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6 ways to discover the Old Athens way of life

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©Εθνική Πινακοθήκη-Μουσείο Αλεξάνδρου Σούτσου, Φωτογράφιση Σταύρος Ψηρούκης (Ε.Π.Μ.Α.Σ)

Updated: May 5, 2025

READING TIME

As long as it takes to drink a Greek coffee

AUTHOR

The Discover Greece Team

Sponsored by Athens International Airport

What if you could time travel to 19^th-century Athens and the early days of the recently formed Greek state? To the slow-paced, pre-industrial city overlooked by the Acropolis but otherwise incomparable to the bustling, 24-hour metropolis of today. Well, in many neighbourhoods of the historic centre… Syntagma, Omonia, Monastiraki, Thissio, Plaka and Exarchia, the sights and sounds of Old Athens are still a part of the everyday life of the Greek capital. You’ll find them in coffee shops and tavernas, and the local markets and craft shops. It’s in the neoclassical architecture that appears unexpectedly between the functional apartment blocks created to house the growing population of the mid-20th century. And above all, you’ll find it many of the daily habits of locals, offering a bridge with the past and capturing the authenticity and values of a way of life that has always been and will always be true to itself.

Summary

The page explores how you can experience the old way of life in Athens by visiting traditional coffee shops, family-run tavernas, vibrant local markets, and historic craft stores. It highlights the enduring presence of neoclassical architecture and daily habits that connect modern Athens to its 19th- and early 20th-century roots. From the aromas of Evripidou Street to the antiques of Avissinias Square, these neighbourhoods and customs reveal the authentic character and living history of the city. The guide encourages visitors to seek out these experiences, which locals continue to preserve and celebrate.

Traditional coffee shops

The first stop in our journey around old Athens is in the kafeneia (coffee shops) that capture the soul of the city. They first appeared during Ottoman times and are still the best way to take the pulse of Athenian society. There isn't a single neighbourhood in any Greek city, town or village worth its name that doesn't have its own kafeneia, where the locals hang out. In Athens, right up to the 1980s and 1990s, there seemed to be a kafeneion on every main street corner and you can still find traditional coffee shops that have been operating for decades (some more than a century), preserving the traditions, warmth and atmosphere of the past. The mood comes from old mosaics and paintings, and portraits and old photographs on the walls. Some might even display historical documents, family heirlooms and old advertisements.

Some new coffee shops in Athens even choose to adopt this vintage character. They have wooden chairs, small tables and a simple decor and even make Greek coffee sti hovoli (brewed with hot ashes rather than a flame), served with loukoumakia (icing sugar-coated sweets similar to Turkish delight). Later in the day, coffee is replaced by ouzo, tsipouro, beer or wine, accompanied by a humble but delicious meze.

What made the traditional coffee shop in Athens so important? Mostly, it was about who you found there. They attracted workers on their way home and they were hangouts for the city's intellectuals. Or you could just come to play backgammon or chess (there are still chess cafes in Athens!) and to offer your opinion on the problems of the world.

Athenian tavernas

Everyone who has spent time in Greece knows about the experience of eating in an authentic taverna. But the traditional Athenian taverna is about much more than just the food. Originally, tavernas in Athens were most popular with workers (often doing manual jobs) to grab a bite at lunchtime. But in the first half of the 20th century, the introduction of music (ideally live) elevated them from simple eating places to being a central part of Athenian social life.

You’ll still find tavernas in central Athens run by family members of the original owners. They’ve survived wars, political instability, economic crises and everything in between – all contributing a little bit to their atmosphere.

The great revolution for the Athenian taverna came after the Asia Minor Disaster in 1922, when several hundred thousand Greek refugees settled in Athens, dramatically increasing the population of the city. Originally from cities like Smyrna in Asia Minor, where they were used to a culture of openness, inviting people into their homes and holding parties, these refugees were housed in small properties that were barely big enough to house their families, let alone entertain guests. So, the humble neighbourhood taverna was transformed into a place of food, fun and music. Eastern-sounding rebetiko instruments were introduced and, in time, many of the greatest rebetiko musicians emerged in tavernas.

At the heart of every Athenian taverna was the taverna owner. He had a personal relationship with the regulars, listening to their problems and making them feel special, whether they were with their parea (group of friends) or alone. Athenian tavernas attracted some of the greatest intellectual and artistic personalities of the time. But despite all this, the taverna decor and menu always remained simple. Dishes were served sti mesi (in the middle) in the meze style. The real feast was the chatter, the laughter and the sound of clinking glasses.

The local markets

If you really want to know what it’s like to live in Athens, you only need to witness the locals’ shopping habits. And here, once again, so many of the habits of 19th and 20th centuries are a central part to the history of modern Athens.

The Varvakios market

A landmark of the city for over a century, Varvakios remains a bustling food market in the heart of the city. It dates back to 1886, when there was a plan to create four markets in Athens, based on the standards of central markets in major European cities. In the end, only one was built and it was named Varvakios (after the benefactor Ioannis Varvakis, who founded a school of the same name, which stood opposite the market for many years).

Housewives would start their day by filling their baskets while all-night revellers would drop by in the early hours for a bowl of warming patsa (tripe soup) on their way home. It is split into separate meat and fish markets, but around Varvakios are small traders and hawkers of chestnuts, koulouria (sesame seed-crusted bread rings), roasted chickpeas and more.

The area around the market, which is close to the Psirri neighbourhood, is another part of Athens that changed after the Asia Minor Disaster. It has always represented the migratory flows of the city. But it also reflects a new age of prosperity, with new eateries opening and even parties organised on a Sunday at certain times of year. But at its heart, Varvakios is and always will be a working class market, offering a different reason to visit, day or night.

Evripidou Street

The road with the most characteristic aroma in the city. Evripidou Street runs from Varvakios market to Klafthmonos Square, by Stadiou Street, one of the main arteries of central Athens. It sprung to life in the late 19^th century with the blossoming of the Varvakios market, with the opening of bakalika (grocery stores) specialising in herbs and spices, dairy products, pulses, pasta and cold cuts.

All are still represented on this iconic street. Indeed, many of the shops on Evripidou Street have a decades-long history, preserving the atmosphere of a former time. Don’t expect to find packaged products here. Evripidou Street is all about buying things by the gram, just like the good old days. But you'll know as much just from the aromas.

Farmers’ markets

Around a century ago (on 18 May 1929), to the sound of drum rolls and in the presence of the then prime minister, the institution of the laiki agora (people’s market) was inaugurated in the Thissio neighbourhood of Athens. And visiting these markets is still a part of the weekly routine for many Athenians.

In the early days, when Athens was a small city, there was a market in a different neighbourhood every day of the week. Today, every district in Athens has a weekly market. Potatoes, onions, tomatoes, artichokes, oranges, kiwi fruit… you’ll immediately know what fruit and vegetables are in season because they’ll be piled high on tables and hawked by noisy vendors vying for your attention. And it’s not just about the goodness of the Greek countryside… you’ll also find flowers, seafood and household goods at wholesale prices at many farmers' markets.

Avissinias Square

For two centuries now, East and West have met in Avissinias Square in central Athens. It was the location of the commercial centre during the Ottoman occupation and a bazaar still operates there every Sunday morning. Open-air stalls selling antiques of all kinds: old furniture, vignettes and miniatures that scream vintage Athens, as well as wrought-iron items from the area that once housed many of the city's metalworkers. Silk merchants were also based here, often refugees from Asia Minor. And as Athens grew wealthier, 'out of fashion' household items were brought here, ready to find a new home. If you visit today, you'll find that little has changed.

The traditional craft stores

One of the joys of wandering around the neighbourhoods of central Athens is stumbling upon the small shops of 19th and 20th century artisans and craftspeople. For example, in Psirri (but also in other neighbourhoods of the centre) you’ll find shops selling handmade chairs and furniture shops, as well as cobblers and handmade leather goods stores. In Exarchia, there are stores selling musical instruments (especially luthiers) and shops making picture frames, as well as a few surviving bookbinders and publishing houses (Exarchia was once the neighbourhood of bookbinders and bookshops).

There are many fabric shops in the city's so-called Commercial Triangle and shops selling handmade shoes and sandals, and traditional lampshades. And when come to a store selling colourful handmade hats, imagine what Athens must have been like in the 19^th and mid-20th centuries when a hat was mandatory for both men and women, signifying not just social class but also style.

Guide to the traditional crafts of Athens

The architecture

Other than the Acropolis and other archaeological landmarks, Athens is hardly recognisable from when it became the capital of Greece at the beginning of the 19th century. It has grown from a provincial city to a bustling metropolis of more than 5 million inhabitants (almost half the population of Greece). And with this growth, the city's architectural landscape has changed dramatically.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Athens was a city of small rural houses and – especially on the main thoroughfares of the centre – striking neoclassical buildings with impressive terraces and other elements in the style of Classical Greece, which were either family mansions or state properties.

As Athens has grown, apartment blocks have replaced these rural houses, but you can still see examples in places like Plaka and neighbouring Anafiotika. Likewise, the many neoclassical buildings that have survived are a reminder of what it would have been like to live in Old Athens. Among the most emblematic are Syntagma Square’s Hellenic Parliament (built in 1836 and once the Royal Palace of King Otto and Queen Amalia) and Grande Bretagne (built in 1842 and a prominent hotel since the late 19^th century), and Zappeion Hall by the National Garden (one of the venues for the first modern Olympics in 1896). Meanwhile, the Old Parliament House on Stadiou Street was the permanent residence of the royal family from 1833 and home of the original Parliament from 1875-1935.

But nothing matches the neoclassical grandeur of the Athenian Trilogy, comprising the University of Athens, the Academy of Athens and the National Library, on Panepistimiou Street. They were designed by a combination of Danish architects and brothers, Christian and Theophil Hansen and Saxony-born Ernst Ziller, who was responsible for many of Athens’ most iconic buildings during the drive to establish Athens as a capital city of European standards.

Other 19^th-century gems include the Old National Printing House and the nearby National Archaeological Museum, as well as the German Archaeological Institute, the Serpieri Mansion, the National Bank of Greece building on Panepistiou Street and Maximos Mansion, built in 1912 and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Greece since 1982.

12 historical buildings in Athens for architecture lovers

Daily Habits & Entertainment

Our nostalgic journey through old Athens ends with a rose-tinted view of the Greek capital in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Belle Epoque period of peace and relative prosperity that characterised parts of Europe before the First World War extended to elements of Greek society. It was a time when Panepistimiou Avenue, connecting Syntagma Square with Omonia Square, was the main boulevard of Athens, carrying people to the city's entertainment centres... the places where people danced, discussed politics and art, went to the theatre and drank coffee. The first kiosks (periptera) appeared and the streets were alive with hawkers and the sound of laterna (mechanical pianos).

This Belle Epoque feel was interrupted by the Balkan Wars of the 1920s and World War 2, but it re-emerged with a renewed style and vigour. Zonars (Athénée) opened its doors as a glamourous coffee shop in 1939 but its heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s. Street vendors selling roasted chestnuts, lottery tickets, and koulouria bread rings once again lined the streets. Pastry shops became meeting places and boites (as the clubs were called) welcomed the biggest names in Greek music and cinema. Theatres appeared (such as the iconic Pallas theatre in 1932) and Karangiozi puppet shows shadow theatres popped up as the city’s unique cultural identity became more extrovert. And the beauty of it is, once you know all this, you’ll recognise so many of these features wandering the streets today.

6 ways to discover the Old Athens way of life

What inspired you most about Old Athens? The coffee shops and tavernas? Or maybe it was the local markets, craft stores and architecture? Whatever it was, one thing connects them all… the people who have embraced this Old Athens way of life and love nothing more than preserving it by passing it on to future generations to become a part of the modern history of Athens.

Discover the modern face of Athens