It’s 11am in Athens’ Syntagma (Constitution) Square, the otherwise genteel site of numerous mass anti-austerity protests during the past seven years. On this late spring day, life is functioning normally, but I have signed up for two tours which will show me a completely untouristy, local side to the Greek capital. Because amid images of chaos, desperation and migrant camps, I have heard that crisis has been breeding creativity, and that many talented young Greeks, instead of waiting for government handouts, have mobilised myriad small businesses; beyond the usual tourist sites, there’s an “alternative Athens” that tourists seldom see.
My guides today are Alexandra Lavidas, from Athens (having emigrated to the United States, she's now back home); and Rebecca Skevaki, born in Sydney to Cretan parents – and as an owner and operator of Athens and Crete Urban Adventures, she and her Greek husband are spending the summer months developing their businesses here.
We wander up a gritty main road called Stadiou ("so many of the neoclassical buildings were destroyed in the 50s and 60s," I'm told) for a quick coffee in the garden of the Black Duck cafe (open 10am to 2am daily). Then we jump on the Metro to Technopolis, an industrial museum and cultural venue in a neighbourhood called Gazi, not far from the Acropolis, but a world away in terms of urban fabric. As I stand on the down escalator of the Metro station, a young woman exiting on the other side spots me and indicates that she wants to give me her unvalidated Metro ticket. Despite me gesturing that I have already bought my €1.40 (Dh6) ticket, she flings hers at me, not wanting to waste the opportunity to get one over on the system.
The Metro is fast and functional, and the Technopolis station is as modern as could be imagined. The most interesting thing about the museum is the former gasworks itself, which has been preserved inside and out. Historic photos and commentary sit alongside promos for corporate-sponsored tech start-ups, events and restaurants.
Closer to the city centre, in Monastiraki, we stop for a snack and caffe freddo at Couleur Locale, a busy place with a great rooftop terrace. Its manager, Nikos, has worked in Dubai, and there's a knowing but unflashy atmosphere. The food and coffee are excellent and great value – certainly for overseas tourists.
Our next stop is Romantso, another start-up centre situated in the offices and printing house of a once-famous lifestyle magazine. A collective turned the seven-storey, loft-style building into a performance arts and new media centre for young businesses, offering low prices and the fastest internet in the area. Architects, fashion designers and tech companies work alongside each other, and there's a slick, retrofitted open lounge downstairs that's open to all. It reminds me of London's Clerkenwell.
After the tour, we lunch at an organic restaurant called Nice n Easy (a reference to a Frank Sinatra song) in upmarket Kolonaki. One of its owners, Dimitris Christoforidis, originally from Kozani in the north of the country, is back in Greece after years abroad, in Sweden, then southern California. His delicious, varied and good-value Mediterranean farm-to-table menu seems to be thriving. "In some ways, the crisis has been good," he says. "Business is up to 10 times what it was before 2008. Then people used to love to throw their money around, but now they are looking for reasonable prices."
Having had a taste of the great food available in Athens, I sign up for a culinary tour the next morning with Carolina Doriti, a young Athenian chef who runs a small catering company and is a guide for Culinary Backstreets. We meet at 10am in Omonia Square, and our first stop is Stani's dairy shop, which has been at its present location since 1942. Doriti orders full-fat, unstrained Greek yogurt, made from sheep's milk and topped with crushed walnuts and honey. It's rich, tangy and the ideal breakfast, especially at €3.80 (Dh16) per portion. "They make it every night and it takes eight hours to set, and you get this lovely skin," says Doriti.
Resisting the temptation to load up on homemade filo pastry and custard desserts, which have just come out of the oven, we walk around the corner to an old loukoumades shop, which specialises in the small fried balls of dough, dusted in sugar syrup and sesame seeds. A generous portion served on a stainless steel plate is normally €3.30 (Dh14), although locals buy them by the kilo. As most of the shop names, websites and business cards are in Greek, the benefits of having a personal guide is clear. I would never find these places by myself.
Passing Kotzia Square – Doriti points out Acharnian ruins and references Hermes, The Odyssey and Cyclops – she then shows me her favourite feta cheese shop, another family-run business. Doriti explains that feta cheese is 70 per cent sheep’s milk and 30 per cent goat’s, and that it matures for between two to eight months. I try a few samples before we move on to Athens’ historic central market, which is probably the best meat market I have ever seen in terms of spectacle, quality and staff friendliness. Virtual tapestries of offal are hung in neat lines, the colours seemingly coordinated; heads hang like Damien Hirst exhibits with eyes shining, almost alive. We have a few snacks at a tapas-style cafe before proceeding through the fish market – again, a mix of the antique and urgent trading.
Vegetables, nuts and other foodstuffs are sold on the edges of the market, some by smiling, solo elderly women with just a bag of horta, or wild greens, in their possession. Doriti tells me she's just written a story about the benefits of horta and how to cook them. We stop at Mokka, a coffee shop and roastery that dates from 1922. The roastery has huge old machines, while the cafe has a more modern feel, yet my Greek coffee is still served the traditional way, like Turkish coffee. Doriti says it's smoother and has more caffeine, and that it's drunk plain because the beans are roasted lightly. "It's less bitter, but stronger," she says.
As we wander towards another local food shopping area, I notice an ornate but crumbling mansion on the corner of Socrates and Theatre streets. “Downstairs is the oldest tavern in Athens,” Doriti says, “it dates from 1875.” We go in, and I’m amazed at the rustic flagstone flooring and completely unmodernised interior. Sitting down at one of the tables, the owner soon appears with crusty bread, bowls of delicious hot bean dip and piles of fried fish wrapped in paper. We devour what we can before continuing our shopping – nearby, you can buy high-quality truffle oil, truffle salt and other delicacies, at cheap prices.
We then make our way into another unassuming 1950s arcade for what’s supposed to be our lunch, at another taverna-style restaurant called To Triantafilo tis Nostimias (“The Rose of Deliciousness”). Wooden furniture and simple tables give it a family atmosphere, and we do what we can to eat a spread of cooked greens, fried fish fillets, mashed potatoes and a massive plate of aubergine dip. My waistline will take weeks to recover from this assault, but it’s worth it.
Our penultimate stop is Kostas’s souvlaki shop, one of the best in town. In business since 1950, the husband-and-wife serving team are honoured with daily queues which often stretch round the corner. “You have to go before 3pm – they sometimes run out”, says Doriti. The shawarma-style snack consists of pieces of grilled meat in a flatbread, with onion, parsley and yogurt. I order and offer to pay the €2.20 (Dh9) up front, but the owner tells me to “sit down, enjoy and pay later”.
Our tour is rounded off by a visit to Le Greche ice-cream shop, a small, smart place with top-quality gelato and sorbets, using fresh ingredients from around Greece. There's ricotta with bergamot, Sicilian pistachio and Earl Grey chocolate, to name just a few. Alas, I can't fit in a single mouthful more, but I have marked this place for a return trip.
rbehan@thenational.ae
