Breakfast in Athens
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Breakfast in Athens
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Greece is not the land of hearty American-style breakfast, Most Greek breakfasts consist of coffee and a cigarette or two |
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In Psiri there is a new cafe on the Square called Major which has some nice pastries and strong coffee. If you are paying 2 euros for an espresso it may as well be good. They also serve a nice Greek coffee the old way in a little flitzani (Greek coffee pot). Psiri is quiet in the morning, mostly people on their way to work. If I want a little more atmosphere I can continue on to Diorofos on the corner of Aeolou and Evripidou at the central market where you can have excellent coffee and watch the parade of people walking down pedestrianized Aeolou. If I am on the move I can go get a cheese-pie(teeropita ), or spinach-pie ( spanakopita ) from one of the small shops or bakeries. There's a great one on Voulis Street, two blocks down from Syntagma called Ariston where you can get pies with many different things baked into it from zuchini to artichokes or versa-visa. But these shops are all over Athens now and though Ariston has the most impressive collection of any of them you can usually find something right around the corner from where you are. Or you can just get a tiropita from a stand if you are not choosy and don't require variety. |
 One of our favorite hangouts
in the Plaka at Farmaki #1 in the little
square called Platia Filomouson on the
corner perpendicular to the Byzantino
Restaurant and next to the pizza place has now been taken over by Starbucks, not a totally bad thing if you seek familiarity and great coffee. (There are Starbucks scattered around the city. Your best bet is the one on Metropolis street right on the square across from the main cathedral.) You can get breakfast at the Byzantino Restaurant in Platia Filomouson too and
they make pretty good coffee. The Oinas Cafe also on
the square makes terrific coffee and was my headquarters for the
2004 Olympics. I would read all the papers, drink coffee after coffee
and watch some of the events on their big-screen TV before picking
myself up and walking to Syntagma Square to go to an actual event,
usually baseball or basketball. Just down the street is a wonderful
breakfast place on the corner of Geronda
and Daedelou, just a block from the
square. It is called Tristrato
and it is run by a middle aged gentleman
and his daughter, or maybe it's his wife,
or his sister, or just someone who works
there. Or maybe he works for her since her
name is on the card. I don't really know
or care and neither should you. But it is
a lovely traditional galatadiko
which is a milk and pastry shop. Great
yogurt which you can get with fruit, nuts,
honey or all of the above. Lots of
different coffees and pastries and the
whole place is furnished in
antiques. |
| A frequent breakfast stop for us, also
mentioned in my important Coffee
and Cafe Guide, is the
Diorofo Cafe
on Aeolis street at the corner of
Evripidou in the central market. They make
cheese pies, spinach pies and leek pies.
Not exactly bacon and eggs but pretty good
for you. But probably the food is
secondary. They make great coffee. Even better
is the Terina
on the square at the intersection of Kapni
Karea and Adrianou Street across from the wall of Hadrian's Library. Many of
the cafes will have quiche and stuff like this on the
menu. There must be a couple dozen little
pastry shops within two blocks of Syntagma
Square, all serving espresso and
displaying beautiful cakes and
pittas. FLOU on the corner of Voulis and Apollonos streets has a selection of spanakopitas, tiropitas, crepes, croisants, fresh fruit juices, ice-creams, omelets, milkshakes and sweets and the croisants you can get everywhere. Very friendly too. The Cafe Centrale which is right next to the cathedral on Metropolis street makes excellent coffee and has a large menu. The Grigoris chain of fastfood joints make a decent espresso-capuccino and alsl serve Greek coffee heated in sand, or at least the one on the corner of Ermou and Athinas did. They are cheap too. Their selection of pitas (spanakopita, tiropita etc) make it a good stop for a quick breakfast for not much money.
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An
Athenian may eat a piece of hard
crusty bread (paxamadia) to fill the
gaping hole in their stomach though this has
little do do with nutrition. But we
American travelers know better. After all
it is no secret that breakfast is the most
important meal of the day and if you just
have a couple cups of coffee and a piece
of bread you may find yourself on top of
the Acropolis, staring at the magestic
beauty of the Parthenon and thinking about
nothing except food.
If you are staying at a fancy hotel like
the Grande Bretagne or the Electra Palace
you will be quite pleased when you see
their breakfast buffet table, piled high
with croisants, fruit, yogurt, eggs,
bacon, sausage, cheeses, cakes, pastries,
cookies and more, constantly being
refilled. You get what you pay for and
these are high end hotels which take pride
in their ability to make their customers
happy at the breakfast
table. But if you are staying at an inexpensive
hotel then breakfast may be at the
subsistance level with coffee just strong
enough to get you to a real cafe,
paximadia, maybe some yogurt and a boiled
egg. So after gazing at the table at the
piles of pre-packaged butter, honey and
marmalade you may want to go and search
for greener pastures. Like loukamades
(fried dough with honey) at Doris
the famous old shop at 30
Praxitelous.
I sometimes have a coffee at
the 
If you want to be like the working class
Greeks why not go down to the meat market
to one of the restaurants there for a nice
steaming bowl of patsa, made from the
innards of sheep and famous for it's
life-saving properties in the event of a
serious hangover, or I suppose even jet
lag. What could be more invigorating than
a ladle full of intestines and other
animal organs before you begin the climb
up the Acropolis.