We were in Athens, Greece in the spring of 2017 and had a wonderful time.
For the benefit of anybody going to Greece, I am sharing information -- as per our experience -- about some restaurants in Athens and Piraeus.
Full disclosure: We were staying at Kinetta Beach Resort about an hour's high-speed train ride from Athens. It was lovely there and I have written about that resort elsewhere in this blog. The restaurant called Avra was excellent, as was this resort's poolside dining area called Taverna.
But many times, we were doing what tourists do.... we were exploring Athens and area. Then when it came time to eat, we patronized the following:
Spezie Pasta-Cafe, 3 Makrygianni Street, Akropolis, Athens, Greece.
Delicious and affordable pizza with vegetables, above, at Spezia
Watch for this sign on Makrygianni Street in Athens, close to the Acropolis train station.
A stone's throw, almost from the famous
Acropolis, Spezie Pasta-Cafe is one of many sidewalk cafes to be
found on Makrygianni Street in Athens. From some cafes, staff
beckoned in friendly manner to entice you to eat there.
We liked the fact that the Spezie menu
was up-front-and-centre on the pedestrian mall of this street. There
is no traffic and because cafes are side-by-side for about a city
block in this area, we strolled and looked at restaurants until we
saw Spezie and its menu.
Staff was immediately friendly as we
looked at the menu and we decided to sit for a meal at one of the
tables outside, adjacent to the street.
We ordered pizza slices with vegetables
on them and coffee. It wasn't long before it was time for dessert and
the waiter suggested orange cake. From where I was sitting, I could
see it atop a front-of-restaurant counter. We ordered the orange
cake, a slice each, and it was decadently delicious!
The total invoice for what we had,
including coffees each, was 13.5 Euros, certainly a reasonable price
by Canadian standards! At the end of our meal we were given little
cookies wrapped individually. They too were tasty!
We would return to Spezie if we ever
get back to Greece!
It's not often that one finds two
restaurants at exactly the same street address. We did so in Athens,
Greece, when we came to 3 Makrygianni Street, adjacent to the
historic Acropolis.
Athina Bistrot shares the same street
address with another sidewalk cafe on a street which is packed with
cafes.
We found a linen-topped table for two,
underneath an awning and watched the world go by from that
sidewalk-adjacent location. The street there is a pedestrian mall, so
there are lots of people milling past ensuring that there is always a
changing landscape!
The staff at Athina Bistrot were
friendly and my wife Nancy and I had ordered dinners following a lot
of sightseeing earlier in the day.
Nancy ordered Mousaka and I ordered
shrimps with orzo. When in Greece, enjoy the Greek menu, I figured.
The meals arrived beautifully presented, hot and – as we found out
– delicious. The Mousaka cost 11.50 Euros and the shrimp with orzo
cost 13.5 Euros. These prices were what one would expect from a
reasonable restaurant in Canada. Here, in Greece, Athina Bistrot was
worth every Euro.
The sidewalk cafes, in general, have a
friendly atmosphere when they are busy with people. Here, we found
people friendly and it's a United Nations of nationalities.
We had drinks, with me chosing a local
beer. As we sat and enjoyed watching either the staff providing
service, or the worldscape nearby, we were invited to try Mastic,
which is a local liquor (as far as I know!). It tasted like
lemoncello.
Our total invoice was 35.20 Euros. We
discovered that they prefered cash, instead of credit, or debit,
cards. Which was fine with us, but would have been a shock had we not
had the cash handy.
Athina Bistrot's manager is Petros
Pavlis and we not only enjoyed meeting him, but commend him and his
staff for running an excellent restaurant.
Stamp, crepe
restaurant in Corinth, Greece.
Nancy doing what she loves to do.... shopping... near the Stamp restaurant in Corinth, Greece.
The waterfront in Corinth, Greece, is marvelous and lovely for sightseeing.
Here's proof that George posed for a photograph next to a statue at the waterfront in Corinth, Greece.
Part of the fun of exploring anyplace
in the world is when it comes to mealtime. My wife Nancy and I were
in Corinth, Greece, walking the waterfront when we decided it was
time for lunch. We turned onto one of the many streets which lead to
the waterfront, ambled along and looked at restaurants; including
sidewalk cafes.
Stamp, a crepe restaurant, appealed to
us. The street there is a pedestrian walkway and Stamp had tables and
chairs beckoning to us from in front of a large window which opens
into the restaurant. Some people were ordering inside and through the
window we could see the food-preparation area.
I can honestly say that Stamp's menu
was “Greek to me”, but we had fun reviewing their offerings. The
menu at Stamp identifies menu items by number, much like some
Chinese-food restaurants do in Canada.
We decided to order a number 6, a crepe
with Gouda cheese and other filling items. We had watched orders
being delivered to other patrons and decided that because of the
sizeable portions, we would share one crepe.
It was a wise decision, but we had to
ask twice to get the waitress to provide us with a second fork.
The crepe was delicious and along with
soft drinks for both of us our total invoice was 6.60 Euros. That, we
considered to be a bargain! The crepe itself cost 4.20 Euros.
If we ever get back to Corinth, we'll
include another visit to Stamp!
This is the entrance to The Mall you will find
adjacent to the Neratziotissa train station.
adjacent to the Neratziotissa train station.
Getting around Athens on the train is easy. Get to this station, walk out and you'll find The Mall. This is the biggest mall in Athens and -- I dare say -- the cleanest, brightest and it has high-end restaurants and a food court. The toilets here are sparkling clean, rivalling those I have seen at the Gun Wharf Quays mall in Portsmouth, England.
Don't let a rainy day in Athens dampen
your enthusiasm for having a good time. On such a day, it's perfect
to couple a shopping trip with a dining excursion if you make your
destination The Mall in Athens. There, in what is a modern,
multi-level facility, you will find a variety of sit-down, high-end
restaurants and a large selection of food-court restaurants on an
upper level in the mall.
The food court includes Everest. Like
the mall, other restaurants we observed and the toilets at The Mall,
Everest is spotlessly clean. We had tortillas at Everest, which were
tasty and satisfied our hunger needs for under two Euros each.
Coffees cost us 1.95 Euros each and our total invoice came in at
under nine Euros.
To get to Everest at The Mall – the
biggest mall in Athens – take a train to Neratziotissa station and
you can easily walk from there.
On the Island of Poros, Greece.....
Oasis Taverna at the waterfront on the island of Poros, Greece.
Restaurteur Sakis Metsopolous is the
owner of the Oasis Taverna on the island of Poros in Greece.
He's a smart man judging by the
cheerful welcome he gave a group of tourists – including my wife
Nancy and me – as we arrived from the cruiseboat Anna II at his
restaurant. One of his smart moves, I think, is to have his business
card printed in English on one side and in Greek on the other. That
makes it easier to remember his restaurant. But the service and food
are memorable too.
I'm positive that there are hundreds of
waterfront restaurants in Greece, but Oasis Taverna sets the bar for
quality service and excellent food very high. The view from the
sidewalk cafe component of this restaurant is splendid. Ships pass
this restaurant within a stone's throw of the Oasis Taverna.
Sakis Metsopolous and his staff made
our group very welcome and as part of that was a multi-course lunch
which had been arranged ahead of our arrival. At one point, as we
dined, a mandolin-playing fellow wandered from table to table. The
food, along with wine, was excellent. The multi-item lunch featured a
selection of foods, including olives.
The price of our meal was included in
the price of the cruiseboat day-trip, but I did photograph the Oasis
Taverna's menu board and the prices seem reasonable to me.
One thing for certain, we would find
Oasis Taverna to be (forgive us for this!) an oasis of fine
hospitality and dining should we ever get back to the Island of Poros
in Greece!
On a hillside in Piraeus, Greece....
The Street Kitchen is a sidewalk café with ample indoor seating on a hillside in Piraeus, Greece.
Author George Czerny says these were the best French fries he has ever tasted!
Healthy salad dish at the Street Kitchen restaurant in Piraeus, Greece.
The menu at Street Kitchen is available in both Greek and English.
A toast to our next holiday in Greece! This one was superb.
The sidewalk café part of the Street Kitchen restaurant in Piraeus faces a busy street.
Tourist gems that you might not get told about -- except for here! -- are the "Olympias" boat (above) and the Hellenic Maritime Museum (entrance shown below). Both are located an easy walk from the Street Kitchen sidewalk café in Piraeus, Greece. It is important to check opening times for both of these attractions. The views from the hillsides in Piraeus are fantastic!
Street Kitchen restaurant in Piraeus, Greece.
The hills may be alive with music in Switzerland, but in Greece – specifically in Athens and Piraeus – the hills are alive with sidewalk cafes. One such cafe is called the Street Kitchen and it is on the shoreline, near the top of a hill, in the busy port of Piraeus.
Street Kitchen's take-out menu, was
written in Greek for the menu items and had English words for
categories....for example, starters, salad, sandwich, pasta, sweets,
soft drinks and water. However, the menu at each table was available
all in English. After that it was the helpful and friendly waitress
who helped us to decide.
We ordered a salad with proscuttio and
a sandwich (lettuce and tomato) with french fries. Hands down in the
best-fries-in-the-world contest, these fries were the best I have
ever had. They came crispy and brown and delicious! We had drinks
along with our lunch.
As far as prices go, they were
reasonable. Starters ranged about 5 to 6 Euros. Salads came in at 6
to 7 Euros each. Sandwiches were anywhere from 6.5 Euros to 10 Euros.
Pasta could be purchased for between 5 Euros and 9 Euros, depending
on what you had with it. Sweets, such as cheesecake, or brownies,
came in at 5 Euros for either. Soft drinks cost 1.3 Euros and beer
cost from 3 to 4.3 Euros each, depending on what you picked.
The Street Kitchen had an interesting
location. It was off the beaten track in that it was not in the busy
Piraeus downtown area. This restaurant is located on a busy street
and had both a sidewalk tables arrangement outside and a spacious and
clean table arrangement inside.
Outside, if you looked across the
street, you could see the sea. If you walked across the street and
looked over a low wall, you would get a better view. The Street
Kitchen is within easy walking distance to the Hellenic Maritime
Museum and nearby Olympias, which is an historic “triremes”, a
long boat with almost 200 oars to propel it.
It you're a tourist, it's good to know
that a friendly little restaurant exists at the waterfront in
Piraeus.
On a rainy day, head for one of the museums in Athens.....
On a rainy day, head for one of the museums in Athens.....
Cafeteria at the The National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece.
If our experience at the cafeteria at the National Archaeological Museum is true of every person's visit, expect to encounter some very slow service at this small and crowded restaurant. Given the popularity of this museum, the crowds that flood to it and the opportunity to earn revenue, one would think this cafeteria would have been expanded years ago. But that is not the case.
The helpful staff is not to blame. They
seem to grin and bear it as the queue of customers passes by a single
cafeteria counter at a snail's pace. Of course, there is no other
restaurant (that we know about) at this museum, so the patrons are a
captive audience, so to speak.
We had a sandwich and a coffee, from a
large selection of menu items, and it cost us 7.20 Euros. The food
was fine and the selection adequate for varying tastes and budgets.
But the wait to order, receive and pay for the food and drink was
interminable. But that was one thing. The next challenge was to try
to find a spot in the small seating area at which to eat and drink
what you ordered. Remember, this is a museum and you couldn't take
the food and drink outside the cafeteria space. We expect better from
a world-class museum.
Avra is a one of the restaurants at Kinetta Beach Resort....
Avra dining room at the Kinetta Beach Resort in Kinetta, west of Athens, Greece, will exceed your expectations when it comes to Greek food, as well as excellent service from staff.
Staff members flank guest Nancy from Canada at the Avra dining room at Kinetta Beach Resort. Marie, at left, and Sofia, at right, were just two of the many staff members who work diligently to ensure that guests....either from Air Transat, or the French-oriented Lookea Club, have an excellent time.
Close-up on some souvlaki at the Avra dining room at the Kinetta Beach Resort in Greece.
Souvlaki and calamari at the Avra dining room. The menu was varied and, in part, the restaurant on a self-serve basis. When in Greece, do as the Greeks do. It was most enjoyable!
Kinetta Beach Resort is located an hour's train ride from Athens. The beach is pebbly, but stretches east and west for kilometres!
Anna II cruiseboat, shown here at dock on a Greek island, serves guests at the Kinetta Beach Resort in Greece. A day's excursion is highly recommended by author George Czerny who enjoyed a day-trip which took him and his wife Nancy to three islands... Agina, Poros and Agrissi. This vessel also traverses the Corinth canal. Anna II has an open-air deck on top, an enclosed deck on her main level, as well as toilets and a snack bar. In Greece, a boat cruise is a must-do for visitors from all over the world!
Yiannis Panou is the Air Transat representative at Kinetta Beach Resort. His professionalism
shines, as does his multilingual ability to help guests feel at home. Thanks Yiannis!
Kinetta Beach stretches on for kilometres and is composed of small pebbles. The beach is an interesting place to walk and explore and just inland there is a highway which runs parallel to this beach. Along that highway is the village of Kinetta which features a number of shops, including one which sells solar-powered items such as water heaters. Kinetta Beach Resort is long-established on this stretch of beach which is about an hour's high-speed train ride west of Athens, Greece.
A view of Kinetta Beach Resort looking inland. It's about a kilometer from this resort to the Kinetta train station where you can take a high-speed train to Athens, or to Corinth. To Athens takes about an hour and to Corinth about 15 minutes. On the way to Corinth, the train crosses a bridge over the historic Corinth canal.
The beautiful tree at right is poolside at the quiet pool at Kinetta Beach Resort.
Greece is a photographer's dream at almost every turn. This photograph was taken offshore from Kinetta Beach Resort from aboard the cruiseboat Anna II.
Avra is a one of the restaurants at Kinetta Beach Resort....
Avra dining room at the Kinetta Beach Resort in Kinetta, west of Athens, Greece, will exceed your expectations when it comes to Greek food, as well as excellent service from staff.
shines, as does his multilingual ability to help guests feel at home. Thanks Yiannis!
Restaurants manager at Kinetta Beach Resort is Yiannis Constantopoulos. He's the friendly face guests meet when they come to the waterfront dining room for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Above, author George Czerny thanks Mr. Constantopoulos for his fine service.
