What to buy -
Athens is a city full of pleasant
surprises for the shopper who is
Ipoking for unique purchases and
good bargains. Gold and silver
jewellery is a major area of interest,
given the world-famous unique
Greek designs. The numerous
jewellery shops which you will find
in the areas of Syntagma and
Kolonaki, carry a wide selection of
museum reproductions of ancient
Greek pieces of jewellery, as well
as traditional and fashionable
ones. Most of them are handmade
by local craftsmen. Silver filigree
and turquoise jewellery, which is
produced mainly in the city of
loannina in Epiros, can also be
found in many Athenian shops.
It features traditional motifs
of exceptional beauty .
We recommend you to visit also
the llias Lalaounis Jewellery
Museum. This Museum houses
over 3,000 jewellery designs.
Its 45 collections display the history
of Greek jewellery.
Jewellery inspired by the art and
architecture of eleven different
civilizations, by nature, technology
and biology. The Museum is
located at the foot of the Acropolis.
Also worthy of particular mention
are the equally world-famous furs
from Kastoria, made with a skill
perfected over centuries. A great
variety of furriers can be found in
the Syntagma area selling coats,
jackets and fur hats in styles
ranging from the classical to the
most modern. Other good buys
include souvenirs, handicrafts
and bronze pots. Copperware,
earthenware pottery and ceramics
is a field in which Athens has
excelled since Archaic times.
The place to look for the unique
Greek ceramics and pottery is the
northern suburb of Marousi.
Most of the designer ceramists
and potters have shops there,
displaying their handmade creations.
Wool and cotton hand-knitted
sweaters of excellent quality and
design are remarkably good value,
as are leather goods and shoes,
which are made by Greek
designers. Ermou Street and
Kolonaki Square are the places to
look for these. Also in abundance
are antiques, which are found in
shops in Kolonaki, Syntagma and
Monastiraki. Items sold include:
various pieces of furniture, hand-
painted wooden chests, very
beautiful miniatures, small
decorative items and so on.
Do not forget the hand-woven
and hand-embroidered garments
and the colourful flokati rugs.
In the Kolonaki area you will find
the boutiques of many Greek
fashion designers who have
made international careers in
Paris, Milan and New York.
Ermou (Hermes) Street -
Being very appropriately named
-Hermes was the patron god of
commerce- Ermou is one of the
first streets of Athens to be traced
by Kleanthes and Schaubert. It had
been the centre of ladies' fashion
in Athens for more than 60 years;
from the end of the 19th century
until the early 60s. All the fashion-
conscious Athenian ladies of the
time, came, almost daily, to Ermou
(the part near Syntagma Square, in
particular) to do their window
shopping. Today Ermou Street, is
still one of the best places for
shopping in the capital. In the
shops in Lekka Street, between
Perikleous and Kolokotroni Streets,
as well as in the nearby arcades,
you will find a wide variety of
silverware: candlesticks, bowls,
vases and jewellery. Many of them
are handmade in Greece.
Kolonaki -
When Athenians say they will go
"shopping in Kolonaki" they can
be referring to an area extending
from Syntagma Square to the foot
of Lycavittos Hill, but usually they
mean the streets around Philikis
Etairias Square (better known as
Kolonaki Square) as well as the
square itself. Some of the trendiest
boutiques in the city are found in
this area, selling clothes by top
Greek fashion designers, shoes
and leather goods, toys, antique
furniture, jewellery.home
furnishings and so on. On
Voukourestiou Street and the
streets around it, near Syntagma
Square, you will find all the world-
famous Greek jewellers,
bookshops specialising in foreign
books and all the major art
galleries exhibiting works of art by
Greek painters and sculptors.
After dinner, you'll probably want to venture out and try one of the hundreds of bars in Athens where most of the young people go.
These bars and clubs are found all over the city and play all kinds of music from "live" rock'n'roll, disco, jazz, to Greek and international pop.
And don't worry about arriving too late, because these places don't get jumping until late at night.
Athens: the city that never sleeps For those single men out there on a little more adventurous path, you might want to try out one of the many adult bars located around Thission and Syngrou avenue. These are basically the "live" strip-clubs and each has something different to offer the discerning traveller.
Monastiraki -
As you near the point where
Adrianou and Ayiou Philippou
Streets meet, you will have the
impression that you are entering a
melting pot of sound; all kinds of
music can be heard simultaneously
from the loud-speakers of record
shops and street-vendors selling
second-hand records. In
Hephaistou Street the audible
confusion gets even more
interesting, as the sounds of real
merchandise. In other streets of
the Monastiraki area, it is your
sense of smell rather than hearing,
that will be aroused. The scent of
old wood and wood varnish,
coming from the shops of antique
furniture, predominant in Avysinias
Square, gives its place to that of
new leather, in that part of
Adrianou Street lined with shoe
shops. In Astigos and Theseiou
Streets you will see tens of
second-hand bookshops where
you can find beautiful
Jeatherbound old books. While in
Pandrosou and Hephaistou Streets,
you will find just about everything:
from shoes, clothes, old and new
furniture, old books and magazines
to souvenirs, jewels, hats, tools,
bronze items, new or second-hand
records and everything you can
think of. Shopping or simply
walking around in Monastiraki is an
experience not to be missed. You
will be amazed by the variety and
the quality of the things sold ill this
busy market. And you will surely
be tempted to buy something.
Athenas Street -
Here is a street that changes
constantly as you walk along the
length of it. Towards the
Monastiraki end of it you will see
shops specialising in tools and
machinery, where one can find
everything pertaining to these
categories. Further along, you will
find shops specialising in
household items and kitchenware.
Then there is the central meat and
fish market of Athens and right
opposite it, the vegetable and fruit
market. The part of Athenas
Street, from the central market to
Omonia Square, and the side
streets around it, are a cook's
paradise. Here you will find
everything edible or cookable.
