10 spots where Athenians are going out right now
Athens is not a city that never sleeps, as is usually said. If you take a walk on a Monday night, for example, now in the summer, you’ll find quiet shops, low music and people who nobody knows why they decided to go on their first date on the day most of their friends disgust them on social media.
However, this highly attractive, borderline delulu image that has been cultivated of this city sometimes seems to be true: there are several venues in (and around) the city centre that are always busy – and the PACs, of course, are a hoot. So we took a camera in our hands and went out, first to map out the places where it really is “happening in Athens” this summer and, more importantly, to see who and why they choose to drink their drinks there. We found ten.
The stairs at Asclepius
Yes, indeed, we do not discover gunpowder. Surely you’ve heard, surely you’ve passed by, surely you’ve thought “but well, where do they all fit in here?” – maybe you’ve thought there’s room for one more group, yours.
Surely, if you have a parent or an uncle who grew up in Athens in the ’70s and ’80s, they will have mentioned it to you at least once. More than likely somewhere in the conversation he’ll throw in Omonia, telling you about “how great those years were”, as if they should stay the same forever.
Sitting on the marble and from behind the view of the historic church of St Nicholas of Pefkakia. I wonder who among those who first settled east of Neapolis in 1880 would have thought it would become the meeting place for Athenians 150 years later?
And it’s not just the steps and Stepa, the bar just across the street. It’s the whole of Asclepius, all the bars on it; some that have always been there and others that have opened recently and built that hype: Whales, Submarine, Santarosa, Knave.
And if you feel like you’re getting tired of too much dancing and/or too much drinking somewhere (take a taxi, don’t drive), head next door, on Charilaou Trikoupis, for the oldest crepe in Athens at Grand Zinc. Ideally, get the one with the emmental, blue cheese, spinach and bacon. No more chocolate biscuit.
“Go from Pi-Kap – Drachma”
It’s Friday or Saturday night. You’ve just gotten off at Syntagma by metro, bus, trolley, car or bike and you and your friends want to go somewhere that’s “a hoot”. That mayhem you’re looking for is almost – if not quite – certain to be found between Pi-Kap and Drachma.
Two bars that may be separated by a street, but are inextricably linked. In fact, if you take a stroll there, you’re sure to see quite a few people going from one to the other, looking for the best place to hang out.
From what I experienced, I feel that Pi-Kap draws more youth, being one of the bars in Athens that consistently plays Greek trap – you don’t see it that often downtown – and Drahmi is for a slightly larger crowd.
Now you’ll say to me, “age is just a number”, and I’ll answer that you’re right, so take your group, take a stroll through these two and everything in between, and take your pick. The only thing that can be a strain is walking from one spot to the other. So be armed with patience and take your time. You’ve got a Saturday night out, bro, easy.
In Pagrati, which is alive even on Mondays
We wrote above about Athens and its myth as “the city that never sleeps”. Write wrong, I take it all back. In Pagrati, the myth holds true. And to back up our claims, we decided to visit not on Friday and Saturday nights, when all hell breaks loose, but on Monday nights, when all hell usually doesn’t break loose. And yet, Pagrati was crowded.
The first stop was at the Chelsea Hotel, a historic bar in the area, now a landmark. People inside, outside, sitting, standing, with drink in hand and water bottles left on the leather seat of the Vespa: this is an image we didn’t encounter anywhere else as we walked around, the centre of Athens that night. In Chelsea, then, we can say, with confirmation, that “it’s happening.”
The picture is similar a few meters away, at Traka, and further up, at Agave. There you’ll find people standing, drinking their drinks in their hands and leaving them on the sidewalk stools. The “don’t drink, darling” slogan on the glasses is nice too. Relaxed music and small groups chatting. This triangle is completed further down the street at Hippie3 and Ramon. You pick and choose. Or, in other words, you go through it all.
The return of Phocion Negri
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It would be sacrilegious to just classify it as “where the action is now in Athens”. That’s because we’re talking about a square, a street, a neighbourhood with a huge history that has often gone side by side with the evolution of the city’s nightlife over the last few decades.
Surely, if you have a parent or an uncle who grew up in Athens in the ’70s and ’80s, they will have mentioned it to you at least once. More than likely, somewhere in the conversation he’ll throw in Omonia, telling you about “how great those years were”, as if they should stay the same forever.
But there is some basis to this often nostalgic rant. The Fokionos Negri has always been a meeting and entertainment spot. And after a whole crisis that tested her, she came back and now it’s a street that has it all. If you take a walk on a Saturday night, you’ll find full taverns with live bouzouki, hookah shops, grandmothers on the benches, the Kypseli Municipal Market of course, and maybe people waiting outside Foka Negra to start another comedy open mic.
This summer we’re going out Bournazi
Bournazi never died. Maybe for a little over a decade “out-of-schoolers” didn’t go there to have fun, along the lines of the wealthy from the B.P. group of “Western Suburbs Lover”, but the locals never stopped doing it.
But the years have passed, many of the shops have changed and now one of the most legendary entertainment spots (not exclusively nightlife) is back. Changed, yes, but always with its own character.
On the one hand, old clubs and cafes, which many, including the subject, learned about from the hilarious stories of Alexandros Tsouvela, who grew up in the area, and on the other, all the new shops of Veaki that recalls its former glories.
Access, easy as pie. You get on the metro, take the red line to Anthoupoli, get off at Peristeri station and in three minutes you’re there. So even if you don’t have your own transport, there are no excuses. Your next exit with your friends is at Bournazi.
In Petralona, where you eat and drink well and calmly
The Petralona has never pretended to be anything else. It was and always will be a genuine folk neighborhood, with the grandmothers on the benches asking you, if you catch their eye, “How old are you?” and “when are you getting married?”, with good taverns and simple food. Sure, one would say: “What a popular neighborhood, man? Have you seen the prices they play with rents?” They wouldn’t be wrong.
What can you do to get there just for? Take the electric, get off at the station of the same name and stroll through the shops that have something for all tastes.
Cage, Mr Hu, Brazilian, Lola, Spirtokuto for drinks, Taverna tou Oikonomou, Radevou for meze and wine – the list goes on. An area that may lack, for example, the noise of Asclepius and Pagrati, but whatever time of day, and night, you pass, it has life. Just have the appetite to have a good time this summer in Athens, and patience if you don’t find a table right away. Good things take time to happen.
At Nero Square for the concerts and beyond
This particular spot has become a hangout thanks to the concerts that take place there every summer, when the whole of Athens descends to Faliro to hear its favourite artists. But that’s not the only thing that has made it so special.
With the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre having brought the world south, Nero Square has become part of the long walk that starts at the Canal and goes all the way to the sea. It’s worth doing it just once to see with your own eyes what a great atmosphere is created from the evening onwards. On the one hand the kids doing scate, on the other hand the people sitting on the edge and watching the view of Kastella, you think for a while that you are not in Athens or Piraeus. As one sees it.
So next time you head down to a concert, keep the square in mind. Or just sit back and enjoy your favourite artist. It’s part of the experience.
“Leave the shops, let’s go for a walk downtown”
Yes, Athens is not an easy walking city. The narrow and dirty sidewalks in summer are unforgiving, and so are the obstacles you might find in your path (cars, motorbikes, stairs, trees). However, Ermou, Apostolou Pavlou and Dionysiou Areopagitou are now crowded every day.
Athenians and tourists who have trouble finding a nice seat at their favorite shop or can’t fight it anymore with prices that have gone out of control take something from the street, a habit left over from our quarantine, and walk around the center.
Now that it’s summer, a walk along the pedestrian walkway under the Acropolis is something else. Without the noise of the city, with musicians mingling with the hawkers and everyone playing their own thing. Okay, it takes a bit of caution with the roller skates and bicycles sometimes running like crazy on the pavement, but still the experience is fantastic.
And whenever you decide to do it, you’re sure to run into familiar faces. There are other groups doing exactly the same thing, most likely this is their hangout too. Because who says a whole pedestrian mall can’t be one of those?
You won’t find Ronaldinho in Brazil Square, but you will find nice bars
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Brazilian Square has not always been what it is today. For several years it was still a neighborhood with those classic shops and cafes that never collected a boo-boo. Everything changed, however, after the advent of Lot51.
The area quickly became a hangout, attracting people not only from Ilisia and the surrounding areas but from all over the city. Besides, its location helps it a lot, as it is quite close to the Megaron Mousikis station. But it is not only this particular café that operates as a bar in the evenings.
There’s also the Iguazu, the Flaneur and the Fadiz of Lebanese Fadi Hadaad which, in addition to its excellent cocktails, is also famous for its fine food. These four establishments, then, have created a street scene where, especially on weekends, it’s a riot.
A plus point is the fact that no matter what time you pass by the spot, you know you’ll eat well, as a few metres down the road is the Cantina of Michalakopoulou with its famous chicken nuggets and “dirty” food. Because a self-respecting haunt in Athens must always have good food. Even if it’s a hot dog.
Somewhere between Patission and Acharnon
We return to the centre of Athens, that part of the planet where, as unbearable as summer (which it is) may seem, it’s just as nice when the sun starts to set. The last destination on this trip from hangout to hangout is this area between two streets that, apart from being main arteries of the city, are also two streets with a lot of history, mostly cultural.
In winter things are somewhat clearer. The Au Revoirhas for decades been a landmark meeting point for the area locals like to call “home”. What’s impressive in its case is that it now attracts a lot of new people who are now learning about it, which creates, if anything, romance in a changing Athena that is gradually turning into a tourist amusement park.
But what happens in the summer? Apart from the Areos Square, which, thanks to the Plasmata of the Onassis Foundation, has come back into the spotlight, a lot of people head to Derigny, more specifically to number 31, where Apoteka, a bar that has built its own aesthetic and its own world, is located. A nice neighbourhood with many more old and new establishments, which is always busy but keeps its character. Everything you need to have a good time this summer.
This article was published in the print LiFO.
