Travel: 24 hours in Athens
A while back, I travelled to Athens to attend a work meeting. As I’d never been before, I decided to add on an extra day to my travel plans giving me 24 hours to explore the city. Here’s what I did.
Sightseeing
I stayed at the Fresh Hotel, a bright and smart hotel on outer edges of what I’d call the centre of Athens. It’s right across from the Varvakios Central Municipal Market, an old-school market packed with small butcher stalls festooned with whole and trimmed carcasses. Commercialism and tourism hasn’t yet reached this place and it’s got that gritty real feel you can only get when you come eyeball to eyeball with your lunch.
From there, I walked to the Acropolis, meandering though backstreets, visiting some vintage shops and stopping a few times for the thick frothy iced coffees that seemed to be so popular. At close to €5 each and without my preferred coconut milk, these prices were on a par with Dublin, showing that fancy coffee can truly transcend borders.
The streets surrounding the Acropolis are packed with souvenir and knickknack shops, which I mostly managed to avoid, until I realised that the sun was far more intense that I had first thought. Hence I arrived at the Acropolis sporting a straw fedora with a Greek meander hatband. Looking like a tourist is one of my least favourite things to do but hey, it’s better than sunstroke.
To see the Acropolis, I had booked a place on a small group guided tour of the Acropolis and the Museum offered by Walks in Europe on the Viator website. Our guide was Maria and over the next three hours, she took us up and down the Acropolis, around the Parthenon and the museum, all the while managing to throw an serious amount of shade at Lord Elgin and the British over the removal of historical Greek artifacts. As an Irish person, I was quite impressed.
Drinks
Athens has a serious reputation for cocktails with several bars featuring in the World’s Best 50 Bars list. And I was determined to try a few.
Once I was done with my Acropolis tour, I walked to The Clumsies, currently number 60 and thankfully open at that relatively early hour. I settled myself at the bar trying to look relaxed instead of looking like a red-haired Irish person who has just spent 5 hours walking in the sunshine. I think I just about managed it. Drinks here were good, especially the Tipsy Terra made with tequila, mezcal, parsnip and beetroot, but I didn’t find the service or hospitality amazing, which for me is a key part of a cocktail bar experience.
Later in the evening on the way back to my hotel, I stopped at Baba au Rum, currently ranked at number 17. Again, some really great drinks, especially the Anti-Novel, their take on a spicy margarita made with cardamom and Med liqueur. But once again, I found the service lacking, with bartenders checking their phone directly in front of customers.
These two visits, along with some other recent experiences at world ranked bars in London and Paris, made me realise how good some of our Irish bars are. Bar 1661, Cask and others are every bit as good in terms of drinks, and even better when it comes to hospitality.
Food
Walking around in the heat put a dent in my appetite, but I did search out a recommendation from fellow Irish Times writer Corinna Hardgrave. Birdman is a buzzy Japanese bar and grill which turns out plates of yakitori and beef nigiri (yes!) to the background of a seriously toe-bopping 80s soundtrack. Picture me at a bar seat, crunching through salty grilled chicken skin skewers, yuzu scented chicken oysters and beef tenderloin nigiri, humming away to Flashdance and China In Your Hands. Perhaps even occasionally singing out loud, to the amusement of the staff. Sometimes you’ve just got to let it out.
The following morning, I had just enough time to fit in a walk to Stani, a traditional patisserie recommended to me by chef Angelo Vagiotis, which is famous for their sheep and cow milk yogurts. Sheep’s yogurt came as a semi-solid rectangle, topped with the freshest walnuts and Greek honey, and of course I had another of those frothy iced coffees.
High-protein breakfast requirements satisfied, I then went for the sugar rush with a portion of loukoumades, puffy little deep-fried dough balls, coated in syrup and cinnamon which were sticky and delicious, and a lovely last taste of Athens.
