

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Athens Hotels: The Big Boom

Nothing says “green shoot” quite so convincingly as the wave of foreign investment currently changing the face of Athens’ luxury hotel landscape.

COCO-MAT Patriarchou Ioakeim 36, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.723.0000 www.coco-mat-hotels.com

The newest member of the effortlessly chic Coco-Mat hotel family put out its welcome mat (seagrass naturally!) earlier this year in a renovated 1935 structure in upscale Kolonaki. The property joins the Greek luxury bedding company’s existing Nafsika Hotel in Kifissia and has 39 rooms and suites, as well as a (terribly tempting) Coco-Mat store Coco - Mat

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in the lobby which you must pass through to access Reception. Less than a year old, the Kolonaki hotel has already been named as a finalist in the European Hotel Design Awards for 2016, for its adaptive re-use of its premises. Characteristic curves, staircase and frames have been preserved throughout, with sliding cedar panels allowing visitors to regulate sunlight. Guests also encounter a fresh spin on the hotel concept with an “honesty kitchen” where customers can help themselves around the clock to drinks and snacks. And in a stellar display of Greek “filoxenia”, the hotel additionally offers potential Coco-Mat customers a free night’s stay, no strings attached, in one of their rooms in order to “sleep test” the mattress that they’ve set their sights on.

City Life

THE WYNDHAM GRAND Megalou Alexandrou 2, Metaxourgio Tel: 216.800.9900 www.wyndhamhotels.com Just days old is the new 5-star Wyndham Grand Hotel on Karaiskaki Square (just west of Omonia), which opened its luxe doors in December. This is the mighty US-based chain’s first hotel outing in the Greek capital and more than €5 million has reportedly been spent on renovating the existing downtown premises (formerly the Athens Imperial hotel) to create 276 luxury and energy-efficient rooms that are expected to host some 200,000 guests annually. Business travellers will be wooed by the 2,500 square meters of conference and events space supported by multiple restaurants, bars, a gym, (and the promise of super-speedy Wi Fi). As for the rest of us? We’ll be heading straight for the 450 square meter rooftop pool terrace with its waterfall and stunFoundation, ning 360 degree Athenian panorama. Deste Oh, and the spa. Roberto Cuoghi

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ELECTRA METROPOLIS Mitropoleos 15, Athens Tel: 214.100.6200 www.electrahotels.gr Fifteen million euros is the magic sum of money it took to transform this former Education Ministry HQ into the gleaming new five-star, 216-room Electra Metropolis, which opened mid-2016 on central Mitropoleos. Joining its landmark Athenian siblings - Electra Hotel and Electra Palace – this discreetly luxurious property’s best selling points are: its utterly-urban location near Syntagma Square; the wonderfullytactile hardwood floors; a standout spa and fitness center (including hamam bath and indoor-outdoor pools); and the Metropolis Roof Garden restaurant with obligatory knock-out views of The Rock and beyond. Best billed as having a “retro chic aesthetic”, the Electra Metropolis also boasts a striking skylight atrium in the lobby to brighten even the dullest of Athenian days. (We’re also tickled by the fun fact that the open rooftop pool sits exactly on top of the former Education Minister’s office!)

BUSINESS NEWS The Four Seasons is a firm favourite to lease the recently-sold Astir Palace from its new owners when the site emerges from its renovations next year, which have been tipped to include 2 newly refurbished hotels, 13 luxury residences, a new peninsula park, super-yacht marina space, and more retail offerings.

The Metropolitan Hotel Athens, on prime Syngrou, will re-open as a 366-room Marriott Hotel Athens by 2018, after a rumoured €13.6 million makeover.

The landmark Athens Hilton is set to become a Mandarin Oriental after the hotelier’s lease expires in 2017.

A new 125-room hotel by luxury boutique chain Grace Hotels – who have flagship properties in Mykonos and Santorini – is currently under construction in Kalamata, and due to open in 2017.

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The Cigar Report Julie-Anne Amiard takes her pick of Athens’ cigar-friendliest addresses – from new hotels to rooftop bars, wine cellars, old boys’ clubs and trendy watering-holes.

S

moking a cigar – while not everyone’s thing – always makes a strong statement. Athens remains a city where cigar lovers can still inhale the pleasures of the moment, whether at regular cafes or at elegant bars over polite conversation.

ers. In addition, cigars such as the Zino Davidoff, Puro d’Oro Momentos and Davidoff Primeros Maduro Zino Platinum series are sold too, not to mention those from Nicaragua, such as the Hoya of Nicaragua, Pantron and Dunhill. An exhaustive choice.

The Cigar

Karagiorgi Serbias 4, Athens. Tel: 210.325.4741 Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 9.00 to 17.00 and Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 9.00 to 21.00.

If the city has about a dozen stores dedicated to cigars, not to mention several of the streetside kiosks that stock it, The Cigar, on Kanari street, remains the definitive store for all things cigar. Opened in 1998, it is the oldest cigar boutique in the capital. The clientele is varied: politicians, actors, artists, occasional smokers or true cigar afficionados walk through its doors daily.

The best-sellers are mostly Cuban: Cohibas, Partagas, Romeo Y Julieta, Davidoff. Apart from these, cigars made in Greece are offered such as Vamma Del Sol, which carry a lower tax and are therefore more affordable.

Kanari 21, Kolonaki. www.the-cigar.gr, Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday from 9 am to 9 pm.

Miamis A stone’s throw from the Parliament is Miamis, a cigar shop founded by the Miamis brothers, offering more than three hundred Cuban handmade cigars including Bolivar, Ramon Allones, Trinidad, Vegas Robaina, San Cristobal de la Habana, Juan Lopez, Cuaba, among many oth-

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Alexander’s Cigar Lounge For a more elegant setting, away from the boisterous cafes that line Athenian streets, a real smoking room, a discreet bar with colonial undertones, tucked within the garden on the first floor of the Hotel Grande Bretagne, is Alexander’s Cigar Lounge.

A choice of some of the most iconic cigars diligently rolled “hecho a mano” await: Cohiba Robusto, Cohiba Maduro Genius, Montecristo A, Partagas D4 and Romeo y Julieta Churchill’s, among others.

Hotel Grande Bretagne, Syntagma. Tel : 210.333.0824.

Daily from 14.30 to 01.00.

Zonars At the intersection of the uber-luxe Voukourestiou Street and Panepistimiou; amidst theatres, haute couture designer houses and fine jewellery brands is Zonar’s, a historic café-bistrot with French accents – a compulsory rite of passage for any serious Athenian. An address that

City Life

has been faithfully frequented by the cultural and political elite past or present (Melina Merkouri, Sophia Loren, Jackie Kennedy and Anthony Quinn were regulars.) Today, 75 years later, the story continues. Zonars, with its Parisian charm and old-world ambience is definitely the address for a smoke luxe.

Voukourestiou 9, Athens. Tel: 210.325.1430. Daily from 8.00 to 02.00.

Modern Restaurant Combining classicism and modernity, the roof terrace at the AthenWas hotel is an ideal spot to take in the Acropolis and a 360 ° view of the city’s monuments, mountains and sea. Very conducive to relaxation, reflection, and of course, some quality cigar time.

The Cigar

AthensWas, Dionysiou Areopagitou 5, Athens. From noon to midnight daily. Reservations: 210.920.0240, reservations@modernrestaurant.gr

Brettos In a completely different category from the places mentioned above, Brettos is housed in the Plaka district of Athens – a venerable meeting point for the initiated since 1909. Loaded with history, Athens’ oldest distillery has been serving home-brewed ouzo, cognac and other liqueurs based on the Brettos family’s recipes from Izmir in Turkey. The decor is a bit over-the-top with hundreds of bottles in explosive colours lining its walls, but it lends Brettos a character all its own. The bar offers a choice of as many as 36 different liqueurs to drink on the spot or to buy. And because cognacs, liqueurs, wines and beers combine beautifully with a cigar, Brettos offers a selection of hand-rolled Cubans too.

Zonars

Kidathineon 41, Athens. From Monday to Sunday, from 10.00 to 02.00.

Six d.o.g.s.

Open all-day long and into the wee hours of the night, Six d.o.g.s. houses a concert hall, a cultural space, a fireplace and… an incredible outdoor garden designed for meeting friends over drinks and cigars. This colourful cultural venue located in the funky, creative neighborhood of Psyri is the meeting point for fans of live music and DJs in vogue.

Avramiotou 6-8, Monastiraki. www.sixdogs.gr From Monday to Sunday from 10.00 to 03.00

Mr Vertigo Mr Vertigo, by far the best cellar in town, is an unusual but highly-recommendable option to take a cigar break. Mr. Vertigo is neither bar nor even a cigar shop - but a high-end booze purveyor with a selection of wines and spirits of international renown recommended and sold by real sommeliers. A different kind of venue that also offers regular tastings on site.

Filikis Eterias square 15, Kolonaki. Tel: 210.72.50.862 From 10.00 to 23.00 daily.

Rock’n’Roll A quiet and pleasant café facing Kolonaki Square during the day, Rock’n’Roll morphs at nightfall into a frenzied club teeming with Athens’ young and desirable. The atmosphere remains, true to its name, very Rock’n’Roll. A victim of its own success, Rock’n’Roll tends to get quite packed early on, so best to book ahead.

Alexander’s Cigar Lounge - Hotel Grande Bretagne

Filikis Eterias square, Kolonaki. Telephone and reservations: 210.722.0649. Open throughout !

insider athens | November - December 2016 19

Interview

Mylonas at Urgent Conversations

Greeks are a World-Class Puzzle Stella Sevastopoulos catches up with one of Greece’s most avant-garde of creative souls, Eleni Mylonas, who is currently appearing in a confronting new Athens exhibition.

T

he apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Eleni Mylonas’ mother Alex Mylona was herself a cutting-edge spirit who represented Greece at the Venice Biennale in the ‘60s and whose modernist sculptural forms were praised by the great British art critic Herbert Read. (Alex Mylona passed away this year but her work can still be admired at the Alex Mylona Museum in Psyrri).

Alex Mylona

20 insider athens | November - December 2016

Born in Greece in 1944, Eleni Mylonas spread her wings to New York, where she gained an MA in journalism, before continuing with photographic studies in London in the early 70s. Later, in the ‘90s, Mylonas’s focus evolved to art and digital imaging back in New York.

Her nomadic spirit has led her to prioritise travelling for her art - even driving from London to Afghanistan and back in 1972. Her base is New York, but also Athens, and Aegina. Mylonas’ large-scale photographs from the ‘Journey Through Ellis Island’ series are part of the Ellis Island Museum’s permanent collection, while here in Greece, her video of a bloated/drowned sheep entitled ‘The Lamb of God’, was the parting work of ‘Destroy Athens’ - the first Athens Biennale (2007). Her works were featured in the 3rd Biennale of Thessaloniki, while in 2014 her ‘Cursed Serpent’ exhibition was shown at the Benaki Museum. In Germany, Mylonas exhibits at Munich’s Francoise Heitsch Gallery, which also represents her regularly at Art Athina.

Can you tell us about your appearance in the National Museum of Contemporary Art’s new show?

It’s a collaboration between the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (EMST) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp (M HKA), organized into 22 dialogues, each one between 3 artists: a Greek, a Belgian and an international artist. All works are drawn from the two museums’ collections. The show, on a smaller scale, will later travel to Antwerp . I am very much looking forward to seeing my works in dialogue with the works of other artists.

Your work was also to be featured in Turkey’s Canakkale Biennale in September, but sadly this event was cancelled, due to the Turkish State’s attempt to curb artistic freedom.

Yes, I had been working on a three-screen video piece entitled ‘Ave Maria’ for the Canakkale Biennale on and off through the summer. The theme of the show was sensitive: ‘Homeland’. After the Turkish coup and anti-coup, things were very uncertain but the preparations for the show continued in full swing. The email concerning the forced resignation of the director and chief curator Beral Marda and the cancellation of the exhibition came only three weeks before the opening. Shocking news, though sadly not entirely unexpected.

Mylonas at Urgent Conversations

I think the majority of Greeks feel lost.

You live and work in New York, but also in Greece. Let’s reverse the tables a bit: what are the problems of living in New York, and what are the benefits of living in Greece?

Obviously this is the place of my birth, where I grew up and this in itself is a huge advantage. The land, the sea, the food, are all plusses for Greece. It’s harder to find the negatives of life in NY especially since I have managed to divide my time between the two, so by the time I start to miss Greece’s natural beauty, it’s time to go back. Bottom line: In NY I am in control of my life. In Greece I am not. A major factor is the prevailing political system in each place. But the US elections might change things for both countries…

If you had to choose one country or the other?

I would choose the one that offers me the most freedom. Above all, freedom.

How would you describe the contemporary Greeks?

This is a very broad question so I have to generalize. It seems to me that the Greeks today suffer from years of abusive, incompetent, punishing and absurd governments. Abused people become abusers themselves. I think the majority of Greeks feel lost. They have been lied to too often. They are forced by the system to cheat. They have lost respect for their work, themselves, each other, their leaders. They are insecure, suspicious, anxious, scared. They do not seem conscious of the environment and the beauty that surrounds them. Free enterprise is not encouraged so too many people have learned to depend on a check from a government job. Having said all that, I have to add that the Greeks are primarily survivors, they are resilient, quick learners, and in spite of all the difficulties they encounter through bad governance they do enjoy life like few other people, and that’s contagious!

Mylonas at Art-Athina 2016 How much did your mother inspire you? The fact that all three of her children followed an artistic path, certainly says something.

My mother was an extraordinary woman. A pioneer, a trailblazer, courageous, intelligent, single-minded, independent, self-assured, a wonderful artist. But you did not want to mess with her. This made for a difficult childhood. There was not much mothering. Luckily I got the message early and stayed out of her way. I was her second child so I had the advantage of learning, via my sister, what NOT to do.

In spite of all the difficulties that Greece is facing, Athens is happening.

Greece has its problems, but through your work, one also sees that it is deeply inspiring. Do you agree?

It’s a conundrum. In spite of all the difficulties that Greece is facing, Athens is happening. The young people in the arts are very energetic, courageous and active. The currently-running Documenta will certainly stir things up some more. And the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre is a transformative experience for Athenians and visitors alike. No doubt about it, Greece and the Greeks are a world class puzzle!

See Eleni Mylonas’ work as part of the National Museum of Contemporary Art’s ‘Urgent Conversations: Athens – Antwerp’, which runs until January 29, 2017. Or visit her website: www.elenimylonasArt.com

insider insiderathens athens | November | September - December - October2016 2016 21 21

Christmas Special

3

Warming Winter Reads

SOMETHING CONTEMPORARY

Winter and reading go together like Christmas pudding and Cognac. There’s no better time to shake off the frivolity of summer and settle into a book with some gravitas while we sip that bodacious red and inhale that sweet wood smoke by a cosy fireplace. Anna Roins recommends three new releases to enjoy for yourself, or to give as gifts, this Christmas.

Swing Time, Zadie Smith Swing Time (Hamish Hamilton) is the much-anticipated new novel from Zadie Smith, the thought provoking queen of the multicultural novel, literary essayist, ‘reformed’ book critic, and smart-phone renouncer. It is about a woman’s coming of age story filtered through the experience of her childhood friendship which was driven in equal parts by loyalty and competition, as most are.

Two bi-racial girls, Tracey, a natural-born dancer and our unnamed narrator, an awkward wallflower to Tracey’s intuitive genius, are in the same all-white dance class. They are like

22 insider athens | November - December 2016

“two iron filings drawn to a magnet,” before they even speak to one another. Tracey’s uncritical white mother is content with living through her gifted daughter, while the narrator’s self-righteous, semi-intellectual Jamaican mother is only interested in socialist politics and nothing else. The girls both grow up in council estate flats in the North of London where they watch VHS musicals and share a dream of becoming professional dancers.

As they become adults, their lives take on different paths. Tracey books chorus roles in West End musicals but eventually becomes poor again, and the narrator goes to university and lands the job she wants. She leaves Tracy behind with the feeling she was the “sole witness” to her brilliance.

The narrator then becomes an assistant to a famous Australian popstar, Aimee, who later decides to (ineffectively) help a small West African village by building a school for girls. While they’re there, the narrator hopes to connect with her “extended tribe”, but is seen as another western, ‘white’ person, which fractures her identity. In the meantime, Aimee adopts an African baby.

Book Nook

winter woollies. Swing Time is like a fable about gender, race, and identity that swings over twenty years and two continents, but also questions how much of relationships are transactional. If that doesn’t make you reach for another glass of red, I don’t know what will. Her characters are so true to life you wonder how they’re going long after you’ve finished the book.

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days, Jeanette Winterson

pudding is laced with raisins and Cognac (Metaxa please). There are inviting snippets of the writer, her friends, and their Christmas rituals, in both the introduction (a spicy guide to the history of Christmas) and alongside the twelve festive recipes that accompany each tale.

They include red cabbage, gravlax, turkey biryani, sherry trifle, and her adopted mother’s mince pies (whom she refers to as ‘Mrs Winterson’), to name a few.

If you feel a bit jaded by the end of this challenging year, perhaps these stories will help you slide into the Christmas spirit as comfortably as you would your bedroom slippers. Her splendid use of the supernatural hark back to the charm of 19th-century classics by Dickens and O Henry, but that is where the traditionalism ends.

There are trees with mysterious powers, philosophical fairies and a child trapped in a department store that has strange persuasive powers. There’s a Christmas cracker, a Snow Mama, flying dogs, Bethlehem (before the baby) and a train that disappears. Not to mention chances at love, a silver frog, and an interesting madman. Winterson’s childlike wonder at the silly season will move even the most resolute Grinch.

SOMETHING FOR THE MAN

SOMETHING CHRISMASSY

A love triangle causes our heroine to be fired from her job and in retaliation, she sends information to the press about Aimee’s illegal adoption process. Around this time, Tracey leaks a humiliating video of her and the narrator made when they were children and hopes to undermine her old friend for what she considers a type of betrayal.

This is another eloquent book to mull over while you are wearing your

The fearless and irrepressible New York Times best-selling author, Jeanette Winterson, OBE, has written ten successful novels, including Oranges are not the Only Fruit, The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. However, she also enjoys writing a Christmas story every year.

In Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days (Jonathan Cape) she brings together twelve of her most charming and imaginative tales - if not a bit off the Yuletide track - plus one; a personal story of her own Christmas memories.

The book is infused with bits of autobiography like Christmas

All That Man Is: A Novel, David Szalay David Szalay, (pronounced SOLloy), shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize this year, neither apologises for nor judges, ‘the crisis of the European man’ as presented in his book, All That Man Is: A Novel (Graywolf Press, 4 October 2016).

Its cinematic and incisive style is graced with virtuosic prose that will impress even the fussiest reader.

While man seems to have been ‘in crisis’ at some time or another throughout history, in Szalay’s hands, the topic is rendered revitalized. With dark humour and shadowy intimations, he tackles themes such as unpredictable desires, competition, isolation and cowardice as he sets his men adrift to various parts of Europe, like Charleroi, Frankfurt, Katowice, Zagreb and Larnaca.

All That Man Is consists of nine, largely melancholic, narra-

tive segments, with the central character in each part, five to ten years older than the previous one. As varied as they are, the main characters create a type of single composite protagonist which is why Szalay is adamant the book is not a collection of short stories. Though they’re conveyed with a heightened specificity, they merge into an investigation of what is European manhood.

The first story is about two seventeen-year-old English youths, Ferdinand (worldly) and Simon (a virgin) who travel to Berlin and Prague in the hopes of an adventure. Another is about Bernard, an aimless young Frenchman who ends up having sex with an obese mother and her daughter at a cheap hotel in Cyprus. I know how that sounds, but it is tenderly conveyed.

Another story, first published in the Paris Review, concerns Kristian, an ambitious tabloid journalist, who tracks down the Danish Defence minister in Spain to expose the politician’s affair with a married woman. After coercing the minister to co-operate, Kristian returns to Denmark exhilarated by his scoop even though he’s having an adulterous fling himself. In the closing piece, we read about a 73-year-old ex-government adviser who is in the middle of a mortality crisis.

Szalay writes about these flawed and floundering men with such empathy and pathos that we cannot help but love (some of) them (just a little).

insider athens | November - December 2016 23

Wim Delvoye & Hicham Benohoud

Costas Varotsos

Costas Tsoclis

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Stella Sevastopoulos leads a tour of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (or EMST) and its enlightening new exhibition “Urgent Conversations” - the first to be finally held at the refurbished FIX brewery, after a wait of nearly two decades.

A

swarm of mostly black-clad art folk gathered, silhouetted against EMST’s furnace-red entrance, at the recent opening night of the National Museum of Contemporary Art’s temporary new show ‘Urgent Conversations: Athens – Antwerp’.

They were mostly smiling. Not just because they were eager to be among the first to digest the show - a collaboration with Antwerp’s Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA).

But also because the contemporary art world had been looking forward to this moment for ages. After a 19-year odyssey, EMST’s long-promised new premises – at the refurbished FIX brewery - was being unofficially inaugurated too (if you didn’t count a few final outstanding touches, such as installing the permanent collection of around 1100 works).

Curated by EMST director Katerina Koskina and M HKA director Bart de Baere,”Urgent Conversations”, debuted October 31, and comprises about 70 works.

Inside the museum’s colossal white spaces, the masses bustled their way round the exhibition – the ones less versed in the ways of avantgarde art, the most baffled. Cutting-edge creativity has never been the

24 insider athens | November - December 2016

easiest to understand – especially the more cerebral kind - and that’s the whole point of it. It’s challenging (like IQ tests, Sudoku, Baudrillard).

You have to ponder on it, decipher it, study it, but once you ‘get it’, it can be a whole new experience, even a mind-blowing one. Contemporary art often goes beyond the pretty picture. However you’ll discover some really beautiful concepts and leave the show enlightened, if you leap in, without preconceptions.

But because some background erudition is necessary, here’s some info on some of the most interesting features and works: Let’s start with some of the bewitching concepts you’ll come across, the kind of macroeconomics and microeconomics of it all: The show is divided into 22 units/topics, each one made up of three artists’ works which share conceptual similarities. The unit entitled ‘Orbanism’ – focuses on a concept that goes beyond urbanism and globalization, touching instead on the next step of human civilization – the futuristic, planetary dimension of humanity. Artists Dimitris Alithinos, Luc Deleu and Allan Sekula deal with this theme. But because the human body is also a metre of measure, in the unit ‘Fluid Body’, artists Hugo Reoelandt,

Art & Culture

Kimsooja

Eleni Mylonas and Vlad Monroe present how it can become a means of both artistic expression and transformation. The different personas they take on in their art are thought-provoking and often politically piquant.

Russian artist Vlad Monroe (who mysteriously drowned in a shallow pool in Bali, 2013) had provocatively transformed himself many times (even posing as Putin). In this show we see him as a Pharaoh, and a terrorist. Mylonas’ persona pays hommage to the DIY helmets (in this case a large saucepan), used during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

In the ‘Flow of the World’ unit, you will find works by artists Danae Stratou, Ria Pacquee and Kimsooja. Stratou’s installation ‘The River of Life’ is a black round room with seven screens inside, playing videos of seven rivers: the Danube, the Nile, the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Niger, the Yangtze and the Ganges. You could sit in there for ages watching them flow by. Stratou travelled for a year in order to create this work.

Kimsooja’s joyful bundles (or bottari) are made from traditional Korean bed covers; The artist appropriates elements from her Korean roots.

In the unit ‘Spiritual Form’, Stephen Antonakos’ cube with a multi-coloured aura (due to the hidden neon lights), contrasts with James Lee Byars’ ‘TH FI TO IN PH’ - standing for ‘The first totally interrogative philosophy’. Byars’ work, comprising a toothpick and a gold pin placed on a pedestal, a glass case and on a red cushion, asks questions about what is sacred and what isn’t. There’s a kind of Zen philosophy here too. Byars’ gold ‘Giant’ also looms over the works, like a two-dimensional, totemic sun god.

Everyday objects feature a lot in the show, proof that Duchamp, Art Povera and Nouveau Realisme’s influence on contemporary art still hold strong, questioning humanity’s hierarchical value system of ob-

jects and materials among other things. For example: Jan Hendrikse’s installation of wooden vegetable crates which he has stacked on the wall, elevates the status of these everyday objects by turning them into art. On the other hand, Panamarenko’s ‘Prova-Car’, looks like a real car but is made of tin and cellophane – simple materials used to mimic the image of an old Formula-1 racing car prototype.

Meanwhile, love’s death wish is explored by Marina Abramovic and her ex-partner Ulay in the eighties Polaroid shot (part of the series) ‘Relation Works’. Abramovic has said of this project: “Standing across from one another in slanted position. Looking each other in the eye. I hold a bow and Ulay holds the string with the arrow pointing directly to my heart. Microphones attached to both hearts recording the increasing number of heart beats.”

Let’s leave you however with probably the most beautiful work in the show, by Greek artist Kostas Varotsos, which also has an interesting tale: Varotsos has taken the propeller from the ship Kateri i Radës, and has placed it on layers of glass – their shapes and colour reminiscent of swirling water. The ship’s real story is tragic though - many of the passengers (Albanian immigrants) had drowned when it sunk in 1997. The work is still relevant today, considering the current (ongoing) refugee crisis.

THE EMST STORY The Greek capital finally has its National Museum of Contemporary Art! Established in 1997, well before the crisis, the law establishing the museum (EMST in Greek) also specified its location: the disused building of the brewery Fix, at the top of Syngrou Avenue. It took 19 years and more than 34 million euros spent in the 7-storey building for the museum to finally open.

Confronted with severe budget cuts due to the financial crisis - cultural funding has been halved since 2010 - cultural institutions have had to make choices. While the development of the National Museum of Con-

temporary Art was completed by 2014, disagreements within the Ministry of Culture, a difference between the first director of the museum and its board of directors, and a lack of Funds to pay museum staff have resulted in successive postponements.

The trigger of the opening was the announcement of the holding of the international contemporary art exhibition Documenta 14 simultaneously in Athens and Cassel in 2017. The currently-showing Urgent Conversations is being hosted on the ground floor and on the first floor, spaces dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The upper floors are still empty for the moment.

National Museum of Contemporary Art, Kallirois & Amvrosiou Frantzi, 117 43 Athens, tel. 211.101.9000. From 31st October 2016 to 29th January 2017. Tuesday to Sunday 11h-19h, Thursday 11h-22h. Tickets 5 € (reduced rate 3 €). Free admission for all visitors on Thursdays from 5pm to 10pm.

insider athens | November - December 2016 25

Christmas Special

Festive Fancies...

End the year on a high note by indulging in decadent delights and by showering your friends and family with a thoughtful gift. Insider makes the arduous task of filling stockings with the perfect present that much easier by short-listing a few gift ideas 1.Jean-Paul Gaultier Classique, available at Attica, 2.Apivita Xmas Box, available at Apivita Stores 3.Zolotas Dorian bracelet, available at Zolotas store and at www.zolotas.gr, 4.Women Shoes, available at Vassilis Zoulias, 5. Scarves Daphne Valente, 6.Purse, available at Vassilis Zoulias

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26 insider athens | November - December 2016

1.Drone with HD Camera, Available at Public 2.Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Male, available at Attica 3.Crosley turntable, available at Public 4.Aersthet Neck Tie, available at aesthet.com 5. Amberley Cross Cufflinks: Availableat wecreateharmony.com

Shopping

...to Make You Smile

Kid s & r o F

1.Pillow Cover, available at IKEA, 2. Decorative lighting, available at IKEA, 3. Elf Stockings Double Wine Bottle Bag, available at Tiger, 4. Swedish Fruit Juice Glogg, available at IKEA, 5. Slippers, available at IKEA, 6.

Candles, available at IKEA, 7. Christmas Cookie & Cake Tins, available at IKEA, 8. Marshmallows, available at IKEA 9.Coffee Mug, Available at Tiger, 10. Remote controlled Sumo wrestlers, Available at Tiger

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Apivita Experience Store: Solonos 6 & Kanari, Kolonaki Attica: CityLink, Panepistimiou 9, Athens & Golden Hall, Kifissias 37A, Maroussi Daphne Valente: Axarlian 3-5, Syntagma Ikea: Kifissou Ave. 96-98, Egaleo 122 41 & Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, 19019 Spata Public: Karageorgi Servias 1, Syntagma, S. Karagiorga 4 & Lazaraki, Glyfada,The Mall and Golden Hall, Maroussi Tiger: Ermou 49, 10563 Athens, Athens Metro Mall, L.Vouliagmenis 276, 17343, Ag. Dimitrios, Eleftheriou Venizelou 130, 17676 Kallithea, Vassilis Zoulias Haute Couture Boutique: Akadimias 4, Athens Zolotas: Panepistimiou 10 & Stadiou 9, Athens

insider athens | November - December 2016 27

28 insider athens | November - December 2016

Fashion

Re-designing Life Meg Cope had been a London eye surgeon for nearly two decades when her youngest child Zac was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2012. What followed is an uplifting tale of a life redesigned: and one which led the glamorous mother-of-three to a new home in Athens and an exciting new luxury fashion venture, Zaccys, named after her son, (in which a percentage of every sale of her artisan wedges goes to children’s cancer charities). Here, Meg shares her inspiring story with Insider.

U

ntil Valentine’s Day 2012, I had been happily working as an eye surgeon for 17 years. But that was the day that Zac, my youngest child, aged 2 years old, was diagnosed with leukaemia.

I had to stop work immediately to look after him during three and a half years of treatment. My life perspective changed greatly and unfortunately my fundamental relationship with medicine altered too. Hospitals held too many negative and painful memories. I also felt that the care and energy I had left in me should now be focused on my children and family. Medicine is an all-consuming job, which I had really loved, but Zac’s illness and years of treatment changed my priorities.

Simply being able to give my three children breakfast in the morning, take them to school, and help them with homework or their worries was a real luxury. I finally got to see what I’d been missing during all the years of juggling a demanding job with various childcare arrangements.

I have always been interested in design, loved fashion and enjoyed drawing and painting with my children. During Zac’s illness we had plenty of time to be quietly creative together. In addition to the many drawings of dinosaurs, pirate ships, and Pixar characters, I was able to escape into a world of beautiful designs and ideas for the perfect espadrille.

insider athens | November - December 2016 29

If you want something done right … do it yourself!

I had struggled to find a replacement for an ancient and much-loved pair of espadrille wedges that I had bought on holiday in Italy and came to the conclusion that I would need to have some made. I started drawing some basic designs that ultimately turned into a collection. My decision to leave medicine was exceptionally difficult. However, through Zac’s struggles, I realised more than ever that you only have one life, and that you really do have to take risks to make it the one you really want to live.

London vs Athens We relocated to Athens for my husband’s new job in July this year.

Already, I feel very at home in Greece. Being half-Armenian, I appreciate the Mediterranean climate and warm people (also the fact that Athenian women seem to really like their shoes!).

However, through Zac’s struggles, I realised more than ever that you only have one life, and that you really do have to take risks to make it the one you really want to live.

Of course I’ve made plenty of mistakes and starting out in a new industry can make you very unsure of yourself. Maintaining a clear vision for what you want to do and developing a thick skin is essential. I aspired to create a luxury version of the classic rustic shoe with specific elements that elevated both the quality and the aesthetic. I have learnt the hard way to always trust your instincts, even when you aren’t the expert anymore. But seeing my family and friends wearing and enjoying my shoes is a real thrill, and getting positive feedback from my customers is hugely gratifying.

30 insider athens | November - December 2016

I also see much more glamour here than in London. Athenian women obviously take great and care pleasure in maintaining their appearance, even for running everyday errands. I have had a fantastic early response to the product; it obviously suits the lifestyle and climate perfectly. In fact we just shot our latest catalogue on the Athenian Riviera near my home (see overpage).

It’s impossible not to be creatively inspired by Greece. What I love most of all is the light here.

Everywhere you look also there are interesting architectural or artistic

Fashion

It’s impossible not to be creatively inspired by Greece. What I love most of all is the light here. accents, often ancient, usually beautiful and sometimes very surprising. I have really enjoyed walking around the small craft, leather and jewelry shops in Monastiraki and Plaka. I see even in the simplest of cafes, attractive and inviting styling, and combinations of colours and materials that bear all the hallmarks of artistic endeavor.

Most of my favourite early experiences of Athenian life have revolved around the outdoor lifestyle. Things like swimming off the rocks in fish-filled turquoise waters after the morning school run, followed by a freddo cappuccino under the bright blue sky.

As for my children, they love the weather, the outdoor lifestyle, and of course, the food. Our proximity to the sea and the islands is a hugely positive change from our former city life. They also appreciate the more relaxed approach to daily living compared to London.

Zaccy loves that the company is named after him. He thinks he’s famous! Hopefully he’ll still be happy about it when he’s older. I know he will appreciate the altruistic aspect of the business as he is a very kind

and thoughtful little boy.

Since finishing his chemotherapy over a year ago, he has really flourished. He continues to have regular check-ups and will do so for another 4 years. I am so grateful for the fact that he was very young when he started his treatment, thankfully he has forgotten much of what he went through. In some ways, our whole family is still coming to terms with his diagnosis. During the years of treatment, it was more about daily survival. The thinking time comes later.

In many ways, our lifestyle here is the same as it was in London. My husband still works long hours but travels less which is a huge bonus.

I am busy looking after the kids and their daily routines whilst juggling the business.

But my work-life balance is infinitely better and I cherish the freedom, flexibility and creativity I now have in my life.

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Fashion

About Zaccys Zaccys espadrilles are built on comfort, versatility and timeless luxury for the busy woman who wants to look and feel good on the run. You can wear them everywhere from a backyard barbeque to a wedding!

(The unique deeply-cushioned, combination memory foam insoles provide day to night comfort.)

The construction of our espadrilles involves a wedge, a platform and a lack of ankle fixings: this combination provides comfort, height, leg lengthening and is supremely flattering.

All Zaccys wedges are leather-lined with the finest leathers from Italy and Spain and are made entirely by hand, involving at least 15 different processes. (Our Spanish manufacturing partners also produce shoes for some of the world’s largest, luxury fashion mega-brands.)

Zaccys espadrilles are available online at www.zaccys.com with free delivery and returns to Greece. Details of local stockists will be announced shortly. A financial donation of ÂŁ2.00 to Children With Cancer and CLIC Sargent charities is made for every pair of Zaccys sold.

Photographer: Heather Nomi Tshuma, Model: Gloria Mika, Hair & Make-Up: Ulrika Edler, Shoot Editor: Kerry Petropoulos

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The Power &

the Passion

NEON - Flying Over the Abyss

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Art & Culture

Greeks, since antiquity, have always had a lusty appetite for the arts. And few more so than the country’s greatest entrepreneurial powerhouses, who have spun the business of acquiring art, into an art form in itself. Stella Sevastopoulos unveils three of the Modern Medicis of Greece.

A

ndy Warhol believed that making money is an art, and that “good business is the best art”. Maybe that’s why art magnetizes the highest IQs of the business world - leading those who make the most money, to also become art lovers, patrons, connoisseurs and collectors par excellence – and Greeks are no exception. Here’s an introduction to some of Greece’s modern Medicis, and their 7-figure collections:

Dimitris Daskalopoulos One of those life changing moments for collector-entrepreneur Dimitris Daskalopoulos occurred when he was 12, and became mesmerized by Rubens’ paintings at Munich’s Alte Pinakotheque. Later, as a teenager, he bought his first artwork – a small sculpture in Thailand.

In 1994, Daskalopoulos started to build his contemporary art collection – now comprised of around 500 works, by approximately 220 artists. The collection’s underlying theme has been inspired in part by the words of Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis: “We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval, life.”

Among his most prized pieces is the first contemporary work he bought (in 1993), Rebecca Horn’s ‘The Painting in the Inner Egg’, but also a 1964 limited edition replica of Duchamp’s ‘Urinal’, which he bought for 1.1million pounds in 1999. He also has a taste for very large installations, such as Christoph Buchel’s 450 m2 ‘Unplugged (Simply Botifol)’.

Works from the collection have been featured in shows at prestigious art museums and galleries such as Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Here in Greece, Daskalopoulos’ NEON (non-profit cultural organization) has been fuelling and enhancing the Greek art scene since it was founded in 2013 and has also supported Greece’s National Museum of Contemporary Art. To get a taste of what Daskalopoulos’ collection is like, head to the Athens Conservatoire, where the work of 34 artists from the DD collection, are at the moment featured in the show ‘Flying over the Abyss’. Here, the DD collection and NEON organisation have joined forces to create a most intriguing and thought-provoking expose. The exhibition pays homage to writer Nikos Kazantzakis, and an original manuscript of the writer’s work ‘Ascesis: The Saviors of Gods’ is also on view. Participating artists are: Marina Abramović, Alexis Akrithakis, Matthew Barney, Hans Bellmer, Lynda Benglis, John Bock, Louise Bourgeois, Heidi Bucher, Vlassis Caniaris, Paul Chan, Savvas Christodoulides, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Stavros Gasparatos, Gilbert & George, Robert Gober, Asta Gröting, Jenny Holzer, Kostas Ioannidis, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Giorgos Koumendakis, Sherrie Levine, Stathis Logothetis, Ana Mendieta, Maro Michalakakos, Bruce Nauman, Aliki Palaska, Ioanna Pantazopoulou, Doris Salcedo, Kiki Smith, Paul Thek, Costas Tsoclis, Mark Wallinger, Gary Webb.

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Art & Culture

Dakis Joannou This industrialist’s contemporary European and American art collection is one of the best worldwide. For many years, Joannou has been the only Greek name on ‘ArtReview’ magazine’s ‘Power 100’ list. His presence has been felt all the more in the Greek and international art scene, since the founding of his Deste Foundation (1983), and its involvement in shows both here (at the Benaki), but also abroad (eg.

New York, Paris, Tokyo). His influential friendships in the art world with artists, curators, directors – have yielded much fruit in terms of art acquisitions, and shows. With a special penchant for Jeff Koons – owning at least 40 of his works (the artist also designed the exterior of Joannou’s yacht Guilty), this collector isn’t afraid of what contemporary creativity will throw at him; however bold and provocative. In

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fact he awards it: The coveted bi-annual Deste prize has been granted to a Greek artist, along with 10,000 euros, since 1999.

The Deste’s slaughterhouse-turned-art-space has been hosting summer avant-garde shows since 2008, attracting art lovers from around the world. Joannou’s collection began in 1985, with Jeff Koons’ ‘One Ball Equilibrium Tank’ – comprising a basketball in a tank of water.

He bought it for $2,700. Nowadays, Koons’ works sell from around $8 million to $58 million. And here one understands, that although art collecting can be a gamble, if you have the Midas touch, it can also be a sure winner. Media reports have previously claimed that Joannou owns over 1500 works, while the core of the collection is made up of around 500 pieces. According to Regina Alivisatos (of Deste), it is an active collection to this day, with pieces being both bought and sold.

George Economou It’s not every collector who can persuade the director of the Tate Modern (Frances Morris), to come to Athens, and curate a show of works from his collection (‘New Beginnings: Between Gesture and Geometry’, runs till April 9). But shipping tycoon Economou is such a man. Morris spoke of her delight at working with a collection of “carefully chosen really exquisite things”. The show, which focuses on works by Postwar European and Asian artists, is housed in the George Economou Collection Space – another impressive addition to the Greek cultural scene, which opened in 2012.

Economou started collecting in the ‘90s, focusing on early 20th century European art at first, with an extra interest in German artists. More contemporary artists’ works were added later.

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Get Captured by the Castle in Methoni

The more things change, the more we cherish those that stand still. Sherri Moshman Paganos visits Methoni again after 20 years and finds an unpretentious and lovely castle town by the sea that has resisted the tides of change.

M

ethoni wears her beauty simply, effortlessly. A long sandy beach, shade from the tamarisk trees, a sea always calm and crystalline, little yachts moored out to sea and nearby mountains, make Methoni a feast for the eyes. Relaxing and laid-back, this Messinian town on the Ionian Sea in the southwest corner of the Peloponese -about four hours’ drive from Athens) has hardly changed since when I first went there 20 years ago. Blessed like many Greek seaside towns, Methoni nevertheless offers something special, a reminder of her Venetian past, with one of the largest Venetian fortresses in Greece.

Fortresses, writes Nikos Kazantzakis in Journeys to the Morea, “exert a mysterious fascination on man’s soul.” Gazing at the castle complex from the beach, it is hard not to feel this fascination. We are used to looking up to castles on hills, such as in Koroni, Methoni’s sister city (together they were known as the «eyes of Venice»), Pylos or the impressive Palamidi in Nafplion. The castle in Methoni, however, extends from the town itself, on part of a rocky promontory, surrounded by the sea on three sides. Although the western side is rocky and

today, that has 14 arches. When you enter through the gate with its Corinthian columns, you step into the world of the 13th century, the early Venetian period. As usual, the Venetians built on top of existing Byzantine structures, and the Byzantines of course used the top of ancient ruins. As far back as the 7th century B.C. Methoni had been fortified. In ancient times the town was called Pedasus, and Homer referred to it in the Iliad, as one of the cities (“vine-rich...near sandy Pylos”) offered by Agamemnon to Achilles to subdue his rage. Pausaunus, the indefatigable 2nd century traveler, refers to it as Mothoni in his travels, named for “mothona”, a mythical rock.

Venice had its eye on Methoni from the 12th century, as the town was a well-known stopping point on the route between Europe and the Holy Land. The Venetians finally conquered the town in 1209, ushering in the 1st Venetian Period, until 1500, when the castle prospered and reached its peak. On a hot sunny day in August, crickets singing incessantly, sweat pouring down my face, I walk through, exploring the intricate passageways littered with cannonballs, until I find myself in

Venice had its eye on Methoni from the 12th century, as the town was a wellknown stopping point on the route between Europe and the Holy Land. the sea always rough, making it unapproachable, the calm sea on the eastern side made fortification necessary.

The original entranceway into the fortress across the moat was a wooden bridge, used until 1829, when it was replaced by the one used

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the interior, the large area called the Piazza Grande d’Armi, which at the time had been a paved market street, a bustling commercial area full of merchants, vendors, shops and wooden houses for the Venetian lords. Still left in the area is a huge purple granite column found in a

Travel shipwreck, brought there in 1493. At the top of the column, you can make out the winged lion of St. Mark, the patron saint of the Venetians.

A small walkway leads you to a tiny rocky islet where you see the octagonal Bourtzi tower, built around the same time as the one in Nafplio, in the early 1500’s. At this time, the Ottomans had seized the fortress from the Venetians and gave the name Bourtzi to the tower (after Turkish “burz” meaning “fort”). The Ottomans held the fortress until 1685, when the Venetians recaptured it until they lost it again to the Ottomans in 1715. The tower had various uses: as a seat for the guards who were watching the fortress, as a lighthouse, a shelter in times of siege, but mainly as a prison and torture ground. During the winter when gusts of wind blow and high waves crash against the rocks of the western side, it is said that the sound is the moaning of unjustly killed prisoners of Bourtzi.

When you visit a place after many years, it is natural to look for evidence of change Even on a hot summer day, a walk through the fortress is a must (entrance ticket to the castle is 2 euros and it is open from 8:00 to 15:00, closed on Monday), knowing your “reward” afterwards is to enjoy a swim and rest in the shade, as most visitors do. When you visit a place after many years, it is natural to look for evidence of change – it’s inevitable – I notice the Methoni Beach Hotel has put up umbrellas in the place where there used to be pedal boats and canoes, but as far as I can see, that’s the only difference. The volleyball net seems exactly in the same place, in front of the Rex Taverna, parents are putting suntan lotion and floppy hats on their toddlers, happily digging by the water.

Besides Greek, families are calling to each other in French and Italian.

The pre-dinner activity is to watch the sunset fall into the Ionian sea from the cliff across from the castle and then have dinner in one of the tavernas like Klimataria, which has been serving delicious food for over 20 years (I could still remember the taste of the tomatokeftedes that they served) and other very good tavernas such as Nikos and Palia Istoria. There’s Rex, where you can see the last stragglers out of the

sea, and if you want to be as close to the water as you can get without actually being in it, Akroyiali, next to the castle, has two entrances, one from the beach, and the other from the sea. This is to let you order lunch and take a swim while you wait. I had dinner there one night where you could look down and see fish in the water, which complemented perfectly our htapodakia, kalamaraki, sardellas and garides with ouzo.

“Not like Finicounda”- that’s what you hear a lot.

Besides the Methoni Beach Hotel, right on the beach, next to the old moat, there is also the Achilles, and many other small hotels, including older hotels like the Alex– with large balconies in front, looking off to the water, and the Aris, on the square with a large Venetian well, preserved from the 15th century. Mr. Aris, who has been running the hotel for 28 years, agreed that he likes the quietness of Methoni and the way it has stayed – “peaceful, not like Finicounda”.

“Not like Finicounda”-- that’s what you hear a lot. Eleven km from Methoni, Finicounda is an example of a resort that has changed. Larger, and more built up, with bars cafeterias and nightlife, and organized umbrellas and seabeds, Finicounda has become touristic in every way Methoni has not. But the sea there is still gorgeous and crystal clear.

And both Methoni and Finicounda cater very much to families. They both also have organized camping, full of trailers from Greece and abroad.

The loveliest and most unusual beach in the area is “Voidokilia” beyond Pylos, next to Costa Navarino (and about 27km from Methoni).

Laid out in the shape of a Greek omega, not a tree in sight, Voidokilia is breathtakingly beautiful with its white sands and green sparkling sea, but if you go without an umbrella and plenty of water, you won’t last more than a few minutes out of the sea.

After Voidokilia, I had planned to end our trip with a last swim near Pylos, and then take the inland road toward Kalamata, but Methoni beckoned for me to return for one last swim, as I gazed with wonder and fascination at the castle just down the beach in this unpretentious lovely seaside town.

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Travel

Dwelling among the Gods Justin Brendel embarks on an alpine adventure of Olympic proportions, complete with shooting stars, donkey “mines�, and powerful new friendships.

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“And don’t touch the small orange and black animal. He is poisonous.”

I never saw this notorious salamander during our stunning four-hour hike up Mt. Olympus, but our guide seemed very adamant about avoiding it. I wish I had seen the thing because now I’m not sure it’s real.

Christos took every opportunity he was given to tease the group. As our guide, it was his job to prepare us, pace us, and push us through what was unknown and though he did not take his job lightly, he always made room for jokes (as any proper Greek would). Before we even stepped foot on our designated trail, Christos had told us multiple stories about human encounters with ‘mines’ left behind by packmules. These mules apparently walk six kilometers up the mountain every day carrying various tools and supplies to a shelter and marking their trail by the faeces they leave behind. Accordingly, a man on one of Christos’ previous trips had lost his balance on the mountain trail and fallen head first into a mule ‘mine.’ Queue gasps and delayed laughter from my hiking group. Christos knew how to draw a crowd.

We started climbing Mt. Olympus from Prionia, a small mountainside area at the Enipea Springs and the highest point on the mountain accessible by car/bus. Prionia is a popular pit stop for hikers (it has bath

rooms, a small taverna, a fresh water spring, etc.), but looking back, I’m really glad it was our starting point because it would have taken about 4-5 hours simply to hike here from the mountain’s base.

The six-kilometer hike to Shelter ‘A’ (Spilios Agapitos) took my group 3.5 hours to complete. The trail, E4, was well designated and fairly wide as it is the most travelled trail on the mountain by man and mule.

There were not many side paths to get lost on, so even when my group race ahead, I felt completely confident of my solo navigation skills.

Christos kept referring to the trail as ‘the road’ as if it were some mountainside autobahn. And to Christos it was. The man has spent twenty years as a Mt. Olympus guide, helping groups quite literally gain perspective. With his leadership, many tourists, short-time residents, and long-time locals have seen a side of Greece that few Greeks ever get the privilege to see and experience. Since the age of seventeen, Christos has also worked on a mountain rescue squad, which sees most of its action in Mt. Olympus’ harsh winter conditions. While Christos loves to joke, the mountain doesn’t; he has seen many search and rescue missions end in the uncovering of half-frozen corpses. But, again, this is in the winter. My group hiked in the fall. Mt. Olympus Pro-tip: Don’t hike in the winter unless you really know what you’re doing.

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Travel

Christos has dedicated most of his life and certainly his livelihood to Mt. Olympus. Even though he had hiked this mountain countless times and a trail like E4 was not challenging for him, I was amazed at his passion and excitement. He was in wonder of the mountain’s characteristics, respectful of its dangers, and curiously searching for something new to appreciate. Inspired by my guide, I began to look up from the rocky trail and around at the incredible landscape. Sure I stumbled a few times on protruding rocks and tree roots, but the scenery was absolutely worth it. Birds, huge boulders, and steep inclines make this hike stunning, but the trees set it apart as intrinsically unique. Old pine, beech, and fir trees litter the green forest that E4 initially parades through, creating bursts of color in every direction.

The size of these trees is nothing like anything I have seen in Greece; they are huge. The sheer size and number of trees will leave any Mt. Olympus hiker feeling small and humble.

Hiking, in my experience, always leads to great conversation. Something about being with people, working towards a common goal, and having an extended amount of time together engenders vulnerability.

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As the caboose, (and the only one of us who had packed a flashlight!), I felt like I had some sort of authoritative role in our excursion, so I began putting the four/five people around me in what I call the proverbial ‘hot seat.’ I asked random, thoughtful questions like, “How are you most like your mother?” and, “What has been the most challenging obstacle you have overcome this past year?” My fellow hikers did not find it strange that I was asking these difficult questions, but simply took time to think through and articulate their answers. I learned a lot about my group members: one had been raised Muslim, one had recently endured the death of his best friend, one had been violently bitten by a duck, and another had once broken her ankle chasing a very averagetasting American breakfast pastry. The stories told were unforgettable, filled with laughter and nostalgia. In sharing our memories, we were making new memories. I made great friends hiking Mt. Olympus.

Shelter ‘A’, aka Spilios Agapitos, sits 2100m above sea level overlooking the town of Litochoro. The shelter’s balcony is a prime spot for sunset/sunrise watching as well as stargazing. We arrived at the shelter around 8:30pm, well after dark, but before the kitchen closed at

Travel

9:00pm. The stars were unbelievable. It’s no wonder that the ancients believed gods dwelled on Mt. Olympus because the Milky Way, visible with the naked eye, appears to open right above it. If I had tried to count the stars, I would still be on Mt. Olympus now.

The rooms were as expected, cramped and cold, but Christos claimed we were, “Dwelling with the Gods,” which allowed little room for complaining. Fortunately, unlimited blankets were provided so the cold was easily averted. I got little sleep because I could not stop thinking about the stars beyond the door to my room; I anxiously arose at 1:00am to see if I had missed any kind of stellar activity. The mountain air was freezing, but during the forty-five seconds I spent outside my door I witnessed three shooting stars majestically traverse a good portion of my line of sight. Satisfied, I finally slept, waking up a few hours later for the sunrise.

The next morning, we ascended the mountain’s Skala summit only forty minutes from Shelter ‘A.’ This summit is not the highest summit on Mt. Olympus, but it is an exquisite one nonetheless. The journey

meant more to me as I saw various members of my group overcome fatigue, hunger, and mental obstacles in order to make it to the summit. We all had developed some form of mental toughness along the hike and now the surrounding mountains, our new friends, and Greece below was our witness.

Then we descended. The hike down featured more rich conversation and story exchange, as time seemed to drift through the delicate firtree leaves we passed. Apparently, none of us had seen Zeus. But we all felt a bit wiser and more mature.

Back in Prionia we celebrated our feat by jumping into the frigid Enipea Spring. My body was numb within fifteen seconds, but the experience was well worth it. My group had bonded and friendships had developed, but we still weren’t sure that the black and orange salamander was real, much less poisonous. Maybe next time we can catch one for Christos.

To plan your own Mount Olympus active adventure, visit: www.mountolympus.gr, www.olympus-climbing.gr

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Meteora

Volos

Delphi

Kalavryta

Nemea

Monemvasia

6

Super December Escapes

Greece might rule the roost in June and July… but it’s also got some pretty cool moves up its sleeve in December. Falling temperatures cast new magic over stone-clad alpine villages, medieval castles, romantic seafront cities – and buzzy ski-resorts, writes Amanda Dardanis.

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Travel

Active Alpine Wonders in Kalavryta Few locations can match the beautiful Peloponnesian mountain village of Kalavryta and its surrounding region as a complete, year-round destination. Outside of the ski season, there is still plenty of action to be had on the fir-covered slopes of Mount Helmos such as Hiking, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rafting and Off-Road Adventures. Meanwhile, Kalavryta’s magnificent holy monasteries and the town’s haunting history, (the entire village was burned to the ground by the Nazis during World War II), plus its local wonders - such as the other-worldly “Cave of the Lakes” with its mysterious “Palace of the Nymphs” will strike an unforgettable chord.

TOP TIP: Kalyvrita also offers one of Europe’s most spectacular scenic train journeys, the 22km “Odontotos” rack railway (or “tooth train”), which winds its way through the Vouriakos gorge up into the mountains, through tunnels, over waterfalls and rising finally to 750 metres above sea-level!

Kalavryta - Odontotos

Castle Adventure in Monemvasia Perched 300 metres above the sea – and accessible only on foot through massive battle-scarred gates – the castle town of Monemvasia has a “wow factor” to rival Santorini.

Stay in a beautifully-restored monastery within Monemvasia’s ancient walls (several of which date back to the 12th century). Explore the original pedestrianised cobbled streets where merchants and artisans still sell their enchanting wares just as their ancestors did centuries ago. Hike up to hypnotic Byzantine churches with frescoes dating back to the 13th century. Or simply unwind in one of Monemvasia’s many splendid cafes or bougainvillea-draped courtyards, overlooking the

velvety-blue Mirtoon Sea, far below while you enjoy the hospitality of the town’s open-hearted inhabitants.

You’ll feel like you’ve traveled back in time hundreds of years to a whimsical lost world where there are no cars and barely an electricity cable or TV aerial in sight.

TOP TIP: Many of Monemvasia’s shop owners will happily offer you a free glass of famous Malvasian honey wine or a delicious almond cookie for you to sample when you enter their store.

Monemvasia

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FUN FACT:

Meteora’s Aghia Triatha monastery appeare d in the 1981 James Bond film “For Your Ey es Only”

Meteora

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Travel

Heavenly Pillars of Meteora Meteora, whose name means “suspended in space”, is the biggest and most significant family of monasteries in Greece after Mount Athos.

Located in the flat valley to the south of the Pindos mountain range, in the wonderfully diverse region of Thessaly, it’s as if these UNESCOawarded mighty monuments to the power of faith were carved there by the gods themselves.

Follow in the footsteps of the humble monks and hike your way around the incredible sights of Meteora and beyond: including the remarkable pre-historic caves of Theopetra, dating back to 130,000 BC. Base yourself in Meteora’s pretty hub of Kalambaka with its eye-catching Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin - or in breathtaking Kastraki, nestled in the enticing shade of Meteora’s rocks.

TOP TIP: You could also spend several days on the move instead exploring the string of stunning alpine villages, fairytale forests and lakes that lie

within just 1-2 hours of Meteora (places like Metsovo, Elati, Pertouli and Lake Plastiras).

Nemea: Homer’s Vineyard of the Gods Combine culture and indulgence with an Autumn excursion to Nemea, site of the famed Sanctuary of Zeus (330BC), and where Heracles concluded the first of his 12 Labors by slaying the Nemean Lion.

Although it is Olympia that gets all the glory, Nemea too hosted its own revered ancient games every two years and at the ancient landmark, one can marvel at the wonderfully-restored stadium, museum and temple.

Verdant Nemea is also famously noted for its winemaking by Homer who called it Ampeloessa: “full of vines” and today, the region is still one of southern Greece’s most important wine producers.

TOP TIP: Visit one of the many elite local wineries open for tasting tours where you can sample Nemea’s most prized Agiorghitiko grape, cherished globally for its deep red color and long velvety palate.

Nemea

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Travel

Dream of the Gods in Delphi Nestled on the slopes of Mount Parnassos, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth and a cascading valley of silvery olive and cypress trees, Delphi is a strong contender for one of the most stunning landscapes on earth. (Not even the world’s greatest artists – Turner, Poussin, Claude – could capture its essence on canvas, although they certainly tried!)

In ancient times, this spiritual marvel, located 180km from Athens, was considered the centre of the known world – the junction where heaven and earth met.

Some go to this famous archeological site to breathe in Delphi’s captivating other-worldly beauty. Others to seek guidance and clarity – as the ancient Greeks did - from the legendary Oracle of Delphi where the spirit of Apollo would grant advice on important matters through the medium of a swooning Pythia – or priestess.

TOP TIP: When in town, make sure to also visit the super-stylish alpine resort of Arachova, just 12km down the road from Delphi.

Volos & Pelion: Mountains, Myth and Meze Volos and Pelion. Two stunning neighbours that complement each other perfectly with their mix of city and country, old and new, energy and serenity.

Lively Volos at the foot of Mount Pelion was the mythic home of Jason and his Argonauts. Today, modern Volos in the Magnesia region, is a thriving university city, humming all-year-round with freedom, character and life. (And what many say is the best meze scene in all Delphi

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of northern Greece!).

Sample legendary mezedes served all along the seafront amid the fishing boats and yachts. Take part in another Volos culinary ritual at the tsipouradika – friendly little bars on every corner where you’ll feast on a dizzying array of “small-plate surprises” such as cuttlefish with fennel, or spetsofai (sausages with peppers), washed down with ice-cold tsipouro – northern Greece’s answer to ouzo. Or take a scenic bike-ride along the 10km network of wonderful seafront bikeways.

A mere hour away, lies exquisite Pelion. Believed to be the birthplace of mythology’s mighty centaurs, Pelion was also the site purportedly chosen by the Gods for their revelries and vacations! Mountainous Pelion is an area of almost indescribable beauty that’s been likened to the famous Adirondack range of Upstate New York (but without the strip malls and fast-food restaurants!). Enchanting alpine villages hewn of stone and wood appear as if by magic (some located at over 5,000 feet), amid ancient winding pathways, apple orchards and cascading waterfalls and streams. Hike or drive between these breathtaking Pelion Peninsula settlements, such as Ano Gatzea, Agia Triada and Argyreika and Milies, staying in elegant stone guesthouses fitted with fine antiques and fireplaces, while you sample authentic mountain cuisine along the way. Or ride the famous Pelion tourist train that links Volos with fertile West Pelion in an exceptional 25km route, immortalized in the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico.

TOP TIP: Combine both destinations for an unforgettable Town and Country adventure.

Pelion

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A Night at Nikkei Amanda Dardanis spends a flavoursome evening at Nikkei - the city’s most talked-about ambassador of the Japanese-Peruvian food trend.

T

he problem with “It” restaurants – those hot new places suddenly on everyone’s radar that you generally have to book weeks in advance - is that they so often don’t live up to their hype. Maybe you catch them on a bad night; maybe the staff made you feel like they were doing you a huge favour by waiting on you; or maybe your meal was tainted by a constant cloud of cigarette smoke from the next table.

Happily, the much-feted Nikkei Peruvian Resto Bar in Kolonaki has the hype without the hubris.

Japanese-Peruvian fare has become the latest gastronomic trend to bewitch Europe’s culinary capitals – and Athens is no exception. Nikkei – which actually means the marriage of Peruvian and Japanese flavours – has steadily become the city’s most talked-about purveyor of this exotic gourmet trend since opening last year.

On the recommendation of several friends, we went to celebrate our wedding anniversary at Nikkei on a recent Saturday night, and clocked up one of the most enjoyable dining experiences we’ve had all year.

There’s no stark ‘n’ serious minimalism here. Nikkei immediately befriends diners with its warm and inviting décor of Peruvian stone, earthy textiles and ethnic elements like South American wicker lamps, carved wood panels and bright cushions.

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Gastronomy

The food was just stunning. Wonderful and innovative flavour alliances that were perfectly executed (and very prettily displayed). You’ll want to take photos of everything before you tuck in! We forwent the mains in favour of selecting about 5 or 6 small plates from among the starters – in the spirit of prolonging the fun of our tasting journey, and more importantly, to be enjoyed à deux. Of these, the most memorable were: seared scallops with mashed avocado and wasabi; shrimp ceviche; tuna tartare; beef and oyster gyoza dumplings; and fluffy steamed buns filled with pancetta and pickled cucumber, pan-fried just enough to make them slightly crunchy. The Pouilly fume we chose from the small but well curated list of local and European wines (on the recommendation of our very entertaining sommelier) was crisp enough and light enough to elevate everything from the denser, meatier flavours of the tuna to the citrusy tang of the shrimp marinade.

But above all, the service at Nikkei was outstanding, with responsive and unpretentious staff who appeared genuinely passionate about what they were plating – and who never had to be asked twice for anything, even when the restaurant was at full capacity.

Happily, the much-feted Nikkei Peruvian Resto Bar in Kolonaki has the hype without the hubris The atmosphere is fun and relaxed,and lingering with one of their incredible cocktails (try the Negroni!) until the early hours seems like the most natural thing to do. Nikkei is one cool kid that certainly deserves its success. Bookings are essential – especially on the weekend. Expect to pay about €40 per person.

Nikkei Peruvian Resto Bar, Leventis 3, Kolonaki, tel. 210.723.9366

insider athens | November - December 2016 51

Cafe Avissinia: An Athenian Treasure Master story teller George Pittas has travelled all across Greece and culled Hellenic culinary traditions from every corner to present his comprehensive Greek Gastronomy Guide.

Here, he pays homage to one of Insider’s favourite urban eateries, Café Avissinia, and its humble origins as a tea room in the heart of the flea market.

52 insider athens | November - December 2016

E

ver since I finished my studies in Paris and returned back home in 1980, Avissinias Square has been my favorite place for a Sunday walk in Athens. However, there was no place there to grab a bite or have a proper lunch. Thus, heading to Plaka or Thission was the only solution to satisfy one’s appetite.

In November 1986, I believe, after one of my Sunday morning walks, I suddenly saw something I haven’t seen before. Lo and behold, right across the junk shop of Athanassopoulos, two tables and a few chairs arranged near a narrow elegant window with curtain tiers for keeping prying eyes away! I had to pinch myself as I quickly rushed into

City Scope

without a second thought. Café Avissinia, a narrow bright place, filled with paintings, decorated just like the French bistros in Porte de Clignancourt.

Spic-and-span, this place was tastefully decorated to the smallest detail. I instantly introduced myself to Ketty, a bourgeois, native of Thessaloniki with a sonorous, imperious voice and an aristocratic imposing figure. I couldn’t wait to tell her how excited I was about the opening of this place and wish her prosperity.

Ever since, I kept on visiting Avissinias Square again and again. I really enjoyed drinking my ouzo in the afternoon while watching all those craftsmen weaving baskets, assembling furniture items, applying shellac paint right in the middle of the Square, teasing and cracking jokes on each other.

Ketty, a first-class cook and an unceasingly active woman, started serving ouzo, wine and exquisite mezedes (pl. for meze, Greek appetizers) in addition to tea. One day, Vanias with his accordion came along.

This thin tall guy, a traveling musician from Caucasus, used to mesmerize everyone by his gaze and songs. His posture resembled that of Yiannis Papaioannou, the legendary rebetiko musician.

Café Avissinia had become an institution in the party scene of Athens.

It was official. On Sundays, reveling groups of friends would come here in their hordes to party, belly dance and dance zeibekiko. I believe I should remind our young readers that in the end of the 80s, there was no other place in the entire area of Monastiraki to party. Back then, Psyrri

was nothing but a neighborhood with artisan and commercial shops.

As years went by, Vanias, stricken with the so-called “cursed” disease, left us for good. Ketty, who had to move on, relied on other musicians, who have successfully managed to continue the merry-making tradition in Café Avissinia since then.

Currently, thirty years later, Ketty has handed over the reins to her son Nikolas, who expanded this venue to the place next door. The café soon took over the floor upstairs finally climbing to the terrace where Acropolis looks close enough to touch.

Café Avissinia has been turned into a restaurant that serves savory exquisite dishes coming mostly from Macedonia.

Ketty’s dishes are definitively the star of the show; pork with leeks and prunes, Avissinia-style cheese, eggplants prepared the rembetis’s way, cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, pork and veal minced meat and served with a velvety egg-lemon sauce, a dish prepared according to a famous recipe from Kozani, a region in the north of Greece, Thessaloniki style burger with Florina peppers sauce, smoked sardines on grape leaves, lamp with bulgur. On weekends, Manos plays his accordion and Pavlina sings with her heavenly voice without microphone and sound system; this rollicking atmosphere has nothing to envy from the old days.

Café Avissinia, Kinetou 7, Avissinias Square, tel: 210.321.7047.

For more articles like this visit www.greekgastronomyguide.gr

insider athens | November - December 2016 53

Christmas Special

Christmas on a Plate Six top Athenian chefs open their recipe books to share their favourite festive alternative to the traditional turkey feast.

Serves 1 300 gr baby pork cutlet 1 celery root 1 sour green apple 30 gr raisins 30 gr butter 20 ml milk 5 tbls olive oil salt, pepper

54 insider athens | November - December 2016

PREPARATION

INGREDIENTS

ΨηεφChef Sotiris Evangelou, Hotel Grande Bretagne Baby pork cutlet with celery root, green apple and raisins Season the meat and pass it through high fire in a pan with some olive oil until golden. Put it in the oven for 30 min.

At the same time peel the celery root, cut it in cubes and boil. When ready put in blender with some milk, butter, salt and pepper until smooth.

Sauté the apples which we have peeled and cut in small cubes along with the raisins which we have soaked in brandy for some time.

Put the cutlet on a hot plate, place the mashed celery root aside and garnish with the apple cubes and the raisins.

Sprinkle with the gravy and serve immediately.

Gastronomy

Serves 4 900 gr Fresh squid 2 tbls white wine Chardonnay 4 tbls basil pesto sauce 150 gr Fresh fried potatoes 20 ml extra virgin olive oil

ΦΟΡFOR THE SAUCE 25 gr Fresh basil 1 garlic clove 15 gr Pine nuts 20 gr Parmesan, grated 60 ml extra virgin olive oil Salt Pepper

PREPARATION

INGREDIENTS

Chef Lefteris Lazarou, Varoulko Seaside Fried Fresh Squid with Basil Pesto over a nest of Fries Cut the tentacles off of the squids. Dice them and wash them well.

With a little sharp knife, curve each squid lengthwise and gut them.

Wash the squids.

Then turn them inside out and with a big knife, slice them into stripes, only a bit wider than spaghetti. Rinse them well.

Use a brush to oil a non-stick frying pan and heat it well on strong fire. Fry the bodies and the tentacles of the squids for 1 minute, while stirring and putting out with wine at the end.

Pour the pesto sauce into the pan and stir for 3-4 seconds (it should not overheat, otherwise the pesto sauce will extract its oil and it will not be a light dish after all). Withdraw the pan from the fire.

In the centre of every dish put a hoop of 8cm diameter and put in the potatoes (half a cup approximately for each serving). Add the cooked squid, push lightly in order to stabilize and withdraw the hoop carefully.

Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil.

insider athens | November - December 2016 55

Christmas Gastronomy Book NookSpecial

Chef Ilias Kariotoglou, Avenue Bistro, Metropolitan Hotel Lamb roulade with mushroom duxelles, pine nuts, spinach with celeriac purée, stuffed tomato ROULADE

INGREDIENTS

Take on big piece of crepinette and spread it on the board, place a few blanched spinach leaves and then the two lamb loin strips. Fill the space in between with mushroom duxelles mixed with toasted pine nuts. and cover with spinach as well. Place the last lamb loin on top and then cover again with mushroom duxelles and cover the rest with blanched spinach. Roll with the crepinette like a “buritto“ and tie it with kitchen string. Season and seal in a pan. Cook either on a pan slowly or finish it off in the oven for 10-15 min. at 180 C. Take out and make sure to rest the meat for at least 10 minutes

CELERIAC PUREE 500 gr cooked CELERIAC in water 300 ml double cream 1 clove garlic 20 gr butter

Put the celeriac along with the cream and bring it to the boil. Add the garlic and cook for further 10 minutes slowly. Once the cream is reduced by half blend it and then season with salt and cayenne pepper. Add the butter

STUFFED TOMATO Blanch the toamato, boil in water for 15 seconds and refresh in iced water and peel the skin. Cut the top and spoon out the seeds taking care not to cut the tomato, on the sides For the stuffing take 100 gr of cooked basmati rice and mix with 50 gr of lamb mince, 20 gr diced celeriac, 10 gr diced carrot, 10 gr diced celery, ½ chopped garlic and ½ chopped shallot. Cook of everything in a pan and deglaze with red wine vinegar. Put 300 ml of lamb stock and reduce (if you do not have lamb stock replace with water).Fill the tomato and just before you put the tomato lid back on place a small piece of goats cheese and the bake for 5-6 minutes.

56 insider athens | November - December 2016

INGREDIENTS

Take one lamb loin and cut it in three long strips. Seal on a pan and set aside. Season with salt and pepper

LAMB STOCK 1 lb lamb bones 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped 2 carrots, roughly chopped 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped 6 cloves of garlic, peeled 2 tsp tomato paste 1/3 cup dry white wine 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 bay leaf A few sprigs of thyme and flat leaf parsley

Roast the bones in the oven until golden brown. Sweat all the vegetables in a pot and then combine the bones with the rest of the ingredients in a big pot, cover it with water bring it to the boil and then simmer for two to three hours. Pass the stock through a conical sieve and reserve until needed.

SAUCE For the sauce reduce your lamb stock by 1/3. Add a few chopped carrots and onions. Add a bouquet garni (bay leaf, parsley, thyme, all wrapped in a leek). Reduce again until it coats the back of the spoon.

To finish off season, add a splash of vinegar and swirl in a few knobs of butter to make the sauce more glossy. Pass it thought a conical sieve and serve

To garnish: Peel and grill a few button mushroom caps. Serve with some spinach, lamb jus and some green beans.

For a more festive note I propose to go to the “Parnitha” mountain and pick a few “arbutus”, koumara in Greek and add them to your sauce. Arbutus is a perfect berry to complement your lamb

Serves 8

FOR THE SYRUP 125 ml sugar 90 ml water

FOR CHOCOLATE SPHERES 140 gr Chocolate Silicone sphere shaped mould 60 ml Sunflower

FOR THE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

PREPARATION

7 Egg yolks 260 gr Cooking chocolate 750 ml Cream for whipped cream Put the egg yolks in a mixer and whisk, add the sugar syrup and beat until it foams. Add the melted chocolate and stir with a plastic spatula. Once well mixed, delicately add whipped cream.

Fill the silicone moulds with the chocolate mousse for 5-6 hours.

Once frozen, take them out and stick the two halves to make chocolate spheres. Re-freeze for an hour. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, add the sunflower oil and dip the balls one by one nailing them with a straw. The chocolate sphere are ready to serve.

INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTS

Chef Kostas Athanassiou, Hilton Athens Recipe for chocolate spheres with chestnut crème, and passion fruit ice cream.

CHESTNUT CRÈME

PREPARATION

Gastronomy

In a saucepan add the cream, the chestnut puree and sugar to boil. In a bowl whisk the corn flour with the eggs and add to the pot with the remaining mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and add, the gelatin leaves (soaked in cold water). Add the butter and liqueur. Let cool and add the whipped cream, stirring delicately with a plastic spatula.

230 gr Mashed chestnuts 35 gr Sugar 2 Whole Eggs 27 gr Corn flour 15 gr gelatin sheets or 3 leaves 30 gr Butter 30 ml Armagnac liqueur 500 gr Whipped cream

CHOCOLATE SAUCE INGREDIENTS 250 ml Cream 180 gr Chocolate 5 ml Armagnac Liquor

PREPARATION

Boil the cream, remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients.

Serving With a spatula or a tablespoon spread the chocolate sauce on the plate. Place two of the chocolate spheres between two spoons and give it an oval ‘quenelle’ shape. Place a scoop of passion fruit ice cream. Garnish with crushed biscuits and serve.

insider athens | November - December 2016 57

Christmas Gastronomy Special

Serves 6 1 piece of celery root 500 gr milk 10 gr sugar

FOR THE PICANIA (or the sirloin cap) Cut the picanha (usually around 1.3 kg to 1.5kg) transversely into small pieces. Marinate the meat overnight with 200 gr of pomegranate juice.

FOR THE SAUCE SPINACH 300 gr Fresh spinach 50 gr butter 100 gr chanterelle mushrooms 100 gr black trumpet mushrooms

FOR THE SAUCE 200 ml meat broth 1 pomegranate

58 insider athens | November - December 2016

PREPARATION

FOR THE CELERY ROOT PUREE

Boil the celery root with milk and sugar. Blend when soft. Saute the spinach in butter. Grill in oven or saute the picanha in a pan.

Stir fry the mushrooms and add it to the pomegranate juice (in which the picanha was marinated).

SERVING

INGREDIENTS

ΨηεφChef Spyros Pavlidis, Cookoovaya Picanha with celeriac purée, mushrooms, spinach and black trumpet mushroom sauce

Place the celery puree in the centre of the plate. Add a layer of spinach on top. Gently pile up the picanha pieces on the spinach.

Drizzle with pomegranate juice. And top off with the sautéed mushrooms.

Gastronomy

Chef Alex Tsiotinis, The Kool Life, Life Gallery Athens Cracked wheat (Trahanas) with flavours of the sea

Serves 4 100 gr Fennel (finocchio) 60 gr Carrot 60 gr Onion 100 gr Cracked wheat (Trachanas) 600 ml Dashi* (cooking stock used in Japanese cuisine that forms the base for miso soup) 50 gr Wakame seaweed 4 leaves Shisho 50 gr Smoked Mussels 100 gr Sea Urchins

PREPARATION

INGREDIENTS

Trahanas is a Greek traditional pasta made from flour or bulgur, and milk, sour milk or yoghurt. It is prepared either sweet or sour and it is dried in the sun in the summer in order to be ready for consumption in the winter.

Saute the fennel, carrot and onion and add 600 ml of dashi and the trachana. Bring to a boil and add red shisho and wakame seaweed to the mix. Add salt and pepper and throw in the smoked mussels. For more tang, add zest and lime. Fuse the ingredients with crayfish butter. Serve in a risotto dish and top with sea urchins.

insider athens | November - December 2016 59

Special Promotion

When Art Meets Beauty The crown jewel of Swiss cellular cosmetics, Elixir des Glaciers, evolves its tradition of Limited Editions in an innovative direction for 2016: the Tattoo Edition.

E

lixir des Glaciers’ precious anti-ageing cream Votre Visage has been embellished with the exquisite art of Japanese ceramics in a new Limited Edition to be offered and treasured during the year-end holidays.

An exceptional piece of glazed stoneware, lightly brushed with primary colors, it will enrobe a coffer of black lacquered wood to create the perfect setting for the ultimate in Swiss skincare.

The tattoo as the ultimate form of expression Didier Guillon, President and Artistic Director of Valmont Group, created this Tattoo Edition as an ode to his wife Sophie, a woman of the element Fire born under the sign of the Dragon: symbol of pride and excellence, power and prosperity.

A confluence of Japanese inspiration and Swiss excellence Japan, incomparable fount of inspiration for artists, designers, fashion pioneers and trendsetters. Like a bridge between two cultures of excellence, the Tattoo Limited Edition celebrates the alliance of artistic vision and craft, echoing the motto of Groupe Valmont, “When Art Meets Beauty”.

60 insider athens | November - December 2016

For the first time, each of the Limited Edition Elixir des Glaciers pieces comes with a series of six photographs by the Japanese photographer Atsuyuki Shimada. They are multiple expressions in the many languages of the tattoo.

You can admire the stunning series at the King George Perfumes & More shop, on Syntagma square, close by the entrance of Hotel King George.

King George Perfumes & More, Vas. Georgiou A, 3, Syntagma Square, tel: 210.333.0266. Opening hours 12:30 to 8pm every day except Sunday.

Insider guide restaurant index by type

refer to corresponding area for more information and contact details

AMERICAN

TGI FRIDAY’S The Burger Joint The Burger Joint

Kolonaki Glyfada Psychico

BAR - RESTAURANTS

21 Restaurant Kifissia 360 Cocktail Bar Monistiraki 42 bar Syntagma 48 Urban Garden Mavili Sq 9 Syntagma A for Athens Monistiraki Abariza Syntagma Abaroriza Pangrati Acropolis Museum Acropolis Restaurant Apsendi Halandri BABA AU RUM Syntagma BACARO Omonia BALTHAZAR Mavili Sq BARAONDA Mavili Sq Barley Cargo Syntagma Beer Time Psyrri Bios Gazi Booze Cooperativa Psyrri Café Zoe Syngrou CASH Kifissia CINCO Kolonaki Couleur Locale Monistiraki CV Bar Keramikos Drunk Sinatra Syntagma En Plo Vouliagmeni Explorer’s Lounge Syntagma Gazarte Gazi HIDE & SEEK Halandri HOLY SPIRIT Glyfada Hoxton Bar Gazi ISLAND Vouliagmeni KITCHEN BAR Faliro MoMix Gazi NIXON Kerameikos NoËl Plaka OSTERMAN Syntagma PARKO ELEFTHERIAS Mavili Sq PIXI Gazi SEMIRAMIS RESTAURANT Kifissia SHOWROOM Kolonaki Socialista Gazi Sofa Bar Vouliagmeni Spollati Monastiraki Step by step Halandri Stinking Bishops Kolonaki The Clumsies Plaka THE GIN JOINT Syntagma Throubi Plaka Toy Café Plaka Underdog Thiseio

BEER RESTAURANTS

Octoberfest Silly Wizards

Ag. Paraskevi Ag. Paraskevi

CHINESE

China’s Fantasy Psychico Golden Phoenix Kifissia Keep Woking Glyfada Nama Ag. Paraskevi Noodle Bar Syntagma NUI Kifissia Saipan Halandri Wagamama Maroussi

FISH

Ai Nikolas CAPTAIN JOHN’S DOURAMpEIS

Syngrou Piraeus Piraeus

Dourampeis Oyster Psychiko Fish Co. Platters Psychico ITHAKI Vouliagmeni KOLLIAS Piraeus JIMMY AND THE FISH Piraeus KASTELORIZO Kifissia MILOS Hilton MYTHOS OF THE SEA Vouliagmeni Nikolas tis schinousas Glyfada Nisson Gi Ag. Paraskevi Ocean Basket Glyfada PAPADAKIS Kolonaki Papaioannou Pireaus Piperia Psychico PSARAKI Vouliagmeni RAFALE Vouliagmeni Sardelaki Glyfada THALATTA Gazi ZEFYROS Piraeus Trata Omonia TRATA O STELIOS Pangrati VASSILENAS Piraeus

FRENCH

ARTISANAL Kifissia avenue Syngrou Blue Pine Kifissia Gaspar Food and Mood Psychico L’ABREUVOIR Kolonaki LE PETIT SOMMELIER Faliro MONO WINE RESTAURANT Plaka SPIROS & VASILIS Kolonaki SPONDI Pangrati Tartare Glyfada

GOURMET

ALERIA Kerameikos Aneton Maroussi AVENUE Syngrou Bo Botrini’s Halandri CTC Hilton Fuga Mavili Sq Funky Gourmet Kerameikos F+W Kolonaki HYTRA Syngrou KOOL LIFE Kifissia KUZINA Thissio MODERN Acropolis Museum of Greek Gastronomy Psyrri Orizontes Lycavyttou Kolonaki Pasaji Syntagma Polly Maggoo Metaxurgeio PremiEre Syngrou VAROULKO Piraeus

GREEK

2 MAZI Plaka 310 Street Psychico ANETON Maroussi Archeon Gefsis Metaxurgeio ATHIRI Kerameikos ATRIUM Acropolis Berdema Kifissia Bluefield Burger Psychico Dioskouroi Psychico DIPORTO Psyrri ELAIαS GI Kifissia Feedέλ Urban Gastronomy Syntagma IDEAL Omonia KAVOURAS Exarhia Krithamos Psychico MANI MANI Acropolis

MELILOTOS Olive Garden Pallas Athena PSOMI & ALATI RAKOKAZANO PROSOPA Rena tis Ftelias THIO TRAGI TO KOUTI YANTES YDRIA

Monastiraki Monastiraki Monastiraki Halandri Halandri Gazi Psychico Petralona Monastiraki Exarhia Plaka

GRILL

1920 Halandri Telemachos Bbq Club Kifissia

INDIAN

BOLLYWOOD Indian CHEF Indian HAVELI Indian Kitchen Indian Masala Indi-GO JAIPUR PALACE KOHENOOR

Gazi Syngrou Syngrou Syntagma Thissio Glyfada Kifissia Gazi

INTERNATIONAL

All Senses Gastronomy Glyfada BAKU Vouliagmeni BUBA Kifissia CHEFI’S Halandri Cosa Nostra Monastiraki Food Mafia Glyfada Gefsis Me Onomasia Proelefsis Kifissia La Pierrade Kolonaki Los loros Syntagma Nikkei Kolonaki nolan Syntagma Pere Ubu Glyfada

ITALIAN

30 SOMETHING Halandri AGLIO OLIO Acropolis AL BACIO Vouliagmeni Albion Psychico Al Dente Glyfada AL FRESCO Vouliagmeni Aperitivo Glyfada BALLARO Voula Capanna Kolonaki Codice Blu Kolonaki DA BRUNO Faliro DA VINCI Ag. Paraskevi Dal Professore Maroussi DULCIS IN FUNDO Voula Il Salotto Glyfada Il Salumaio D’ATENE Kifissia LA CASA DI GIORGINO Glyfada Malconi’s Kolonaki MARGHERITA Kifissia Matilde Pizza Bar Psychico Nanninela Ag. Paraskevi Ombra Psychico Pausa Maroussi Sale Bianco da Salvotoro Glyfada SALE E PEPE Kolonaki SCALA VINOTECA Kolonaki TONY BONANO Piraeus Tutti a tavola Kolonaki Tuttitalia Kolonaki VEZENE Hilton

Vespa Rosa VINCENZO

Pangrati Glyfada

JAPANESE

FURIN KAZAN Syntagma Hama Glyfada INBI Kolonaki KIKU Kolonaki Koi Syntagma, Voula MATSUHISA ATHENS Vouliagmeni OOZORA Kifissia RAKKAN Kifissia SUBA Kifissia SUSHIMOU Syntagma Tomoe Kifissia Yoko Sushi & Bento Kolonaki

KOREAN

Dosirak

Syntagma

KOSHER

Gostijo

Psyrri

LEBANESE

FALAFELLAS NARGILE SUZANNA

Psyrri Kifissia Faliro

MEDITERRANEAN

Alatsi Hilton BERDEMA Kifisia BYZANTINO Hilton CAFE AVISSINIA Monastiraki Common Secret Kifissia DAPHNE’S RESTAURANT Plaka FATSIO Pangrati GB CORNER Syntagma HYTRA Plaka IDEAL RESTAURANT Omonia KOUZINA CINE-PSIRRI Psyrri MALABAR Vouliagmeni MAVRO PROVATO Pangrati Mimaya Glyfada OCHRE & BROWN Psyrri PARLIAMENT Syntagma RATKA Kolonaki STOU MEIDANI Monastiraki THE DALLIANCE HOUSE Kifissia TO KOUTI Monastiraki TORTUGA Pangrati TRAPEZARIA Pangrati VOSPOROS Piraeus ZORBAS Piraeus

MEXICAN

AMIGOS DOS HERMANOS EL TACO BUENO Santa Fe Taqueria Maya

Glyfada Kifissia Halandri Halandri Syntagma

MEZEDES AND OUZO

Antaios ATHINAIKON CINCO KIRKI OUZADIKO SCHOLARHEIO

Psychico Omonia Kolonaki Thissio Kolonaki Plaka

MULTI ETHNIC

Altamira Altamira BUBA

Kolonaki Marousi Kifissia

PERSIAN

ANAHITA

Halandri

POLYNESIAN

LEDRA KAI

Syngrou

PUB RESTAURANTS

KEG ‘N’ CREW MOLLY MALONE’S THE JAMES JOYCE

Piraeus Glyfada Thissio

ROOFTOP DINING

ELECTRA Plaka IOANNIS Syntagma LE GRAND BALCON Kolonaki ORIZONTES LYKAVYTTOU Kolonaki ST’ASTRA Mavili Sq

SOUVLAKIA AND KEBAB

BAIRAKTARIS Monastiraki BUTCHER’S SHOP Gazi Gourounakia Kifissias Kifissia KALAMAKI KOLONAKI Kolonaki Kebabtzidikon Barbadimos Nea Smyrni SAVVAS Monastiraki SCHARA Vouliagmeni Souvlaki Bar Thissio THANASSIS Monastiraki

SCANDINAVIAN

SAFKA

Kerameikos

SPANISH

JAMON PINTXOS BAR Glyfada LA GABINOTECA Kifissia SALERO Exarhia

TAVERNAS

FILIpPOU Kolonaki Gaidaros Ag. Paraskevi IPIROS TAVERN Psyrri Kolovos Ag. Paraskevi O Tzitzikas Ki O Mermigas Kifissia, Syntagma VLASSIS Hilton

THAI

ANDAMAN BLUE BAMBOO Budoo ROUAN THAI ROYAL THAI TAMARIND

Petralona Petralona Syntagma Piraeus Kifissia Metaxourgeio

TURKISH

Mutfak

VEGETARIAN

Avocado MAMMA TIERRA NICE N EASY TO VAZAKI yi

WINE BARS

By The Glass FABRICA DE VINO HETEROCLITO Kiki’s de Grece OINOSCENT Vinifera Vrettos Whispers of wine VINARTE

Glyfada Syntagma Omonia Kolonaki Halandri Glyfada Syntagma Exarhia Syntagma Syntagma Syntagma Kifissia Plaka Maroussi Glyfada

insider athens | November - December 2016 61

To advertise, contact ads@insider-magazine.gr

Aglio Olio & Peperonicino Porinou 13, Tel: 210.921.1801 Authentic Italian pasta in a cozy setting, accompanied by luscious salads and homemade dolci

Atrium

Rovertou Galli 4, Tel: 210.923.6832 Refined Greek cuisine in a cosy setting

Mani Mani

Falirou 10, Tel: 210.921.8180 Peloponnesian specialities with Mediterranean touches

MODERN Rooftop Dining Athens Was Hotel Dionysiou Arepagaitou 5, Tel: 210.920.0240

Ag.Paraskevi

EAT Gaidaros

Ellinoservikis Filias 52, Tel: 210.600.4724 A hidden courtyard with home-cooked cuisine

Kolovos

Peloponessou 75, Tel: 210.651.0989 Several reasons to visit, but its succulent spare ribs top the list

Octoberfest

Ag.Ioannou 82, Tel: 210.608.2999 Beer fest all year-round

Silly Wizards

Peloponessou 79, Tel: 210.654.3908 Great selection of beers and Mexican finger food

Nama

Kyprou 50, Tel: 210.600.8936 Asian fusion cuisine with 20€ sushi buffet on Mon-Tue and 15€ Chinese buffet on Wed-Thu

Nanninela

Peloponnissou 13, Tel: 210.600.5622 Authentic Italian cuisine in traditional decor

Νisson Gi

Mesogeion Ave. 356, Tel: 210.651.1354 Island flavours with an urban twist

EAT

Fabrica de Vino

Em. Benaki 3, Tel: 210.321.4148 85 wine etiquettes and mini mezzes in an industrial environment

Kavouras

Themistokleous 64, Tel: 210.381.0202 Dine while enjoying live Rebetika music

Salero

Valtetsiou 51, Tel: 210.381.3358 Spanish and mediterranean cuisine in the heart of Exarhia

Yantes

Da Bruno

Il Tinello

Bars, Clubs & Lounges

Knossou 54, Tel: 210.982.8462 Real Italian home cookin

Kitchen Bar

Poseidonos 3, Tel: 210.981.2004 Comfort food overlooking the sea

Le Petit Sommelier

Zaimi 6, Tel: 210.984.2344 French cuisine & excellent wine list

Suzanna

Orpheus & Chariton 5, Tel: 210.942.8129 Authentic Middle Eastern cuisine

“Flisvos” Marina, Tel: 210.985.3183 Cocktails whith music

Themistokleous 74, Tel: 210.330.1246 Enjoy a cocktail or a coffee in a retro pop atmosphere

Vox

Arahovas 56 & Themistokleous Tel: 210.383.5811 One of the oldest summer cinemas in Athens is a picturesque place for a retro-tinged drink

Syntagma

Solonos 9, Tel: 212.222.3600

Voulis 7, Tel: 210.324.2777

Madras House of Tea

Kifissia

Pireaus

Kifisias 238, Tel: 210.808.9454

Akti Themistokleous 36, Tel: 210.418.6683

Hams and Clams

62 insider athens | November - December 2016

Zinc

EAT

Bollywood Gazi

Elasidon 29 & Konstantinoupoleos 44, Tel: 210.345.0041 Indian cuisine in an industrial setting

Butcher’s Shop

Persefonis 19, Tel: 210.341.3440 Traditional psistaria serving grilled meat dishes

Kohenoor

Triptolemou 41, Tel: 210.345.5762 Indian authentic specialties in a neat setting

Prosopa

Vitonos 5, Tel: 210.346.4204 Fresh seafood creations

DRINK

DRINK

Ginger Ale

Thalatta

Ag. Alexandrou 46, Tel: 210.981.8959 Rich list with Italian flavours

DRINK

Kolonaki

The Wilbury

EAT

Valtetsiou 44, Tel: 210.330.1369 Modern Greek cuisine prepared with organic ingredients.

NEW ARRIVALS! Yoleni’s

Modern

Faliro

Dionysiou Arepagaitou 15, Tel: 210.900.0915, Authentic Greek dishes right across from the Acropolis itself

Ag. Ioannou 23, Tel: 210.600.0102 Delightful dishes in fantastic ambience

Gazi

Acropolis Museum Restaurant

Da Vinci

Exarhia

Acropolis

EAT

Meg. Vasiliou 52 & Konstantinoupoleos 4 Tel: 210.341.3433, Delicious dishes in a warm atmosphere right beside the train tracks. A popular gay haunt.

Almaz

Triptolemou 12, Tel: 210.347.4763 Lounge in a modern atmosphere while listening to music from around the world

Bios

Pireos 84, Tel: 210.342.5335 An avant-garde multi-level venue housing a bar, a basement club, art exhibitions, music venues, and a rooftop garden

Dirty Ginger

Triptolemou 46, Tel: 210.342.3809 Excellent cocktails, meat dishes and “hot” finger food

Hoxton Bar

Voutadon 42, Tel: 210.341.3395, A cocktail bar based on Hoxton in East London

Gazarte

Boutadon 32-34, Tel: 210.346.0347 Lounge bar with excellent views of the Acropolis, ethnic music and live events

Gasoline

Gargittion 23Α, Tel: 210.346.9396 All day bar with freestyle music and interesting guest-nights

MoMix

Keleou 1-5, Tel: 697.435.0179, Temple of mixology and high-quality bartending

PIXI

Evmolpidon 11, Tel: 210.342.3751 Get in to the groove

Plastiko

Sofroniou 12A, Tel: 210.341.0308 Excellent cocktails, reasonable prices, summer mood

Socialista Triptolemou 33, Tel: 210.347.4733 Mainstream bar-club in industrial setting

Glyfada

EAT Bakeries & Patisseries Paul

Esperidon Square and Kyprou 70, Tel: 210.894.7169, A real French boulangerie that serves meals too.

Restaurants All Senses Gastronomy

Lazaraki 12, Tel: 210.898.0080 Lives up to its name of tickling your senses.

Aperitivo

Kyprou 70, Tel: 210.894.0377 Authentic Italian cuisine in a cosy setting

Ark

Grigoriou Lambraki 2, Tel: 210.894.8882 Chef Yiannis Baxevanis brings Miamiinspired opulence to Glyfada

Food Mafia

La Casa Di Giorgino

Kyprou 30-32, Tel: 210.963.8770 Authentic Italian pizza made in a traditional wood-burning oven

Mimaya

Markou Botsari 8, Tel: 210.894.4850 Creative Mediterranean cuisine.

Molly Malone’s

Laodikis 41, Tel: 210.898.2650 Cocktail Bar with great menu and beautiful atmosphere

Il Salotto

Laodikis 38, Tel: 210.894.9060 Politiki Kouzina in a romantic setting

Nikolas tis schinousas

Diadohou Pavlou 48, Tel: 210.894.9550 Chic Greek fish tavern along Glyfada’s seafront.

Ocean Basket

Lazaraki 61 & Pandoras 5, Tel: 210.898.3183, South African seafood chain comes to Greece

El Taco Bueno

Grigoriou Lambraki 2, Tel: 210.894.9995 Excellent cocktails in a Moroccan style garden

Mikro

Laodikis 33-35, Tel: 210.894.1031 Minimal decor with well-known Greek DJs

Vinarte

Kyprou 74, Tel: 211.215.8737 Fab burgers, great cocktails, right next to the sprawling UBU organic store

Sardelaki

Cafes

Foivis 15, Tel: 211.402.1195 Sardines and seafood in a casual setting.

Sale Bianco da Salvotoro

Markou Botsari 10A, Tel: 210.898.6301, Authentic Italian food in an inviting atmosphere

Soleto

Kyprou 82, Tel: 210.898.5554 Authentic Mexican food paired with any type of tequila you could want

Spiti

Lazaraki 12, Tel: 210.898.0080 A perfect place for a family meal with great food and cocktails

Tartare

Al. Panagouli 52, Tel: 210.968.0320 Gourmet French cuisine that draws regulars.

The Burger Joint

Inbi

Vincenzo

Indi-Go

Giannitsopoulou 1, Tel: 210.894.1310 Value for money Italian specialities with a Southern Italian touch

Jamon Pintxos Bar

Grigoriou Lampraki 69, Tel: 210.964.8512

Ethnikis Antistaseos & Psaron 1 Tel: 210.684.0460, Mexican flavours in a traditional setting

Saipan

K. Varnali 9, Tel: 210.685.0644 Exquisite dishes from China, Japan and Indonesia

Psomi & Alati

Eleftherioton Sq 8, Tel: 210.684.8178 Gastronomic paradise serving Greek dishes with a modern twist

Rakokazano

Irakliou 1, Tel: 210.689.5501 Quality Greek mezzes in a cosy simple environment

Santa Fe

Ag. Georgiou 30’B, Tel: 210.685.9690 Mexican food in traditional setting

Chocolat

Zisimopoulou 9, Tel: 210.894.3442 Satisfies even the most discerning coffee connoisseur

EAT 30 something

Iroon Sq 8, Tel: 210.689.9227 Pizza and cocktail bar in a San Franscisco atmosphere

Τo Vazaki - juice bar Aristotelous 33, Tel: 210.680.0067

Wine Not

Kalogrezis 12, Tel: 210.689.0007 Industrial setting with eclectic wine list

DRINK Hide & Seek

Anahita

Kifisias 254, Tel: 210.677.6747 Great drink menu and perfect garden for spring and summer

Apsendi

Spiti Cocktail Bar

Chr. Smirnis 3, Tel: 210.689.1222 The only place in Athens to try authentic Persian dishes

Kifissias 250-254 & Serron Tel: 210.671.7890, Refined cuisine and cocktails in stylish urban atmosphere

Αndrea Papantreou 9, Tel: 210.683.3677 Great cocktails and sophisticated jazz tunes

Yi

Laodikis 33-35, Tel: 210.894.6089 Basque “pinchos” in a cozy setting

CreperieS

Keep Woking

To Paramythi

Dimitriou Gounari 70, Tel: 211.012.2801, Create-your-own Asian cuisine, fast and funky

Bourbon

Perikleous 31, Tel: 210.681.5774 Refined cuisine with international flavours and regular wine tastings

Marangou 18, Tel: 210.894.1511 A wine bar and Italian restaurant with regular art exhibitions and cool decor

Foivis 17, Tel: 210.894.0260 NY style, organic burgers in a casual and relaxed environment.

Konstantinoupoleos 15, Tel: 210.968. 0643

Chefi’s

Posidonos 58, Tel: 210.898.3577 Waterfront lounging

Pere Ubu

Markou Botsari 13, Tel: 210.894.8397 Minimal décor, elegant Italian fare Lazaraki 26, Tel: 210.894.4982 Sushi fusion

Balux

Capri Bay

Su Casa

Holy Spirit

Vasileos Georgiou B 24b, Tel: 210.685.7323 Athens’ best table by far

Mutfak

Laodikis 33, Tel: 210.968.0460

Grigoriou Lambraki 34, Tel: 210.960.0595, Sophisticated Japanese cuisine in a cosy setting

Bars, Clubs & Lounges

Yannitsopoulou 8, Tel: 210.894.4247 Irish pub serving probably the best Irish Stew in Athens

Giouvetsakia

Hama

Bo Botrini’s

Daskaroli 67, Tel: 210.964.7600 American style bar with rock, blues, soul music and live events

Laodikis & Filikis Etairias10, Tel: 210.894.2177 International fare with attitude Ithomis 20 and Moreos, Tel: 210.964.8081 Organic mageirefta food

DRINK

Halandri

Tapas Bar

Triptolemou 44, Tel: 210.347.1844 Cocktails and tapas at the bar, just like in Spain

Kyprou 9, Tel: 210.894.1361 Creperie in a fairy-tale setting

Chefi’s

insider athens | November - December 2016 63

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EAT

Hilton

Oozora

Agiou Trifonos 15, Tel: 210.801.8515 Japanese-Thai fusion Restaurant

Alatsi

O Tzitzikas Ki O Mermigas

Vrassida 13, Tel: 210.721.0501 Exquisite Cretan specialties

Drosini 12-14, Tel: 210.623.0080 A modern taverna serving traditional dishes at reasonable prices

Byzantino

Athens Hilton, Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1400 Traditional Greek recipes with a Mediterranean twist

Paul

Cookoovaya

Kolokotroni 37, Tel: 210.808.9160 Generous portions of Mediterranean fare

CTC

Oumplianis 14 & Dioharous 27, Tel: 210.722.8812, Different 6 course menus every night, with exceptional quality!

Leilimlei

Baltinon 2 , Tel: 211.700.9383

Milos

Athens Hilton Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.724.4400, Simply prepared local flavours. Guaranteed value for money

Vezene

Vrasida 11, Tel: 210.723.2002 Modern bistrot serving seafood & cured beef

Vlassis

Meandrou 15, Tel: 210.646.3060 & 210.725.6335, Family-run taverna serving traditional Greek food

DRINK Galaxy Bar

Athens Hilton, Vas. Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1402, Rooftop cocktails in a chic atmosphere

Kerameikos

EAT Aleria

Meg. Alexandrou 57, Tel: 210.522.2633 Adventurous Greek cuisine in a cosy setting

Athiri

Plataion 15, Tel: 210.346.2983 Greek & Mediterranean cuisine in beautiful surroundings

Funky Gourmet

Paramythias 13 & Salaminos, Tel: 210.524.2727, Haute cuisine in art deco interior

Polly Maggoo

Leonidou 80 & Salaminos, Tel: 210.524.1120, Gourmet cuisine in a post-modern setting.

Safka

Megalou Alexandrou 80-82, Tel: 210.524.3340, Scandinavian cuisine

Prytaneion Galaxy Bar - Hilton

Tamarind

Elaias Gi

DRINK

Gefsis Me Onomasia Proelefsis

Keramikou 51, Tel: 210.522.5945 Thai food in a beautiful setting

CV Bar

Konstantinoupoleos 108 Tel: 210.345.1744

Nixon

Agisilaou 61B, Tel: 210.346.2077 Top Athenian hedonist hangout for the 30-something crowd.

EAT

Kifissia

Hatziyianni Mexi 2A, Tel: 210.723.5005 5 famous chefs combine their talents to create unique flavors.

Levidou 4, Tel: 210.808.4288 French boulangerie

21 Restaurant

Kolokotroni 21, Tel: 210.623.352, Highly recommended.

Refined al-fresco dining with excellent service

Artisanal

Zirini 2, Tel: 693.614.4744 Unique lounge & garden with exceptional classy touch

Berdema

Skiathou 3 & Strofiliou, Tel: 210.620.1108 Family restaurant with Mediterranean fare

Blue Pine

P.Tsaldari 37, Tel: 210.807.7745 A hark back to retro Athens

Buba

Papadiamanti 4, Tel: 210.623.1151 Mixing pot of cuisines from around the world

Cash

Diligianni 54, Tel: 212.100.4772 Cosmopolitan hang-out with upscale Mediterranean cuisine

Dexamenis & Olimpionikon 4, Tel: 210.620.0005 The authenticity of Greek cuisine with stunning views of the city Kifissias 317, Tel: 210.800.1402 Divine food from all over the world

Golden Phoenix

Harilaou Trikoupi & Gortinias Tel: 210.801.3588, Chinese classic popular for the brunch buffet

Gourounakia Kifissias

Kifissias 289, Tel: 210.801.1093 Delicious salads, appetizers, souvlakia & grilled platters

Il Salumaio di Atene

Panagitsas 3, Tel: 210.623.3934 Specially-prepared Italian meals

Jaipur Palace

Kifissias 222, Tel: 210.808.8318 Indian cuisine and fine wines

Kastelorizo

Platanon 2, Tel: 210.807.5408 Part of a chain of upscale seafood restaurants that is sure to please

Kokkino Psaraki

Evagelistrias 36, Tel: 210.620.1572 Seafood taverna

Kool Life

Life Gallery, Thiseos 103, Tel: 211.106.7400 Innovative cuisine in a cool restaurant cum deli

La Gabinoteca

Th. Diligianni 56, Tel: 210.808.3988 Tapas bar with decadent atmosphere

Margherita

Kifisias 363, Tel: 211.408.1132 Fantastic pizza made with local ingredients from all over Greece

Nargile

Common Secret

Kifissias 324, Tel: 210.623.3810 Coffee and light Mediterranean meals in a pleasant setting

Harilaou Trikoupi 50, Tel: 210.808.3333 Lebanese cuisine in a cosmopolitan ambience

Dos Hermanos

Nui

Kyriazi 24, Tel: 210.808.7906 Excellent Mexican food & super margaritas

64 insider athens | November - December 2016

Gortinias 11, Tel: 210.801.3553 Gourmet mutli-Asian restaurant

Rakkan

Kifisias 238-240, Tel: 210.808.7941 Japanese restaurant, bar, lounge with signature cocktails

Royal Thai

Zirini 12, Tel: 210.623.2322 Thai cuisine in an opulent setting

Semiramis Restaurant

Semiramis Hotel, Harilaou Trikoupi 48, Tel: 210.628.4500 Mediterranean cuisine in a hip atmosphere

Suba

Levidou 11, Tel: 210.808.5586 A blend of traditional and modern Japanese cuisine

Telemachos Barbeque Club

Fragkopoulou 22, Tel: 210.807.6680 Rare meats char-grilled to perfection

The Dalliance House

Kyriazis 19, Tel: 210.623.0775 The 19th century meets the 21st in beautiful setting, with successful recipes

Tomoe

Gortinias 11& Dangli, Kifissia, Tel: 210.801.3553 Great sushi at terrific prices

DRINK Dyo 48

Kifisias 248, Tel: 210.623.0870 New hang out oasis with retro ambience

Mento CafĂŠ

Ag. Theodorou 10, Tel: 210.808.0193 Traditional home turned stylish cafe

Vinifera

Kifissias 317, Tel: 210.807.7709 Selection of wines from all over the world

Food & Wine Cellier

Kifissias 369, Tel: 210.801.8756 By far, one of the best cellars stocking the finest labels in town

Kalamaki Kolonaki

Bakeries & Patisseries

Ploutarhou 32, Tel: 210.721.8800 Souvlakia on the sidewalk have never been so trendy

Cake

Kiku

Irodotou 15, Tel: 210.721.2253 For real American homemade cheesecake, brownies and more

Fresh

Kriezotou 12, Tel: 210.364.2948 Desserts and cakes

Restaurants Altamira

Tsakalof 36A, Tel: 210.361.4695 Flavours of multiethnic cuisine

Cafe Boheme

Omirou 36, Tel: 210.360.8018 Welcoming nook with Greek cooking and more-ish cocktails

Capanna

Ploutarchou 38 & Charitos, Kolonaki Tel: 210.724.1777 People-watching and authentic Italian fare

Cinco

Skoufa 52, Tel: 210.364.3603 Great cocktails and specialty tapas

Codice Blu

Haritos & Loukianou, Tel: 210.723.0896 Italian cuisine, great for family brunches and people-watching.

F+W

Xenokratous 49, Tel: 210.721.1146 Gourmet food by Oliver Campanha

Filippou

Xenokratous 19, Tel: 210.721.6390 Home-cooked Greek taverna dishes

Freud Oriental

Xenokratous 21 Tel: 210.729.9595 Creative fusion cuisine

IT restaurant

Skoufa 29, Tel: 210.363.5773, Affordable gourmet menu in a chic environment.

Sale e Pepe

Aristipou 34, Tel: 210.723.4102 Authentic Italian trattoria

Scala Vinoteca

Dimokritou 12, Tel: 210.364.7033 Fresh, beautifully presented sushi

Sina 50, Tel: 210.361.0041 Mediterranean restaurant ideal for wining & dining

L’Abreuvoir

Showroom

Xenokratous 51, Tel: 210.722.9106 Fine French cuisine

La Pierrade

Milioni 12, Tel: 210.364.6460 Missoni-designed interiors, serving unique Mediterranean flavours

Spefsippou 30, Tel: 210.723.7297 Elegant setting, refined cuisine, extremely polite service.

Simul

La Suite Lounge

Lachitos 5, Tel: 210.723.7575 Original French cuisine

St George Lycabettus Hotel, Kleomenous 2, Tel: 210.741.6000 Gourmet Greek cuisine

Malconi’s

Patriarchou Ioakeim 43 & Ploutarxou, Tel: 210.724.8920 Great food, bustling atmosphere.

Nice n Easy

Omirou 60 & Skoufa, Tel.: 210.361.7201 Gourmet cafe-restaurant with organic products and jazz music

Nikkei

Leventi 3, Tel: 210.723.9366 Peruvian aromas and flavours in Kolonaki!

Orizontes Lycavyttou

Mai Tai

Ipsilantou 63, Tel: 722.4737

Ploutarhou 18, Tel: 210.725.8306 Early evening cocktails in a laid-back atmosphere

Spiros & Vasilis

Rosebud

Stinking Bishops

Omirou 60 & Skoufa 40, Tel: 210.339.2370 All day hang-out with music ranging from jazz to famous soundtracks

Suba Restaurant

Skoufaki

TGI Friday’s

Ten

Kolokotroni 35, Tel: 210.623.3945, American restaurant with real steak and barbecuesauce for casual dining!

Ploutarhou 10, Tel: 210.721.0161 One of the most popular hot spots in town

Tutti a Tavola

Cafés

Loukianou 36, Tel: 213.026.3656 Fashionable gastro pub Skoufa 58 & Sina, Tel: 210.338.8211 Authentic sushi in the heart of the city

Lycabettus Hill, Tel: 210.722.7065 Gourmet dining with a spectacular view

Spefsippou 8, Tel: 210.722.2785 Authentic Italian trattoria at affordable prices.

Ouzadiko

Tuttitalia

Karneadou 25-26, Tel: 210.729.5484 Traditional Greek appetizers & ouzo

Papadakis

Fokilidou 15 & Voukourestiou 47A Tel: 210.360.8621 Paros’ legendary gourmet restaurant serving seafood in the heart of Athens

Ratka

Haritos 32, Tel: 210.729.0746 Popular haunt of the rich and almost famous, with cosmopolitan cuisine

Valaoritou 14, Tel: 210.338.9669 An authentic and hospitable Italian trattoria

Da Capo

Tsakalof 1, Tel: 210.360.2497 Long-established people-watching hangout Kolonaki Square, Tel: 210.364.5068 Enjoy a cup of java if you can find a spot

39 Patriarchou Ioakeim Tel: 210.342.4654 Fresh sushi to-go!

Tea To Tsai

DRINK Bars, Clubs & Lounges Ploutarchou 56, Tel: 210.723.1424 A quaint jazzy whiskey bar for the discerning

City

Charitos 43, Tel: 210.722.8910 Modern aesthetics, mutli-culti crowd and soulful music

London str 72

Skoufa 47-49, Tel: 210.364.5888 All time classic café bar

Peros

Yoko Sushi & Bento

56

To Tsai

IT Restaurant

Solonos 72, Tel: 693.951.1760, 690.607.3362 Union jacks and red telephone booths in an all day bar-restaurant

Soutsou 19, Tel: 210.338.8941 Tea & tea paraphernalia from around the world

EAT

Maroussi

Kolonaki

EAT

Agani

Kifissias 22, Tel: 210.277.7065 Delectable, inspired Greek cuisine

Altamira

Perikleous 28, Tel: 210.612.8841 Multiethnic cuisine in funky environment

Aneton

Stratigou Lekka 19, Tel: 210.806.6700 Traditional cuisine in a comfy-chic setting reminiscent of the 50s & 60s

insider athens | November - December 2016 65

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Alamanas 1, Tel: 210.619.9902 Clean lines and a beautiful garden make this café, bar, restaurant a must

Pausa

Ag. Konstantinou 46 & Ifestou 3 Tel: 210.617.9290 Italian cuisine accompanied by a selection of Greek & Italian wines

Wagamama

Kifissias 37A, Tel: 210.683.6844 Fresh, nutritious Asian fusion food in a sleek yet simple setting

Whispers of wine

Ag. Konstantinou 48, Tel: 210.617.9051, Gourmet food with rich wine list and vintage decor

Mavili Sq

EAT 48 Urban Garden

Armatolon kai Klefton 48, Tel: 210.80.18.515 Cool, minimalist environment and interesting, fusion cuisine.

Fuga

Vas.Sofias & Kokkali 1, Tel: 210.724.2979 Italian inspired menu by chef Andrea Berton at the Athens Concert Hall

Ginger

Dorileou 10-12, Tel: 210.645.1169 Original dishes and innovative combinations in an elegant atmosphere

St’Astra

Alexadras 10, Tel: 210.889.4500 For an unforgettable roof-top dining experience

To Parko Eleftherias

Next to Megaron Mousikis, Tel: 210.722.3784 Classic recipes and nice atmopshere in a lush green park

Thanassis

Olive Garden

To Kouti

Hotel Titania, Panepistimiou 52, Tel: 210.332.600. Good food and great view of the Acropolis.

Tsoha 43, Tel: 210.644.4308 Gourmet cuisine and funky beats

DRINK

Athinas 65 & Lykourgou Tel: 210.325.0900 Urban design, organic cuisine, Cretan deli corner

Briki

360 Cocktail Bar

Balthazar

Tsoha 27, Tel: 210.644.1215 Lovely garden and chic interior attracts a cool crowd

Baraonda

Dorileou 6, Tel: 210.654.2380 Trendy hole-in-the-wall hangout

Mitropoleos 69, Tel: 210.324.4705 A souvlaki lover’s paradise Adrianou 23, Tel: 210.321.3229 Mediterranean fare right next to the ancient agora

Ifestou 2, Tel: 210.321.0006

A for Athens

EAT

Miaouli 2-4, Tel: 210.324.4244 An urban terrace with the most stunning view of the Acropolis

Bairaktaris

Couleur Locale

Monastiraki Square 2 Tel: 210.321.3036 Old-world taverna serving traditional Greek fare

Café Avissinia

Kynetou 7, Tel: 210.321.7047 Specializing in regional dishes & live music on weekends

Cosa Nostra

Agias Theklas 5, Tel: 210.331.0900 Excellent Italian food with a 1920’s Chicago retro atmosphere.

Melilotos

Kalamiotou 19, Tel: 210.322.2458 Greek-Mediterranean cuisine with fresh local ingredients

Savvas

Mitropoleos 86, Tel: 210.321.9919 Gyros & Middle Eastern dishes like pastourmali

Sigalas-Bairaktaris

Monastiraki Sq. 2, Tel: 210.321.3036 Century-old restaurant serving a variety of fresh dishes

Souvlaki Bar

Adrianou 7 & Thisiou 15, Tel: 210.515.0550

Stou Meïdani

Sokratous 3 & Evripidou Tel: 210.324.9073, A menu that is sure to please with speciality oven dishes

Normanou 3, Tel: 206.700.4917 A young scene with great cocktails and affordable finger food overlooking the Acropolis

Loukoumi Bar

Plateia Avissinias 3, Tel: 210.323.4814 An all day hang-out with good music, cool atmosphere and great views

Six Dogs

Avramiotou 6-8, Tel: 210.321.0510 A day&night cultural entertainment center and bar with a vivid 600m2 back-garden.

Spollati

Aiolou 27A, Tel: 215.551.3004 A delicious combination of signature cocktails with homemade syrups and funky Mediterranean cuisine

Taf

Themistokleous 8 and Nikitara 9, Tel: 210.383.8531, Excellent fish taverna in the centre of Athens

CAFes Cosa Nostra

Agias Theklas 5, Tel: 210.331.0900 Excellent Italian food with a 1920’s Chicago retro atmosphere.

EAT Fatsio

Efroniou 5, Tel: 210.721.7421 Greek food & political gossip

Mavro Provato

Ariannou 31, Tel: 210.722.3466 Best value-for-money meal in Athens

Spondi

Pyrronos 5, Tel: 210.756.4021, A mix of European & more exotic flavours. Voted one of the best in Athens

Tortuga

CAFes

Efronionos 13, Tel: 210.921.3500, Mediterranean cuisine in chic setting

Archimidous 1, Tel: 213.030.7520, Healthy, affordable street-style food.

Trapezaria

Trata o Stelios

Mokka

Athinas 44, Tel: 210.321.6892 Best espresso in town.

Tailor Made

Aghias Irinis Square 2, Tel: 213.004.9645 Trendy and hip coffee shop and cocktail bar.

EAT

Anagenniseos Sq. 7-9, Tel: 210.729.1533 The best grilled fish in town

Vespa Rosa

Naiadon 2, Tel: 210.723.4551 Great value-for-money Italian cuisine

DRINK LIVE BARS

Athinaikon

Abaroriza

Duck Soup

Half Note Jazz Club

Panepistimiou 39 Tel: 210.323.3916

Ideal Restaurant

Panepistimiou 46, Tel: 210.330.3000 Greek classics in old-world decor

66 insider athens | November - December 2016

Trata

Normanou 5, Tel: 210.323.8757 Outdoor bar in a neoclassical building with arty atmosphere and great exhibitions

Themistokleous 2, Tel: 210.383.8485 A traditional Greek ouzeri

Fuga

Pallas Athena

Pangrati

Mauzac

DRINK

Omonia

Agiou Konstantinou 56, Tel: 210.610.9988, Italian menu with a menu that changes daily!

Monastiraki

Dal Professore

Mama Tierra

Akadimias 84, Tel: 211.411.4420

Plastira Square 10, Tel: 210.701.9530 A pet friendly place with long balcony tables that fill up every night Trivonianou 17, Tel: 210.921.3310 A jazz club with great history, hosting important names from the international music scene.

Superfly

Empedokleous 28-30, Tel: 211.404.6076 The new hot spot for retro gamers

Alopis 65, Athens, Tel: 211.210.4939, Thai food in an exotic setting

Blue Bamboo

Kydantidon 24, Tel: 210.342.3124, Thai food with modern interior design

Thio Tragi

Kidatidon 36, Tel: 210.341.0296 Creative gourmet kitchen with high quality ingredients

DRINK Kurios Hou

Yperionos 1 & Dimofontos, Tel: 210.342.3972, Among Petralona’s trendy dining options with attitude.

Piraeus

EAT Captain John’s

Ak. Koumoundourou 16A, Tel: 210.417.7589 Traditional seafood

Dourambeis

Ak. Protopsalti 29, Tel: 210.412.2092 Classic fish taverna

Jimmy and The Fish

Ak. Mikrolimanou, Tel: 210.412.4417 Excellent seafood; try the astakomakaronada

Keg ‘n’ Crew

Akti Miaouli 83, Tel: 210.429.0396 Comfort food and cold beers

Kollias

Plastira 3, Tel: 210.462.9620 Excellent seafood but difficult to find; reserve on weekends

Papaioannou

Akti Koumoundourou 42, Tel: 210.422.5059, For Greek fish specialities on the harbourfront.

Notara 131, Piraeus, Tel: 210.429.4494, Home-style Thai food

Tony Bonano

Papanastasiou 63, Tel: 210.411.1901 Italian cuisine with a view of the harbour enu!

New m hes for Ak. Koumoundourou 52, 5 dis 50€ Mikrolimano, Tel: 210.522.8400 Varoulko

Seafood prepared by Michelin star-winning chef Lefteris Lazarou

Vassilenas

Etolikou 72 & Vitolion, Tel: 210.461.2457 Friendly food and atmosphere

Vosporos

Akti Koumoundourou 20, Tel: 210.412.7324, Mediterranean dining with a sea view.

Zefyros

Ak. Koumoundourou 48, Tel: 210.417.5152 Fresh seafood on the quay

Zorbas

Ak. Koumoundourou 14, Tel: 210.411.1663 Unique flavours of the Mediterranean

DRINK Istioploikos

Ak. Microlimanou, Tel: 210.413.4084 One of the hip places to see and be seen with a rooftop bar overlooking the yachting marina

Katafigio

Ak. Koumoundourou 4, Tel: 210.413.1612 Club, cafe & beer house

EAT 2 Mazi

Nikis 48, Tel: 210.322.2839 Creative gourmet dishes that change monthly

Brettos

Kydathaneon 41, Tel: 210.323.2110, Legendary watering-hole in the Plaka district

Daphne’s Restaurant

Lysikratous 4, Tel: 210.322.7971 Refined classic Greek dishes in a resplendent atmosphere

Electra

Nikodimou 18-20, Tel: 210.337.0000 Roof-top dining with Greek cuisine

Mono Wine Restaurant

Venizelou Paleologou 4, Tel: 210.322.6711 Unpretentious gourmet cuisine

Scholarheio Varoulko

Tripodon 14, Tel: 210.324.1605 A traditional tray taverna with old fashioned decor & prices

Albion

Ydria

Adrianou 68 & Eolou, Tel: 210.325.1619 Taditional Greek cuisine

China’s Fantasy

DRINK

Dioskouroi

Kambouroglou 32, Tel: 210.674.9889 Chinese cuisine

Bars, Clubs & Lounges

Dim. Vasiliou 16, Tel: 210.671.3997 All day café-restaurant

Noël

Dourampeis Oyster

Kolokotroni 59B, Tel: 211.215.9534 An evening lounge scene with friendly service and Italian inspired food and drink

Andrianiou 37, Tel: 210.671.0100 Delectable seafood and frech oysters

The Clumsies

Perikleous 11, Tel: 210.671.1976 A modern take on a traditional psarotaverna

Praxitelous 30, Tel: 210.323.2682 Features tasty cocktails and premium spirits that attract all ages

Fish Co. Platters

Throubi

Gaspar Food and Mood

Toy Cafe

Krithamos

Aghias Eirinis Square & Vasilikis 1, Tel: 210.323.0926, A cozy and colorful space with a good selection of coffee and cocktails Karytsi 10, Tel: 210.331.1555 Jazz and funk venue that started the Karytsi street scene

Dim. Vasiliou Av. & Lykourgou, Tel: 210.677.5011, Creative bistro cuisine ideal fro business lunches Mpoumpoulinas & N. Paritsi, Tel: 210.672.8790 Traditional flavours in an informal atmosphere

Matilde Pizza Bar

EAT

Psychico

Andaman

Rouan Thai

Plaka

Petralona

EAT

310 Street

Kifissias Av. 310, Tel: 210.671.0688 Juicy burgers and rich salads with retro look

Perikleous 7, Tel: 210.671.6803 Italian fare with accent on high quality ingredients

Ombra

Albion

Olimpionikon 220 & Lykourgou, Tel: 210.671.1320 Italian food with attitude

Antaios

Agg. Sikelianou 8 & Andrianiou, Tel: 210.672.9114 Terrific fusion food with piquant flavours

Omirou 6, Tel: 210.674.0710 Mediterranean flavours in a cosy atmosphere

G. Drosini 7, Tel: 210.675.5493 Relaxed atmosphere with delicious mezedes

Bluefield Burger

Rena tis Ftelias

25th Martiou 28, Tel: 210.674.3874 Highly recommended Greek taverna

DRINK

Aggelopoulou 3, Tel: 210.677.7739 For real American burgers

The Burger Joint

Piperia

CAFES

Solomou 4-6, Tel: 210.671.2222, New York style, organic burgers in an industrial and fresh restaurant environment.

Kudu

25th Martiou 22, Tel: 217.722.3040 Authentic coffee experience.

insider athens | November - December 2016 67

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EAT

Diporto

Theatrou & Sokratous, Tel: 210.321.1463 Old-world tavern offers bargain basics like salads, sardines & fava

Falafellas

Aiolou 51,Tel: 210.323.9809 Gourmet ethnic street food

Gostijo

Aisopou 10 street, Tel: 210.323.3825, Kosher menu and Mediterranean “repertoire”

Ipiros Tavern

New Taste

Syntagma

Psyrri

EAT

Amandine Bagels & Gourmandises

Nikis 13, Syntagma Tel: 210.323.9829 Fresh bagels and French pastries

Avocado

Nikis 30, Tel: 210.323.7878 Vegetarian restaurant

Budoo

Lekka 14, Tel: 210.331.3845 Authentic Thai

By The Glass

Souri 2, Tel: 210.323.2560 Charming wine bar with character

Athens Central Market Filopimenos 4, Tel: 210.324.0773, Great traditional Greek tavern, an excellent place for lunch

City Bistro

Kouzina Cine-Psirri

Dosirak

Stoa Spiliomilou,Tel: 210.321.1315, Refined cuisine in chic setting

Sari 40, Tel: 210.321.5534 Mediterranean fare & eclectic music

Museum of Greek Gastronomy

Agiou Dimitrious Street, Tel: 210.321.1311, Modern Hellenic cuisine and avant-garde gastronomic exhibitions.

Ochre & Brown

Voulis 31-33, Tel: 210.323.3330 Japanese & Korean cuisine in the perfect heart of Athens

green space

Apollonos 2, Tel: 210.322.9170 A Japanese favourite of expats & Athenians alike

DRINK

GB Corner

Bars, Clubs & Lounges

Hotel Grand Bretagne, Tel: 210.333.0750, Luxurious surroundings, Mediterranean cuisine

Beer Time

Indian Kitchen

Iroon Square 1, Tel: 210.322.8443 Relaxed atmosphere with wide selection of microbrews

Apollonos 6, Tel: 210.323.7720

Ioannis

Booze Cooperativa

Royal Olympic Hotel, Ath. Diakou 28-34, Tel: 210.928.8400 Greek & Mediterranean cuisine with breathtaking views from the rooftop

Cantina Social

Ipitou & Voulis 38, Tel: 210.321.1279 Cosy wine bar with French flair

Kolokotroni 57, Tel: 211.405.3733 A multi-purpose meeting venue for drinks, performances, and games Leokoriou 8, Tel: 210.325.1668, Tiny standing bar, ideal for socializing

Dude

Kalamiotou 14, Tel: 210.322.7130 Uptempo bar inspired by “Big Lebowski”

Nolan

Voulis 31-33, Tel:210.324.3545

Noodle Bar

Apollonos 11, Tel: 210.331.8585 A congenial place to drop in for a quick noodle fix

O Tzitzikas ki o Mermigas

Mitropoleos 12-14, Tel: 210.324.7607 Savoury Greek cuisine, perfectly combining modern & traditional elements

Osterman

Kiki’s de Grece

Feedέλ

DRINK

Agias Eirinis Sq, Tel: 210.324.3331 Mediterranean dishes in a setting where minimalism meets retro

Bars, Clubs & Lounges

Pasaji

Kolokotroni 3, Tel: 694.824.2455, Delicious creative cocktails and mixology

Stoa Spyromiliou, Tel: 210 .322.0714, Bang in the heart of Athens’ luxe zone.

Paul

for Panepistiomiou 10, Tel: 210.722.4824 A true French patisserie Feedέλ Urban Gastronomy al-fre sco Ktena 1, Athens, Tel: 210.321.0551 moment Plaza Lounges s NJV Athens Plaza Hotel Funky interior, a delightful patch of Furin Kazan

Leokoriou 7, Tel: 210.331.2950 Mediterranean/French cuisine

New Hotel, Filellinon 16, Tel: 210.327.3170, Mediterranean cuisine with a modern twist

Vas. Georgiou A & Stadiou Tel: 210.335.2400 All day lounge with salads & snacks

Sushimou

Skoufou 6, Tel: 211.407.8457 Owner Chef Antonis Drakoularakos, rated among the world’s 100 top chefs, lets his food do the talking

Taqueria Maya

Petraki 10, Tel: 211.216.7081, Feisty Mexican street food choices at pocket-friendly prices

The Parliament

NJV Athens Plaza Hotel Vas. Georgiou A & Stadiou Tel: 210.335.2400, International cuisine with Mediterranean accents

Tudor Hall Restaurant & Lounge

42 Bar

9

Kolokotroni 9, Tel: 210.323.2795 A cozy jazz bar with specialty cocktails

Abariza

Lekka 14, Tel: 210.325.7644 A wall of booze for serious drinkers

Alexander’s

Hotel Grande Bretagne, Syntagma Sq, Tel: 210.333.0000, For cherished cigar and single malt evenings

Baba Au Rum

Klitiou 6, Tel: 211.710.9140 Amazing cocktails and rum collection with a cozy environment

Barreldier

Voulis 7, Tel: 210.325.4711 An all-day café-cum-watering hole open into the wee hours

Barley Cargo

Kolokotroni 6, Tel: 210.323.0445 Enjoy a wide selection of international and Greek beers accompanied by live music

Boutique

15 Nikis, Tel: 210.321.1099 Affordable street-food style sushi

King George Hotel, Vas. Georgiou A3, Tel: 210.322.2210, Elegant setting, refined cuisine and an incredible Acropolis view

Los Loros

Wild in the City

Thiseos 16, Tel: 210.331.3733 A friendly place to drink to vintage music from the ‘50s and ‘60s

Koi

Stoa Bolani, Voulis 7, Tel: 210.331.5776

Xenofontos 14 & Nikis, Tel: 210.324.3232

The concierge of the Grande Bretagne Hotel recommends EAT

DRINK

DO

New Pepe Aperitivo, Kolonaki, Athens Classic F+W by Olivier Campanha, Kolonaki, Athens Alternative Barrio, Gazi, Athens

New Epta 7 Bar - Restaurant, Monastiraki, Athens Classic Penarrubia, Alimos Alternative The Clumsies Monastiraki, Athens

New Voyage,

68 insider athens | November - December 2016

Greek Shipbuilding and Seafaring from antiquity to modern times

Herakleidon Museum Classic National Historical Museum Alternative Pina Bausch, Sweet Mambo Onassis Cultural Center

Filellinon 15, Tel: 210.323.1315 Popular Athenian night spot

Drunk Sinatra

Explorer’s Lounge

Cava Vegera

NJV Athens Plaza, Syntagma Square, Tel: 210.335.2400, Magnificent cocktails and live jazz in an intimate atmosphere

Poseidonos 11, Tel: 210.964.6635 A new wine bar changing the game for the stagnant costal enclave

Nelly’s Gastro Pub

Plastira 3, Tel: 210.899.4965 An unpretentious hang-out with reasonably-priced drinks, themed sports nights, and knock-out burgers

Heteroclito

Fokionos 2, Tel: 210.323.9406 A true wine destination with focus on Greek vineyards

Voulis 7, Tel: 213.035.2144 Impressive selection of single malts

Mama Roux

Aiolou 48, Tel: 213.004.8382 A comfortable atmosphere with a variety of international cuisine and an elaborate Sunday brunch

Oinoscent

Voulis 45-47, Tel: 210.322.9374, Trendy winebar

The Clumsies

Praxitelous 30, Tel: 210.323.2682 Find out why it is rated amongst the best bars in Europe.

The Gin Joint

Christou Lada 1, Tel: 210.321.8646 Popular drinks, classic cocktails and the fanciest G&T in Athens!

The Trap

Othonos 10, Tel: 210.321.5561 Alluring gold trimmings, cosy mood and smooth tunes and dangerously delicious cocktails on tap

CAFES Kaya

Voulis 7, Tel: 213.028.4305 For a caffeine fix like no other.

Syngrou

EAT Ai Nikolas

Syngrou Ave. 156, Tel: 210.923.2918 Original seafood dishes, fresh ingredients and simple elegant interior

Avenue

Metropolitan Hotel, Syngrou Ave 385, Tel: 210.947.100, French bistrot inspired by Michel Roux

Café Zoe

Athenaeum InterContinental, Syngrou Ave 89-93, Tel: 210.920.6655 Casual dining and terrific buffets for lunch and on Sundays

Hytra

Onassis Cultural Center Syngrou Ave 107-109, Tel: 217.707.1118, 210.331.6767 Creative gourmet Greek cuisine with stunning views

Underdog

Iraklidon 8, Tel: 213.036.5393 Specialty coffees, impressive selection of foreign and Greek craft beers, and exceptional cocktail menu

Indian Chef

Athanasiou Diakou 22, Tel: 210.923.3585

Indian Haveli

Syngrou Ave. 12, Tel: 210.924.4522

Kollias

Syngrou Ave. 303, Tel: 210.940.8620 Excellent seafood in a pleasant Mediterranean atmosphere

Ledra Kai

Athens Ledra Hotel, Syngrou 115, Tel: 210.930.0000 Polynesian Tepanyiaki restaurant going strong after 30 years

Première

Athenaeum InterContinental, Syngrou Ave 89-93, Tel: 210.920.6981 Gourmet cuisine with splendid views

EAT Indian Masala

Ermou 129, Tel: 210.321.9412 Amazing Indian food at affordable price in a pleasant environment

Kirki

Apostoplou Pavlou 31, Tel: 210.346.6960 Ideal for a lunch break

Kuzina

Adrianou 9, Tel: 210.324.0133 Inspired traditional recipes in a cozy arty environment

The James Joyce

Astiggos 12, Tel: 210.323.5055 Genuine Irish pub with typical pub fare

DRINK The Sowl

Iraklidon 10, Tel: 210.345.0003 Art, taste, fashion and music collide at this welcoming new “ethnic urban” space

EAT Coconuts

Vasileos Pavlou 67, Tel: 210.895.5177, The place to stock up on your quinoa chips and acai berries

Drakoulis Meat Open Project

Vas. Pavlou 103, Tel: 210.932.0211 A nightclub, gourmet emporium, and Athens’ most glamorous meat boutique all in one

Dulcis in Fundo

Prinkipos Petrou 33, Tel: 210.894.2136 Top-quality authentic Italian

Ithaki

Apollonos 28, Tel: 210.896.3747 Beautiful sea view, fresh seafood

ence

The Margi, Litous 11, Tel: 210.892.9160 Multinational tastes in a chic Mediterranean ambi-

Matsuhisa Athens

Astir Palace, Apollonos 40, Tel: 210.896.0510, Celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa serves up sushi favourites with a Latin-American flair

Moorings

Marina Vouliagmeni, Tel: 210.967.0659

Mythos of the Sea

Ag. Nikolaou 10 & Iliou, Tel: 210.891.1100 Gourmet Mediterranean cuisine that blends local produce with fresh seafood

Psaraki

Koi

98 Vas. Pavlou, Tel: 213.032.0890 Affordable streetfood style sushi

Naiades

Vas. Pavlou 74, Tel: 210.965.7706 Popular family grill joint

Posidonos 15, Tel: 210.896.2215 Seafood served in an informal setting

Rafale

Apollonos 28, Tel: 210.967.1184 Traditionally prepared seafood dishes presented exquisitely

Sardelaki

Ballaro Italian Restaurant & Deli

Posidonos 12, Tel: 210.899.4464 Charming deli-trattoria with flavours from Palermo

Troufa Chocolate Bar

Vasileos Pavlou 80, Tel: 211.012.0004 Heaven on earth for chocoholics

DRINK Bars, Clubs & Lounges Cava Faydon

Posidonos 17, Tel: 210.896.0400 Trattoria serving traditional Italian dishes & pizza

Malabar

Voula

Low Profile

Al Bacio

Avenue

Thissio

Amerikis 6, Tel: 210.360.8304 Dance the night away in a chic environment

Vouliagmeni

EAT

Kalua

Agiou Ioannou 28, Tel: 215.510.9975 Mid-range or special edition wine varieties with a giddy range of imported goodies

Leof. Poseidunos 18, Tel: 210.967.0913 Affordable seafood on the waterfront

Schara

Posidonos 15, Tel: 210.896.2432 Grills with frills in a friendly setting at reasonable prices

Waffle House

Posidonos 17, Tel: 210.896.1227 Sure to satisfy your sweet tooth

DRINK En Plo

Posidonos 4, Tel: 210.967.1770 Cocktails overlooking Vouliagmeni Bay

Island

27th klm Athinon-Souniou Tel: 210.965.3563-4 Award-winning cuisine & an unmatched location

insider athens | November - December 2016 69

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Bookstores

Compendium

Alikarnassou 8, Athens Tel: 210.383.2139, 210.322.1248

Eleftheroudakis

Panepistimiou 15, Athens Tel: 210.331.7609 The largest foreign language bookstore in Greece

Ιanos

Le livre ouvert

Solonos 77, Kolonaki Tel: 210.362.9703

Lexikopoleio

Stasinou 13, Tel: 210.723.1201

Ouranio Toxo

Perikleous 41, Ag.Paraskevi Tel: 211.184.6771

Papasotiriou

Panepistimiou 37, Athens Tel: 210.325.3232, 210.332.3301

Polyglot

Akadimias 84, Tel: 210.330.0455

Public

Karageorgi Servias 1, Syntagma, S. Karagiorga 4 & Lazaraki, Glyfada The Mall and Golden Hall, Maroussi Tel: 210.818.1333

Deli

Arapian

Evripidou 41, Monastiraki Tel: 210.321.7238 Old-style butcher shop offering cured meats

Bahar

Evripidou 31, Monastiraki Tel: 210.321.7225 Well-known herb haven

Cava Anthidis

Patriarchou Ioakeim 45, Kolonaki Tel: 210.725.1050 Comprehensive wine and liquor wholesalers

Cellier

Kriezotou 1d, Syntagma Tel: 210.361.0040, Kifissias Ave. 369, Tel: 210.801.8756, Syngrou Ave. 320, Tel: 210.453.3551 Stockists of premium wines and spirits

Kostarelos

Patr. Ioakeim 30-32, Tel: 210.725.9000 Great selection of cheese and Greek goodies

Kylix

Karneadou 20, Tel: 210.724.5143 Quality picks from the world’s best vineyards

Marks & Spencer Food

Ermou 33-35, Athens, Tel: 210.324.0675 Vouliagmenis Av. 85, Glyfada, Tel: 211.012.4968 Lazaraki 13, Glyfada, Tel: 210.894.3147 Pentelis Av. 23, Vrilissia, Tel: 211.012.5381

Mesogaia

Nikis 52, Syntagma Tel: 210.322.9146 Packaged & fresh speciality foods

Miran

Evripidou 45, Tel: 210.321.7187 Sausages, pastrami & cured meats

Provence

Posidonos 80, Tel: 210.898.1435 Gourmet French delicatessen

Sorpresa Italiana

Kiriazi 6-8, Tel: 210.801.7886, Authentic fresh Italian pasta, sauces, truffles & more

Jewellery

Lea Books

Sina 60, Kolonaki Tel: 211.012.0547

Kostarelos

Stefanidis Finest Foods

Dimitrios Sq 13, Tel: 210.808.2191 Excellent European delicatessen

Varsos

Kassaveti 5, Tel: 210.801.2472 Milk products & patisserie

Wine Garage

Xenokratous 25, Tel: 210.721.3175, Browser-friendly cava with helpful service

Apriati

Pindarou 29, Tel: 210.360.7878 Smartly designed jewellery for the young

Elena Votsi

Xanthou 7, Tel: 210.360.0936 Conversation pieces in gold and stone

Fanourakis

Patriarchou Ioakim 23, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.721.1762, Unique collection of animal and insect pins & earrings

Folli Follie

Tsakalof 6 & Solonos 25 Kolonaki, Tel: 210.323.0739 Greece's high-street export stocks watches and everyday bijoux

Omega

Voukourestiou 2, Kolonaki Tel: 210.322.7682 Elegant boutique showcasing the brand's timeless timepieces

Van Cleef & Arpels Athens Metro Mall

Dept Stores

Stadiou 24, Athens Tel: 210.321.7917, 231.022.1113

Vouliagmenis Avenue 276, Tel: 210.976.9444 Shops, cinemas and food

Attica

Panepistimiou 9, Tel: 211.180.2600 Home to an array of luxury goods

Golden Hall

Kifissias 37A, Tel: 210.680.3450 131 high-end (and highstreet) stores for anyone with a passion for fashion

Voukourestiou 1, Kolonaki Tel: 210.331.0319 The jeweller of the international jetset

Bulgari

Voukourestiou 8, Kolonaki Tel: 210.324.7118, Opulent designs in jewellery, watches & accessories

Cartier

Voukourestiou 7, Tel: 210.331.3600 Two floors of designs & timepieces by the prestigious Cartier maison

McArthurGlen

Building Block E71, Yalou, 19004, Spata, Tel: 210.663.0830, 210.663.0840 Designer Outlet Shopping Centre

The Mall Athens

Andrea Papandreou 35 Tel: 210.630.0000 Shops, cinemas and food Attica

70 insider athens | November - December 2016

Chopard

GB Spa

Zolotas

Chopard

Greece is for Lovers

Stadiou 2 & Vas. Georgiou Tel: 210.325.0555 Legendary time pieces and jewellery.

Ilias Lalaounis

Panepistimiou 6, Tel: 210.361.1371 Fabulous gold designs by famous Greek jeweller

It's all, oh so souvenir to me!

Panepistimiou 7, Tel: 210.323.2919 Wide range of luxury brand timepieces

Marathianakis

Karagiorgi Servias 4 (Stoa Kalliga), Tel: 210.362.7118 & 210.322.2424 Old-world shop known for its original & elegant designs

Kori

Mitropoleos 13, Monastiraki Tel: 210.323.3534 Traditional & contemporary jewellery

Pentheroudakis

Voukourestiou 19, Tel: 210.361.3187 Timeless pieces inspired by classical Greek design

Forget me not

Adriannou 100, Plaka Tel: 210.325.3740 www.forgetmenotathens.gr

Paliosintheies

Vas.Sofias 46, Tel: 210.728.1000

Protogenous 8, Psyrri, Tel: 210.656.0574 Vintage home décor and furniture

I-Spa

InterContinental Athenaeum Athens Syngrou Avenue 89-93, Tel: 210.920.6000

Preloved

Olive Tree Spa

Ipitou 5, Syntagma Second-hand clothing collected from the cities of Paris and Berlin

Orloff Spa Astir Beach

Aghias Eirinis 3, Monastiraki Tel: 210.545.1553 Great collection of merchandise ranging from the ‘20s to the ‘90s.

Hatzigianni Mexi 4, Hilton Tel: 210 724.4425

Retrosexual Vintage Shop

Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni Tel: 210.896.0028

Sofita

Iraklidon 35, Thissio Tel: 210.346.9904

Ananea Spa

Life Gallery Hotel 103 Thisseos Ave., Ekali, Tel: 211.106.7400

Arion Resort & Spa,

Astir Palace Complex, Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni Tel: 210.890.2000 Open daily for treatments from 09:00 to 21:30 (last appointment at 20:00)

Amerikaniki Agora

Yesterday's Bread

Athinas 30, Monastiraki 1st-2nd Floor Tel: 210 3217876

Kallidromiou 87-89, Tel: 210.881.1233 Imported second-hand clothes; individuality guaranteed

Bohbo

Ippokratous 39, Exarhia Tel: 210.338.9202

Gouadeloupi

Protogenous 12, Psyrri, Tel: 697.852.3933

Like Yesterday’s

Sports

Koumbari & Vas. Sofias Tel: 210.367.1045, 210.367.1002 www.benakishop.gr

Hiltonia Spa

Vintage

Benaki Museum Shop

Neophytou Douka 4, Kolonaki Tel: 210.722.8321-3

Spas

Souvenirs

15 Dionysiou Areopagitou, Tel: 210.900.0911

Sarri 28, Psyrri, Tel: 210.331.1922 Vintage and contemporary style home décor and furniture

Museum of Cycladic Art Shop

Panepistimiou 10, Tel: 210.360.1272 Designs inspired by the ancient Greece as well as contemporary collections by designers like Paloma Picasso

Acropolis Museum Shop

Mofu

Vasileos Georgiou 1, Syntagma Sq 210.333.0799

Concierge Athens, Ay.Theklas 8, Psirri, Tel: 213.036.9266 More than 50 Greek designers' unique, new imaginative and unexpected ideas that re-define the souvenir www.ohsosouvenir.com

Kessaris

Zolotas

GB Spa at Hotel Grande Bretagne

Valtetsiou 50 - 52, Kolonaki Tel: 210.924.5064 www.greeceisforlovers.com Tongue-in-cheek souvenirs for the discerning traveller

Protogenous 16, Monastiraki Tel: 216.700.4810 Vintage clothes mainly from the United States

Water Action Ltd

Vouliagmenis Avenue 12, Voula Tel: 210.895.8873 Mob: 694.476.1502 e-shop: www.water-action.gr e-mail: dspilioti@gmail.com

Retrosexual

insider athens | November - December 2016 71

Badminton Theatre Goudi, Athens, Tel: 211.101.0020 Gialino Music Theatre Sygrou 143, N. Smyrni, Athens Tel: 210.9316.101-4 Pallas Theatre Voukourestiou 5, Athens, Tel: 210.321.3100

Acropolis is open daily and entrance, includes archaeological sites. Tel: 210.321.0219 Ancient Agora was the heart of ancient Athens - the focus of political, commercial, administrative and social life for centuries.

Byzantine Churches many churches dating from the 11th and 12th centuries are found around the city. Noteworthy examples include: Agios Eleftherios, next to the cathedral on Mitropoleos Street; Kapnikarea, halfway down Ermou Street from Syntagma; Agi Apostoli, Agora area south of Stoa of Attalos; and Agia Triada (Russian Orthodox church) on Filellinon Street.

Churches are open to the public on Sundays and holidays, also usually for daily prayers 7am-1pm and 4-6:30pm.

Dress soberly when visiting.

Technopolis (Gazi) a 19th century gas factory turned major cultural centre for performing arts and installation works.

Pireos 100 & Ermou, Gazi.

Tel: 210.346.1589.

Hadrian’s Arch a Roman arch that markedthe boundary of ancient Athens and the new city. Located at the corner of

72 insider athens | November - December 2016

Hellenic Cosmos Foundation of the Hellenic world Pireos 254, Tavros. Tel: 212.254.0000. hellenic-cosmos.gr Frissiras Vlassis Museum of Contemporary European Art Monis Asteriou 3-7, Plaka, Tel: 210.323.4678 frissirasmuseum.com Goulandris Foundation Museum of Cycladic Art Neofytou Douka 4, Athens .

Tel: 210.722.8321, cycladic.gr Herakleidon Herakleidon 16, Thissio, Tel: 210.346.1981 Apostolou Pavlou 37, Thissio Tel: 211.012.6486, herakleidon-art.gr Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum Karyatidon & Kallisperi 12, Makrygianni, Acropolis. Tel: 210.922.7260, lalaounis.com Jewish Museum Nikis 39, Plaka.

Tel: 210.322.5582. jewishmuseum.gr Kerameikos Museum Ermou 148, Monastiraki, Tel: 210.346.3552.

National Archaeological Museum Patission 44, Athens, Tel: 210.821.7724 National Gallery and Alexandros Soutsos Museum Vas. Konstantinou 50, Athens.

Tel: 210.723.5857, 210.723.5937 Numismatic Museum Panepistimiou 12, Athens.

Tel: 210.363.5953, nma.gr The Acropolis Museum Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Acropolis.

Tel: 210.924.1043, theacropolismuseum.gr The National Art Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum Michalakopoulou 1 - Vas. Constantinou 1, Athens, Tel: 210.723.5857

Agora Museum Located in the Stoa of Attalos, Athens. Tel: 210.321.0185.

Atelier Spyros Vassiliou Webster 5A, Athens.

Tel: 210.923.1502, spyrosvassiliou.org Athens University History Museum Tholou 5, Plaka, Tel: 210.368.9502, history-museum.uoa.gr Benaki Museum Koumbari 1 & Vas. Sofias Avenue, Athens Tel: 210.367.1000, benaki.gr Benaki Museum of Islamic Arts Dipylou 12, Kerameikos.

Tel: 210.325.1311, benaki.gr Benaki Museum, Pireos Pireos 138 & Andronikou, Gazi Tel: 210.345.3111, benaki.gr Byzantine Museum Vas. Sofias 22, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.721.1027

Allou Fun Park Kifissou & Petrou Ralli, Ag. Ioannis Rentis, Tel: 210.425.6999, allou.gr Children’s Museum Kydathinaeon 14, Plaka, Tel: 210.331.2995.

Goulandris Museum of Natural History Levidou 13, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.801.5870, gnhm.gr Greek Folk Art Museum Daily Karaghiozis puppet shows!

Kydathinaeon 17, Plaka, Tel: 210.322.9031 Museum of Children’s Art Kodrou 9, Plaka, Tel: 210.331.2621 childrensartmuseum.gr Summit The Wall Sport Climbing Center Ag. Athanasiou 12, Pallini, Tel: 210.603.0093, summit.gr Westin Kids Club Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni, Tel: 210.890.2000 www.westinathens.com/en/westin_kids_club/

Just for kids

Sites Theatres

Galleries

A. Antonopoulou Art Aristofanous 20, Psyrri Tel: 210.321.4994 Artzone 42 42 Vas. Konstantinou, Athens, Tel: 210 725 9549 Astrolavos Dexameni Xanthippou 11, Kolonaki Tel: 210.729.4342 Astrolavos ArtLife Irodotou 11, Kolonaki Tel: 210.722.1200 Athens Art Gallery Glykonos 4, Dexameni Sq., Athens, Tel: 210 721 3938 Bernier/Eliades Gallery Eptachalkou 11, Thissio, Tel: 210.341.3935 (The) Breeder Gallery Iasonas 45, Metaxurgeio, Tel: 210.331.7527 Ekfrasi Gallery Valaoritou 9a, Tel: 210.360.7598 Eleni Marneri Galerie Lebessi 5-7& Porinou 16, Acropolis Tel: 210.8619.488 EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art Kallirrois Av. & Amvr. Frantzi street Athens, Tel: 210.924.2111- 3 Gagosian Gallery Merlin 3, Athens, Tel: 210.364.0215 K-Art Gallery Sina 54, Athens, Tel: 211.401.3877 Kalfayan Gallery Haritos 11, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.721.7679 Kourd Gallery Kassiani 2-4, Athens, Tel: 210.642.6573 Skoufa Gallery Skoufa 4, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.360.3541 Stavros Mihaliaras Art 260 Kifissias & Diligianni, Kifissia Tel: 210.623.0928 Thanassis Frisssiras Gallery Kriezotou 7, Athens, Tel: 210.364.0288 The Eynard Mansion Aghiou Konstantinou 20 & Menandrou, Athens, Tel: 210.322.1335 Titanium Yiayiannos Vas. Konstantinou 44, Pangrati, Tel: 210.729.7644 Xippas Gallery Sofokleous 53D, Athens, Tel: 210.331.9333 Zoumboulakis Gallery Kolonaki Square 20, Kolonaki Tel: 210.360.8278/ Kriezotou 6, Syntagma, Tel: 210.363.4454

Vas. Olgas and Amalias Avenues.

Lykavittos Hill is the highest point in Athens. Take the teleferique from the top of Ploutarchou St. Odeon of Herod Atticus built in 161 AD, this is where the Athens Festival takes place. Accessible for €1.50 and open daily from 8:30am.

Panathenian Stadium Kalimarmaro”was the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Located at Vassileos Konstantinou and Agras, across from the National Garden. Pnyx Hill here, for the first time in history, every citizen could vote, giving Pnyx the name the “birthplace of democracy”. Close by is the beautiful Old Observatory. Presidential Palace formerly the Royal Palace, this building is used by the President of Greece to host dignitaries. Irodou Attikou Street. Stoa of Attalos shopping arcade built in the 2nd century BC and totally reconstructed in the 1950s. Tues-Sun 8:30am-3pm.

Admission to the Agora and museum €3.50. Adrianou 24. Tel: 210.321.0185 Syntagma(Constitution Square) is the heart of the city and the best spot for new visitors to orient themselves. The Evzones, dressed in traditional uniforms, guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament. The changing-of-the-guard ceremony takes place every hour. Temple of Olympian Zeus once the largest temple in ancient Greece, its ruins lie just behind Hadrian’s Arch. Mon-Sun 8am-7:30pm. €2.00. Vas. Olgas and Amalias Avenues, Tel: 210.922.6330. Theatre of Dionysus built in the 5th century BC is where the plays of Aristophanes, Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles were first performed. Tower of Winds the octagonal tower, representing the eight directions of the wind, was built in the 1st century BC by the Syrian astronomer Andronicus.

Mon-Sun 8am-7pm. Just east of the Ancient Agora. Tel: 210.324.5220.

Museums

ASSOCIATION OF GUIDES Tel: 210.322.9705

Athinais Cultural Centre formerly a silk factory, this space has been converted into a large cultural centre. astorias 34-36, Votanikos. Tel: 210.348.0000.

B&M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts & Music Vas. Sofias 9 & Merlin 1, Athens Tel: 210.361.1206 Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre 48 Armatolon-Klephton st. Athens, Tel: 210.643.9466 Megaron Mousikis (The Athens Concert Hall) live concerts, operas and other performances. Vas. Sofias Ave. & Kokkali. Tel: 210.728.2333 Michael Cacoyannis Foundation Piraeus 206, Tavros, Tel: 210.341.8550 Onassis Cultural Centre Syngrou 107-109, Athens, Tel: 213.017.8000 Stavros Niarchos Foundation Vasilissis Sofias Ave. 86A The Art Foundation Normanou 5, Athens, Tel: 210.323.8757

Cultural venues

ORGANISED TOURS

ARION RESORT & SPA

ATHENS HILTON

COCO-MAT HOTEL NAFSIKA

DIVANI PALACE ACROPOLIS

The legendary beauty resort is part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Breathtaking views of the Saronic Gulf, elegant and sophisticated décor in all 123 rooms and suites, private swimming pools and beaches, spa and gourmet restaurants.

Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni.

Tel: 210.890.2000

506 renovated rooms, two pools, convention facilities, business center, four restaurants, two bars and spa. The rooftop Galaxy Bar and Restaurant has gorgeous city views.

Vas. Sofias 46, Ilisia Tel: 210.728.1000

Located in Kifissia, the hotel offers an unforgettable experience thanks to COCOMAT‘s unique sleep systems in its 22 guest rooms, power breakfast, bike rids and herb garden.

Pellis 6, Kifissia. Tel: 210.801.8027

Located at the base of the Acropolis and close to Plaka. Pool with bar, roof garden restaurant with Acropolis view.

Parthenonos 19-25 Makrigianni, Acropolis.

Tel: 210.928.0100

ATHENAEUM INTERCONTINENTAL ATHENS

COCO-MAT HOTEL

Crowne plaza

GRANDE BRETAGNE

543 rooms with renovated Deluxe rooms and suites. Dedicated business centre facilities and 3.500 m2 of extensive & flexible meeting space. New I-Spa and renovated gym. Award winning restaurants.

Syngrou 89-93, Neos Kosmos.

Tel: 210.920.6000

COCO-MAT Hotel Athens is an understated luxury, design hotel that sits in the heart of Kolonaki and offers relaxing sleep, delicious homemade breakfast and selected services for its esteemed guests. 36 Patriarchou Ioakeim str.

Tel: 210.723.0000

Newly renovated, at a very convenient location attracts both business and leisure travellers. Amenities include restaurant, bar, rooftop swimming pool, conference and business facilities, garage parking.

Michalakopoulou 50, Athens.

Tel: 210.727.8000

This city landmark is part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. All 265 rooms and 56 suites are decorated with original artwork and antiques.

Reception areas, ballrooms, roof garden with Acropolis view. Luxury spa, indoor and outdoor pools.

Syntagma Sq. Tel: 210.333.0000

ATHENIAN CALLIRHOE HOTEL

CIVITEL ATTIK

DIVANI APOLLON PALACE & SPA

Holiday Inn Attica Avenue

66 state-of the-art rooms, 15 executive rooms and 3 suites. The acclaimed Etrusco Restaurant serves top quality Mediterranean cuisine.

Kallirois 32 & Petmeza, Neos Kosmos.

Tel: 210.921.5353

A tranquil first-class business, sports and family hotel set in the leafy green suburb of Maroussi, with a swimming pool, conference facilities and spacious restaurant with terrace.

Eptalofou 13 – 15, Maroussi. Τel: 210.610.1000

Located seaside with a magnificent view of the Saronic Gulf. All rooms with balconies and sea views. Indoor and outdoor pools, boutiques, beauty parlor, business centre and spa.

Ag. Nikolaou 10 & Iliou, Kavouri Vouliagmeni. Tel: 210.891.1100

New five-star property on Attica Avenue linking Athens with the international airport.

State-of-the art conference facilities, restaurant, two bars, pool and fitness center.

40.2 km Attica Road, between exits 17 & 18, Spata. Tel: 210.668.9000

ATHENS ELECTRA PALACE HOTEL

CIVITEL OLYMPIC

DIVANI CARAVEL

Holiday Suites

Located in historic Plaka beneath the Acropolis. Facilities include bar, restaurant, spa area with indoor swimming pool, business centre, garden and underground parking.

N. Nikodimou 18-20, Plaka.

Tel: 210.337.0000

Right across the Olympic Stadium, its Superior Rooms and Junior Suites are fitted with modern amenities, from free minibar to free wifi internet access and interactive tv.

Kifissias 2A & Pantanassis, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.680.1900

Situated close to major tourist attractions with, rooftop restaurant and swimming pool.

Vas. Alexandrou 2, Kesariani.

Tel: 210.720.7000

Elegant, all-suite hotel offering high standard accommodation. Each suite provides guests with a separate living room and kitchenette.

Arnis 4, Ilissia.

Tel: 210.727.8000

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KEFALARI SUITES

METROPOLITAN

RADISSON BLU

THEOXENIA PALACE HOTEL

Turn-of-the-century hotel in Kifissia, part of YES! Hotels.Themed suites with modern facilities.

Pentelis 1, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.623.3333

Overlooking the Acropolis and the Saronic Gulf, the Metropolitan Hotel combines warm hospitality and urban luxury.

Syngrou Ave 385, Paleo Faliro Tel: 210.947.1000, metrpolitan@chandris.gr

Set across from the lush groves of Pedion tou Areos park, this contemporary hotel is a 4-minute walk from Victoria metro station and 2.9 km from the Acropolis.

Alexandras Avenue 10, Athens Tel: 210.889.4500

In an elegant neoclassical building, this hotel has a restaurant, gym, sauna and outdoor pool. Business centre, internet & conference facilities.

Filadelfeos 2, Kifissia.

Tel: 210.623.3622

KING GEORGE

NEW

SEMIRAMIS

THE MARGI

Situated in the heart of the city, it’s 102 guest rooms and suites are elegantly furnished and natural wood floors. Meeting & Conference spaces, restaurants with panoramic views.

Vas. Georgiou A’ 3. Syntagma Sq. Tel: 210.322.2210

Designed by the Campana brothers, NEW, the latest venture of YES! Hotels has 79 luxury rooms, including 18 Studios and 6 Junior Suites. NEW Taste, is the Hotel’s innovative restaurant concept.

Filellinon 16, Syntagma.

Tel: 210.3273000

YES! Hotel designed by Karim Rashid. 51 luxury rooms, 4 suites and 6 poolside bungalows. Ultra-trendy bar-restaurant.

Harilaou Trikoupi 48, Kefalari-Kifissia.

Tel: 210.628.4400

Boutique hotel with 90 spacious rooms and suites and great views to the sea and pine forests. Baku Restaurant offers a unique dining experience while Malabar and the Lobby lounge are perfect for a glass of champagne.

Close to the lake, beach and tennis courts.

Litous 11, Vouliagmeni. Tel: 210.892.9000

LIFE GALLERY

NJV athens plaza

SOFITEL ATHENS AIRPORT

THE WESTIN ATHENS

Modern architecture finds its expression in a minimalist designed building with discreet swimming pools, Zen gardens and ethnic elements. The hotel offers 29 spacious, luxury rooms, including 3 art studios and 2 suites and a spa and fitness centre.

Thiseos Avenue 103, Ekali. Tel: 211.106.7400

Boutique-style hotel with 182 rooms including 23 suites with breathtaking views of the Acropolis, ideally located in the heart of the business and shopping district within walking distance of Plaka. 2, Vas.Georgiou A’ St, Syntagma Sq. Tel: 210 3352400

Airport hotel. Executive floor, business center and conference facilities. Two bars and two restaurants. Health club and covered swimming pool.

Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Spata. Tel: 210.354.4000

Part of the Astir Palace Complex with 162 guest rooms and suites and views of the Saronic Gulf. Sea view lounges, trendy bars, fusion and Mediterranean cuisine restaurants and private gazebos by an Olympic-sized pool.

Apollonos 40, Vouliagmeni. Tel: 210.890.2000

MELIÁ ATHENS

NOVOTEL

ST. GEORGE LYCABETTUS HOTEL

ATHENS WAS

Located in the heart of Athens with 136 luxury rooms, spacious dining areas, a modern health club and views of historic monuments.

Chalkokondili 14 & 28th Octovriou, Acropolis.

Tel: 210.332.0100

Located in the center of Athens. Two Bars/ Restaurants at outdoor Rooftop Pool & lobby area, play area, gym, free indoor parking, free Wi-Fi and panoramic view from the Roof Garden.

4-6 Michail Voda Street, Vathis Square.

Tel: 210.820.0700

Located in the upper part of Kolonaki, not far from the Lycabettus (Lykavittos) funicular railway. Excellent restaurant, Le Grand Balcon. Rooftop swimming pool.

Kleomenous 2, Dexamenis Square, Kolonaki.

Tel: 210.741.6000

Urban adventure, daring design, original architecture, energetic social hub and stylish comfort, AthensWas’ 21 rooms all feature verandas to take in a truly authentic Athenian experience.

Dionysiou Areopagitou 5, Tel:210.725.4871

74 insider athens | November - December 2016

TwentyOne

A member of YES! Hotels. Modern design and simple architectural charm. 16 ergonomically designed rooms and 5 loft suites.

“21” Bar Restaurant for indoor and outdoor dining.

Kolokotroni 21, Kifissia Tel: 210.623.3521

Herodion

A five minute walk to Plaka. 90 guest rooms, meeting facilities and a lovely atrium bar-coffee shop.

Rovertou Galli 4, Makrigianni.

Tel: 210.923.6832

A CATEGORY AVA HOTEL & SUITES

HOTEL ELECTRA

Luxurious apartments and suites in Plaka. Magnificent views of the Acropolis, Hadrian’s Arch and Zeus Temple. Short walk to Syntagma.

Lysikratous 9-11, Plaka.

Tel: 210.325.9000

Within walking distance from all archaeological sites, business and commercial districts. Includes bar, restaurant, lobby and meeting areas.

Ermou 5, Syntagma Sq. Tel: 210.337.8000

amarilia hotel

PERISCOPE HOTEL

An excellent choice for business and leisure travellers. 100 renovated rooms and suites with great sea views, meeting and banqueting facilities, outdoor swimming pool.

Ag. Nikolaou 13 Vouliagmeni.

Tel: 210.899.0391

17 rooms, 4 junior suites and a super-lux penthouse suite. Part of YES! Hotels.

Haritos 22, Kolonaki.

Tel: 210.729.7200

Fresh Hotel

Philippos

Situated in the heart of old Athens within walking distance of the Plaka. Enjoy the Orange Bar, rooftop restaurant and pool.

Sophocleous 26 & Klisthenous, Omonoia.

Tel: 210.524.8511

Recently refurbished, all 50 rooms are wellappointed and comfortable. Good value for money.

Mitseon 3, Acropolis.

Tel: 210.922.3611-4

COSTA NAVARINO

SANTORINI

The Westin Resort Costa Navarino

MYSTIQUE

Inspired by old Messinian mansions, its 445 deluxe rooms, suites, 123 with private infinity pools, offer access to an extensive common pool areas, and reflect Westin’s soothing aesthetic.

Navarino Dunes Costa Navarino, Pilos Messinia, Tel: 27230.95000

Mystique is an 18 villa hotel, designed by Frank Le Fevbre.

Mystique, Oia. Tel. 22860.71114

The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort

The Tsitouras Collection Hotel

289 exquisitely appointed rooms and 32 suites with individual infinity pools.

Traditional Greek design with contemporary touches.

Navarino Dunes Costa Navarino, Pilos Messinia, Tel: 27230.96000

Art and hospitality are graciously combined in the unique backdrop of a dramatic landscape.

Firostefani, Santorini Tel: 22860.23747

evia

VEDEMA

THERMAE SYLLA wellness hotel

Voted one of the ten best spas in the world, it has 101 rooms, 7 Suites and 1 presidential suite with an incredible sea view. 2 restaurants offer traditional Mediterranean cuisine Posidonos 2, Edipsos, Evia. Tel: 22260.60100

Vedema has 45 rooms converted from a 100 year old neo-classical captain’s house and a private swiming pool for all the suites.

Vedema, Megalohori.

Tel: 22860.81796

SYROS

PATMOS Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa

VILLA SELENA

A 5-star luxury hotel situated only a few steps from Grikos beach. Considered possibly the best located hotel in Patmos.

Patmos, Grikos Bay. Tel: 22470.32800

A luxurious five-star boutique hotel with suitably equipped rooms and suites to ensure a comfortable stay. The spacious terrace with a panoramic view is ideal for breakfast or drinks Tel. 22810 86007, www.villaselena.eu

insider athens | November - December 2016 75

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OTE video conference service

7.30am-10pm. Patission 85.

Tel: 210.883.8578, 210.822.0399

Commercial Office spaces Regus

Tel: 210.727.9000

Global Business Services Tel: 210.876.4876 Kifissias Ave. 90, Maroussi

COURIER SERVICES ACS

Asklipiou 25, Kryoneri Tel: 210.819.0000

DHL Tel: 210.989.0000 Express City S. Trikoupi 71, Athens Tel: 210.821.9959

Geniki Taxydromiki

Kifissou 14, Renti, Tel: 210.485.1100

Speedex

Seneka 24, 15klm Athinon-Lamias, Kifissia Tel: 801.110.0011

UPS

Driving School Highway

Amfitheas and Ag. Triados 30, 175 64 P. Faliro, Tel: 210.988.8098, 699.772.2777

Vlachos Bros

25th Martiou 20, Peristeri; Xenofodos 17, Peristeri; Afroditis 39, Ilion Tel: 210.574.4895, 210.576.9190

Relocation Agencies Allied Pickfords

Mourouzi 7, Athens, Tel: 210.610.4494

Athens Relocation Centre Zakynthou 10, Glyfada Tel: 210.965.0697

Attica Movers

Syngrou Ave. 19, Neos Kosmos, Tel: 210 922 7221

Celebrity International Movers Kapodistriou Ave. 102, Nea Ionia Tel: 210 272 0106

Corporate Relocations Athens Ag. Saranta 32, Nea Erithrea Tel: 210.800.3510

Orphee Beinoglou

27th km Old National Road Athens-Korinth Location Elefsinia, Elefsina Tel: 210.946.6100

Octopus Relocation Services

Ygeias 7, Marina Zeas, Tel: 210.459.9530

4klm Peanias-Markopoulou Av., Koropi Tel: 210.998.4000

TRANSLATIONS / INTERPRETING

Driving Schools in English

Global Business Services Kifisias 90, Maroussi, Tel: 210.876.4876

Trochokinisi Driving School

IBS - International Business Services

28th Oktovriou 126, Ambelokipi, Thessaloniki Tel: 2310.729.092

Michalakopoulou 29, Kaissariani Tel: 210.724.5541

MISSED THESE GREAT ISSUES?

Travel Agencies Travel Plan

Christou Lada 3, Athens Tel: 210.333.300, www.travelplan.gr

Amphitrion

Kyprou 46 & Ploutarhou, Dafni Tel: 210.900.6000, www.amphitrionholidays.gr

TravelPlanet24

Karagiorgi Servias 4, Syntagma Tel: 211 107 9684, www.travelplanet24.com

Mid-east Travel

Vas Sofias 105-107, Ampelokipoi Tel: Tel: 211.211.8888, www.mideast.gr

French Institute

Embassies Cultural Institutes

Business services

AUDIOVISUAL

Tel: 210.721.3039

BULGARIA Stratigou Kallari 33A, P. Psychico. Tel: 210.674.8105

CANADA Eth. Antistaseos 48, Halandri Tel: 210.727.3400

CHILE

Rigilis 12, Athens, Tel: 210.729.2647

CHINA Krinon 2A, P. Psychico, Tel: 210.672.3282

CROATIA Tzavella 4, N. Psychico, Tel: 210.677.7033

CUBA Sofokleous 5, Filothei, Tel: 210.685.5550

CYPRUS Xenofontos 2A, Athens, Tel: 210.373.4800

Hellenic American Union

DENMARK Mourouzi 10, Athens,

Massalias 22, 10680 Athens, Tel: 210.368.0900

British Council

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.671.9701 Tel: 210.725.6440

EGYPT Vas. Sofias 3, Syntagma, Tel: 210.361.8612

Kolonaki Square 17 106 73 Athens Tel: 210.369.2333

ESTONIA Messoghion 2-4, Ampelokipoi,

Instituto Cervantes

Tel: 210.725.5860

Mitropoleos 23, 105 57 Athens, Tel: 210.363.4117

Goethe Institut

Omirou 14-16, 100 33 Athens, Tel: 210.366.1000

Onassis Cultural Centre

Syngrou Ave. 107-109, 117 45 Athens, Tel: 213.017.8000

Instituto Italiano di Cultura Patission (28 Oktovriou) 47 Tel: 210.369.2333, 210.524.2646

ALBANIA Vekiareli 7, Filothei, Vas. Constantinou 14, Athens Tel: 210.756.4191-2

ARGENTINA

Vas. Sophias 59, Athens Tel: 210.724.4158

ARMENIA

Tel: 210.747.5660

FINLAND Hatziyianni Mexi 5, Athens, FRANCE Vas. Sofias 7, Syntagma, Tel: 210.339.1000

FYROM Papadiamanti 4, P. Psychico.

Tel: 210.674.9585

GEORGIA Ag. Dimitriou 24,

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.674.2186

GERMANY Karaoli & Dimitriou 3, Athens, Tel: 210.728.5111

HUNGARY Karneadou 25, Kolonaki Tel: 210.725.6800

INDIA Kleanthous 3, Mets, Tel: 210.721.6481 INDONESIA Marathonodromon 99, P. Psychico, Tel: 210.674.2345

IRAN Stratigou Kallari 16, Patisia, Tel: 210.674.1436

IRAQ Mazaraki 4, Psychico, Tel: 210.677.8276

IRELAND Vas. Konstantinou 7, Mets, Tel: 210.723.2405

ISRAEL Marathonodromon 1,

K. Palaiologou 95, Athens, Tel: 210.683.1130, 210.683.1145

P. Psychico, Tel: 210.670.5500

AUSTRALIA

JAPAN Ethnikis Antistaseos 46, Halandri.

ITALY Sekeri 2, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.361.7260

Kifisias & Alexandras, Ampelokipoi, Tel: 210.870.4000

Tel: 210.670.9900

AUSTRIA Vas. Sofias Av. 4,

Tel: 210.674.4161

Athens, Tel: 210.725.7270

AZERBAIJAN

Skoufa 10, Athens, Tel: 210.363.2721

76 insider athens | November - December 2016

BRAZIL Vassilis Sofias 23, Athens

CZECH REPUBLIC G. Seferi 6,

ALGERIA

send us an e-mail at: subscriptions@insider-magazine.gr or give us a call at: 210.729.8634

Hatzikosta 3, Athens, Tel: 210.641.0788

Sina 31, 10680 Athens Tel: 210.339.8600

Tel: 210.687.6200

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BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

BANGLADESH

JORDAN Papadiamanti 21. P. Psychico.

KAZAKHSTAN Imittou 122, Papagou Tel: 210.654.7765

KOREA Messoghion 2-4, Athens.

Tel: 210.698.4080

Marathonodromon 119, Palaio Psychiko Tel: 210.672.0250

KUWAIT Marathonodromon 27,

BELGIUM

LEBANON 6, 25th Martiou, P. Psychico,

Sekeri 3, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.360.0314

P. Psychico, Tel: 210.674.3593 Tel: 210.675.5873

LITHUANIA Vas. Sophias 49, Kolonaki

TURKEY Vas. Georgiou B’ 8, Athens,

Goudi. Tel: 210.772.6000 & 1535

LATVIA Vas. Konstantinou 38, Athens

UKRAINE Stephanou Delta 4, Filothei, Tel:

Private Hospitals

LUXEMBOURG Vas. Sofias 23A & Neofi-

UAE Kifissias Av. 290 & N. Paritsi 2,

Advanced Medical Services, Symmetria Building

MALTA

UK

MEXICO Filikis Etaireias Sq. 14, Kolonaki,

USA

MOLDAVIA Georgiou Bacu 20, Filothei.

URUGUAY

MOROCCO Marathonodromon 5,

VATICAN

NETHERLANDS Vas Konstantinou 5-7,

VENEZUELA Marathonodromon 19,

NIGERIA Streit 17, Filothei Tel: 210.802.1188 NORWAY Hatziyianni Mexi 5, Athens

VIETNAM Yakinthon 50, Psychico,

tou Vamva 2, SyntagmaTel: 210.725.6400 V. Sofias 96, Athens, Tel: 210.778.5138 Tel: 210.729.4780

Tel: 210.699.0660

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.674.4210 Mets, Tel: 210.725.4900

Tel: 210.724.6173

PAKISTAN Loukianou 6, Evaggelismos, Tel: 210.729.0122

PALESTINE Giassemion 13,

P. Psychico. Tel.: 210.672.6061-3

PANAMA Praxitelous 192 & II Merarchias,

Piraeus, Tel: 210.428.6441

PERU

Semitelou 2, Athens, Tel: 210.779.2761

PHILIPPINES Antheon 26, P. Psychico.

Tel: 210.672.1837

POLAND Chrysanthemon 22, P. Psychico. Tel: 210.679.7700

PORTUGAL Vas. Sofias 23, Kolonaki Tel: 210.729.0096 / 210.723.6784

QATAR Perikleous 2 & Kifissias Av. 212, N. Psychico, Tel: 210.725.5031 ROMANIA Emm. Benaki 7,

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.672.8875

RUSSIA Nikiforos Lytra 28,

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.672.5235

SAUDI ARABIA Palaiologhou 2 & Agias

Annis, Halandri, Tel: 210.671.6911

SERBIA Vas. Sophias 106, Athens, Tel: 210.777.4344

SINGAPORE Aigialias 17, Paradissos Amaroussiou. Tel: 210.684.5072 SLOVAK REPUBLIC G. Seferi 4, P. Psychico. Tel: 210.677.1980

SLOVENIA Kifissias Av. 280 & Dimokra-

tias 1, N. Psychico, Tel: 210.672.0090-091

SOUTH AFRICA

Kifissias 60, Maroussi. Tel: 210.610.6645

SPAIN Dionysiou Areopagitou 21, Plaka, Tel: 210.921.3123

SWEDEN Vas. Konstantinou 7, Athens, Tel: 210.726.6100

SWITZERLAND Iasiou 2, Evaggelismos, Tel: 210.723.0364-6

TAIWAN Marathonodromon 57, Psychico, Tel: 210.677.5122 Representative office THAILAND Marathorodromon 25 &

Kyprou, P. Psychico, Tel: 210.674.9065

210.680.0230

Tel: .210.677.0220

Ploutarchou 1, Athens, Tel: 210.727.2600 Vas. Sofias 91, Athens, Tel: 210.721.2951 Menandrou 1, Kifissia, Tel: 210.361.3549 Mavili 2, P. Psychico, Tel: 210.674.3598

P. Psychico. Tel: 210.672.9169

Tel. 210.612.8733, 210.675.3080.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

Emergencies

Tel. 210.729.4483

Tel: 210.726.3000

Ambulance Tel: 166 Doctors SOS Tel: 1016.

They will issue an invoice to claim reimbursement from your insurer.

Ipirou 1, Athens.

Duty Pharmacies

Call 1434, Also check newspapers for listings.

Emergency Hospitals Tel: 1434

Fire Brigade Tel: 199 Forest Fire Tel: 191 Poison Hotline Tel: 210.779.3777

Police Tel: 100 Tourist Police Tel: 171 Coast Guard Tel:108 Air Police Tel: 210.964.2000

ROAD ASSISTANCE ELPA Tel: 10400 Emergency Service Tel: 104 Express Service Tel: 154 Hellas Service Tel: 1057 Interamerican Tel: 1158

PAEDON AGLAIA KYRIAKOU HOSPITAL Livadias 3 and Thivon,

Ethnikis Antistaseos 66, Halandri.

Tel: 210.677.3573 www.symmetria.gr

CENTRAL CLINIC OF ATHENS

Asklipiou St. 31, Athens, Emergency number 1169 or Tel: 210.367.4000 www.centralclinic.gr

EUROCLINIC

Diagnostic, surgical and treatment centre.

Athanasiadou 9, Athens, (near Mavili Sq.), Tel: 210.641.6600

EURODENTICA

Specialized dental care Patision 150, Athens, Tel: 210.866.3367-8 Alamanas 3, Maroussi, Athens, Tel: 210.619.5760-1, El. Venizelou 162, Kallithea, Athens, Tel: 210.956.5365

YGEIA

Kifissias & E. Stavrou 4, Maroussi, Tel: 210.686.7000, www.ygeia.gr

IATRIKO KENTRO (ATHENS MEDICAL CENTER)

Areos 36, P. Faliro.

Tel: 210.989.2100-20. Distomou 5-7, Maroussi. Tel: 210.619.8100

METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL

Ethnarou Makariou 9 & El. Venizelou, N. Faliro. Tel: 210.480.9000 www.metropolitan-hospital.gr

IASO

Kifissias 37-39, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.618.4000

ASKLEPIEION HOSPITAL

Vas. Pavlou 1, Voula. Tel: 210.895.8301-4

EVANGELISMOS

Lemessou 39-41 & Aharnon 209, Kato Patissia, Tel: 210.869.1900

PAEDON AGIA SOFIA HOSPITAL Mikras Asias and Thivon, Goudi. Tel: 210.746.7000

Dermatologist – Venerologist Adult / Pediatric Dermatology Patriarchou Ioakim 44, Kolonaki Tel: 210.729.4502, 6974355942.

Newspapers & Magazines Athens Insider, the bi-monthly magazine for Greece in English

The International New York Times

carries the English version of

Kathimerini

Radio Athens International Radio 104,4

Good Morning Athens at 10am, English programs at 11am, music programs on weekdays at 9pm, weekends at 1pm.

Peiraios 100, Athens, Tel: 210.341.1610

GREEK LANGUAGE The Athens Center

48 Archimidous Street, Mets, Athens 11636, Greece Tel: 210.701.5242

Dragoumi 7, 145 61 Kifissia, Tel: 210.808.5186

Hellenic American Union

22 Massalias str., 106 80 Athens, Tel: 210.368.0900

Ypsilantou 45-47, Kolonaki, Tel: 210.720.1000

Omilo Greek Language And Culture

KAT HOSPITAL

Panagi Tsaldari 13 (4th floor), 15122 Maroussi, Tel: 210.612.2706

Nikis 2, Kifissia, Tel: 210.628.0000 Specialized trauma unit.

International SCHOOLS

TZANNEIO

Afentouli & Tzani, Pireaus, Tel: 210.451.9411-9

Ioannis Bitzos, MD

Lia D. Papathanakou

Greek House

public Hospitals

EUROCLINIC PAEDON

terventional cardiologist. Southern Athens.

Vakchou 2 & Vas. Kostantinou, Tel: 210.897.6276, www.heartline.gr

77 Academias Street, 106 78 Athens, Greece, Tel: 210.330.1455

Kifissias & E. Stavrou 6, Maroussi.

Tel: 210.686.9000

PHYSICIANS

heart & vascular centrE E.N. Deliargyris, MD FACC FSCAI In-

CELT Athens

MITERA

Paediatric Hospitals

Health

Tel: 210.729.4356

Antheon 2, P. Psychico, Tel: 210.671.7590

English media

TUNISIA

Tel: 210.674.2120

Schools

LIBYA Vyronos 13, P. Psychico,

St Catherine's British Embassy School

Sofoklis Venizelou 77, Lykovrissi Tel: 210.282.9750

(ENGLISH SPEAKING)

St. Lawrence College

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Harilaou Trikoupi 62, Kifissia, Tel: 210.808.0682

Anemon St, Koropi, Tel: 210.891.7000

A.J. Kanellopoulos, MD

American Community Schools of Athens

Dimitris Linos, MD FACS

Byron College

Aghias Paraskevis Ave. 129, Halandri, Tel: 210.639.3200

Eye Surgeon, Tsoha 17, Athens, Tel: 210.747.2777 General Surgeon, Kifissias 227, Kifissia, Tel: 210.612.5001-2

Filolaou 7, Gerakas, Tel: 210.604.7722

insider athens | November - December 2016 77

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New tel: 138, Tel. (defective): 129 OTE customer service: 134 International call information (English, French & German): 169 www.ote.gr

Road Assistance ELPA: 104

Public Power Corporation (DEI)

www.ika.gr

Greek Manpower Employment Organization (OAED)

www.oaed.gr, Tel: 210 99 89 000

Public Services

Paramythia

Cycladon 11, Glyka Nera, Tel: 210.600.3196

Play and Learn

Kassaveti 22, Kifissia, Tel: 210.801.1428

German kindergartens

Administration Information Center (paperwork assistance) on weekdays 8am-3pm (KEP): Tel: 177, ww.kep.gov.gr

O mikros Antonis

Tel: 148, www.hnms.gr

Scuola maternal italiana de Atene

Water Supply & Sewage (EYDAP)

Citizen’s Rights Ombudsman:

Il Mulino magico

Mitsaki 18, Ano Patissia, Tel: 210.202.0274 Troados 23, Ag Paraskevi, Tel: 210.600.3148

German School in Athens

Dimokritou 6 & Germanikis Scholis Athinon Maroussi, Tel: 210 6199260-5

Greek German School

25 Martiou & Vernardou, Vrylissia Tel: 210.682.0566

International School of Athens Xenias and Artemidos, Kifissia, Tel: 210.623.3888

Lycée Franco-Hellénique Eugène Delacroix

Chlois & Trikalon, Ag. Paraskevi Tel: 211.300.9121

Scuola Statale Italiana

Odos Mitsaki 18, Ano Patissia Tel: 210.228.2720

St Catherine's British Embassy School

Sofoklis Venizelou 77, Lykovrissi Tel: 210.282.9750

St. Lawrence College

Anemon St, Koropi, Tel: 210.891.7000

Universities University of Indianapolis

Ipitou 9, Athens, Tel: 210.323.6647

DEREE

Gravias 6, Aghia Paraskevi, Tel: 210.600.9800

ALBA Graduate Business School Athinas Ave. & Areos 2A, Vouliagmeni Tel: 210.896.4531

English kindergartens

International Kindergartens

Aghias Ioulianis, Pallini, Tel: 210.607.1700

The Cottage Kindergarten Psaron 74, Halandri Tel: 210.682.7629

Early Learning

Rizountos 53, Elliniko Tel: 210.961.8763

Hopscotch International Kindergarten Ag. Triandos 93, Vari Tel: 210.965.3985

Learning Steps

Ath. Diakou 81 & Ydras 5, Kifissia, Tel: 210.620.5818

Melina’s Kindergarten

Harilaou Trikoupi 16, Kifissia Tel: 210.801.2719

Athens College Library

Stephanou Delta, P. Psychico Tel: 210.679.8100

Benakeios Library

Anthimou Gazi 2, Athens Tel: 210.367.1027

British Council Library Kolonaki Sq. 17, Kolonaki Tel: 210.363.3211/5

French Institute Library

Lysimahou 8, Vari Tel: 210.965.6800

French kindergartens Au petit bonheur 50 Iraklitou, Glyfada, Tel: 210 9658 207

Business College of Athens

Mary Poppins

Spartis 36 & Harilaou Trikoupi, Kifissia Tel: 210 80 11 570 4, Kodrou, Filothei, Tel: 210.677.3803

78 insider athens | November - December 2016

MASTERCARD

Tel: 00.800.1188.703.03

VISA

Tel: 00.800.1163.803.04 Post offices operate weekdays 8am-2pm. The main post offices in Athens are located at SYNTAGMA SQUARE and OMONIA SQUARE at Aeolou 100 and open weekdays 7:30am-8pm, Sat 7:30am-2pm, and Sun 9am1:30pm.

Country Code: 30 City Code: 210 international calls first dial 00,

then the country code.

To call from a Public pay- phone buy a phone card at the kiosks.

Prepaid mobile phone cards (SIM cards) are available for €5 at kiosks, post offices, mini markets and mobile phone company stores.

Pheidiou 1, Athens Tel: 210.362.0270

Goethe Institute Library Hellenic American Union Greek Library

Prince Allen The English Nursery School

Tel: 210.929.0200

German Archaeological Institute Library

Peter Pan

Lakonias 4-6, Voula Tel: 210.895.9654

DINERS CLUB

31 Sina St, Athens Tel: 210.362.4301

Omirou 14-16, Athens Tel: 210.360.8111

Vougliameni, Tel: 210.967.1970

Les Alouettes

Tatoiou 2 & Othonos 77, Kifissia Tel: 210.808.8008

Souedias 54, Athens Tel: 210.723.6313

Peek-a-boo PreSchool

American University of Athens Kifisias & Sochou 4, Neo Psichiko, Tel: 210.725.9301

Libraires

American School of Classical Studies Blegen

Campion School

Tel: 210.324.4975

Italian kindergartens

Weather Attica,

5 Hatziyiannis Mexis (near the Hilton Hotel), Tel: 210 72 89 640

AMERICAN EXPRESS

Barbayiannis, Pallini, Tel: 210.603.2527

In case of power failure: Tel: 210.523.9939 www.dei.gr

In case of water cut: Tel: 1202, www.eydap.gr

LOST OR STOLEN CREDIT CARDS

Money

Social Security & Health insurance (IKA)

Phone Post

Telephone & Internet Services (OTE)

Masalias 22 (7th floor), Athens Tel: 210.362.9886

Italian Archeological Institute Library Parthenonos 14-16, Acropolis Tel: 210921.4024

Italian Institut Library Patision 47, Omonia

National Library

Tzavella 25, Syntagma, Tel: 210.382.0657

Nordic Library

7 Kavalotti St, Makrigianni Tel: 210.924.9210, 210.924.9211

advertise in our Advertise business here and on our website: listings, andyour reach www.insider-publications.com thousands of customers

tram

Tel: 210.998.0222

AAA Royal Prestige Tel: 210.988.3221

From the Port of Piraeus

Alitalia Tel: 210.998.8888 American

Convecta Travel Agency & Limousine Services

Tram itineraries are only from Syntagma to S.E.F (in Neo Faliro) and from Syntagma to Asklipio Voulas. From Monday to Thursday, trams operate from 5.am until midnight and non-stop from Friday morning to Sunday midnight. www.tramsa.gr

Air Taxis (Helicopter and

Limousines Kacaya

TAXIS

Tel: 210.361.3373

plane charters) Tel: 210.938.4149

British Airways Tel: 210.353.0453 Continental Tel: 210.353.4312 Cyprus Airways Tel: 210.353.4100 Easy Jet Tel: 211.198.0013 El Al Tel: 210.934.1500-1 Emirates Tel: 210.933.3400 Etihad Tel: 210.324.1010 Iberia www.iberia.com/gr Lufthansa Tel: 210.617.5200 Olympic Airways Tel: 801.801.0101 Qatar Airways Tel: 210.950.8700 Singapore Tel: 210.994.2567 Swiss / Crossair Tel: 210.617.5320 Tunisair Tel: 210.969.6496 Turkish Tel: 210.988.5700

Airport

Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport Spata. Tel: 210.353.0000, 210.353.1000. www.aia.gr

24 HOUR VIP TRANSPORT SERVICE

WSW Skycap Services at Athens Airport provides Meet & Greet, Baggage Hauling and Transport Service.

Tel: 210.353.0100 www.skycap.gr For info about the public bus lines please check our section public transport

Car rental

Ada Rent-a-Car

Astra Limousine Service

Tel: 210.922.0333/807.9996

Tel: 210.322.5090 Tel: 210.323.4120

Combined tickets for metro, buses and trolleys (€1,40) are available from metro stations and central ticket booths, valid within 90 mins of validation for all public transport - except the airport service, which costs 8€.

EXPRESS BUS from/to airport

X93 Kifisos Intercity Bus Station - Athens Airport Express.

Direct Connection to the intercity bus (KTEL) terminals KIFISOS and LIOSION X95 Syntagma – Athens Airport Express.

Direct Connection to Syntagma Square at Athens city center.

X96 Peiraias – Athens Airport Express.

Direct Connection to Piraeus central passenger port terminals.

X97 Dafni Metro Station – Athens Airport Express.

Direct Connection to DAFNI metro station.

Tickets available at the Arrivals Hall; validate on board. Fare is €6 One-way travel time estimates**: X93 (65’ min), X95 (70’ min), X96 (90’ min), X97 (70’ min).

For further information dial 185 or visit www.oasa.gr, www.ametro. gr. For info on trains visit www.proastiakos.gr

Arena Tel: 210.894.6883,

HELLENIC RAILWAYS ORGANIsATION

Auto Union

Karolou 1. Tel: 210.529.7002, www.ose.gr

Tel: 210.322.0087 210.614.7400

Tel: 210.602.0162

Avis Tel: 210.322.4951 Budget Tel: 210.921.4771-3 Europcar Tel: 210.924.8810-8

Hertz Tel: 210.998.2000 Michael Stamou Luxury

Rentals

Tel: 210.922.2442/43

Sixt Rent-a-Car Tel: 210.570.6895, 210.922.0171

ATHENS METRO Line 1 (Piraeus-Kifissia) 5am-midnight, Line 2 (Anthoupoli-Elliniko) 5.30ammidnight, Line 3 (Aghia Marina-Doukissis Plakentias) 5.30am-midnight Line 3 (Aghia Marina-Airport) 5.30am22.52pm and 06.30am-23.30pm.

The last itinerary is 2 hours later on Friday and Saturday night than it is during the week. www.ametro.gr

Taxis from the airport have a flat rate of €35 to Central Athens. Between midnight and 5am double tariff applies.

Note: If you suspect that you have been overcharged, you can call the tourist police 0n 171

INTERCITY BUSES Terminal 1: Buses for Igoumenitsa,

Ioannina, Kavala, Loutraki, Patra, the Peloponese, and Thessaloniki. Kifissou 100, Tel: 210.512.4910-1, www.ktel.org

Terminal 2: Buses for Delphi, Evia,

Galaxidi, Karpenisi, Katerini, Lamia, Livadia, Thiva and Volos. Liosion 260.

For KTEL itineraries all over Greece call 14505

Northern and Eastern Aegean Islands: Gates A & B Chios, Ikaria, Lesvos, Samos, Dodecanese Islands: Gate E Kalymnos, Kos Leros, Patmos, Rhodes, Saronic Gulf Islands: Gates G & E Aegina, Hydra, Poros, Spetses, Crete: Gate A Aghios Nikolaos, Chania, Iraklio, Kastelli (Kissamos), Rethymno, Cycladic Islands: Gates B, G & D Astipalea, Folegandros, Kimolos, Kithnos, Milos, Serifos, Sifnos: Gate B Amorgos, Donoussa, Ios, Iraklia, Koufonissi, Mykonos, Santorini, Schinoussa, Syros, Tinos: Gates G&D Naxos, Paros: Gate Gtt

Superfast Ferries Daily departures, Greece - Italy: from Patras and Igoumenitsa to Ancona and Bari Head office: 23-125 Syngrou Avenue & 3 Torva Street 11745 Athens. Tel:210.891.9000 Reservations: Athens: 210.891.9130 Thessaloniki: 2310.560.700, www. superfast.com

Hellenic Seaways

RADIO TAXI

210 41 99 000 www.hellenicseaways.gr

Enotita Tel: 210.645.9000 Ermis Tel: 210.411.5200 Ikarus Tel: 210.515.2800 Kifissia Tel: 210.801.4000 Piraeus Tel: 210.418.2333 Radio Taxi Glyfada

Anek Lines www.anek.gr Domestic lines: 210 41 97 420 International lines: 210 41 97 430 Minoan Lines www.minoan.gr Tel: 801 11 75 000

Tel: 210.960.5600

There is a booking fee of €2 added to the meter, and a €3,40 + VAT for a pre-arranged meeting. For PET taxis there is an extra charge of €5.

YACHT CHARTERS A1 Yacht Trade Consortium

Akti Themistokleous 8, Marina Zeas, Piraeus. Tel: 210.458.7100

Ghiolman Yachts

Filellinon 7, Syntagma. Tel: 210.323.3696

Seaports

Tel: 210.965.2300-22

Public transport

Air Malta

Ferries

LIMOUSINES

Airlines

Aegean Tel: 801.11.20000 Air France KLM

Sea ports

Northstar

Lavrio Tel: 22920.27711, 22920.22089 Piraeus Tel: 210.422.6000-4 Rafina Tel: 22940.22300, 22940.28888

Ferries

Poseidonos 9 & Achilleos, P. Faliro. Tel: 210.988.4000

PGA

Shipping Posidonos 61, P. Faliro.

Tel: 210.985.9400

Seahorse Alkyonidon 83 (Marina), Voula. Tel: 210.895.2212

Seascape Poseidonos Ave. 29,

Alimos.

Tel/Fax: 210.985.8301

Valef Yachts Pl. Chatzikonstanti 2,

Ferries run year-round. For information on seasonal schedules contact a travel agent or call the Port Police on 210.422.6000

Piraeus. Tel:210.451.2010

Vernicos Yachts Posidonos 11,

Kalamaki. Tel: 210.985.0122-8

insider athens | November - December 2016 79

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Athens in a brushstroke Athina Hatzi’s vivid and playful images give us an insight into the quotidian life of her native Athens. Her snapshots of daily existence and of street landmarks tell the tale of a restless city. 1, 5 and 7. Greece’s farmer’s market or the laiki, is not just a riot of colour where fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers vie for attention with the shrieks of hawkers - it is a quintessentially Greek weekly ritual of social interaction. 2. Construction cranes soaring into the azure sky were a common sight during the city’s boom years. 3. Athens’ cafe culture stretches from breakfast to late at night and spills upon its pavements. 4. Pedestrians walk past marble columns in Plaka oblivious to the layers of history they’re treading on. 6.

The ubiquituous kiosk or periptero’s unique contribution to the rhythm and character of Greek daily life cannot be undermined. Open until the wee hours of the night, the periptero is where one stocks up on cigarettes and newspapers of every political hue. “I observe a world that is constantly on the move and I try to capture these everyday moments to punctuate our daily excursions into the city with little memories,” Hatzi tells Insider.

80 insider athens | November - December 2016

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82 insider athens | November - December 2016