36 Hours in Athens
After years of economic turmoil, Athens’s
self-confidence and creativity are stirring again, with new
restaurants, shops and a blossoming of local pride.
Video by Fritzie Andrade, Max
Cantor, Chris Carmichael and Aaron Wolfe on
Publish Date October 15, 2014.
Photo by Chris Carmichael for The New York Times.
After
years of dreadful press that defined Athens as a broken-down capital
prone to fiery riots, the city’s self-confidence and creativity are
stirring again. Enterprising young fashion and graphic designers are
opening shops celebrating the classic lines of ancient Greece and the
anarchic wit of modern times. In reviving city squares, there are new
restaurants and cafes serving native delicacies like Cretan sausage and
sheep’s milk yogurt with preserved quince. The five-year-old Acropolis
Museum is consistently rated one of the top museums in the world, and
the National Museum of Contemporary Art is set to move into a new
building later this year. Even rough times have silver linings.
Friday
1. Muses and Orators | Noon
Walk
along the wildflower-dotted Hill of the Muses, pierced by the marble
monument to Philopappos, a Greek-Syrian nobleman who served as a Roman
consul. Greeks like to fly kites here on Clean Monday, but it’s usually
crowd-free, with good views of the Acropolis and the city. A trail leads
past the 15th-century church of Agios Dimitrios Loumbardiaris, which is
named after the Greek word for cannon because, legend has it, an
Ottoman soldier was struck dead by lightning just as he was about to
fire a cannon at the congregation. North of the Philopappos monument is
the Pnyx, where Athenian citizens and orators like Pericles,
Themistocles and Demosthenes spoke. There’s still a large stone platform
here that’s popular with tourists and locals channeling the ancients
(if only for a selfie).
2. Comfort Food, Updated | 3 p.m.
Get
a modern taste of hearty Peloponnesian cuisine at Manimani, an
excellent and inexpensive restaurant housed in a restored neo-Classical
house not far from the Acropolis Museum. Try the yellow split peas with
onion chutney (5 euros, or $6.15 at $1.23 to the euro), the sweet green
salad with soft katiki cheese and dried figs (7.50 euros), and the
homemade noodles, called hilopites, simmered with chicken, fennel,
sun-dried tomatoes and basil (9.50 euros). For dessert, walk to the
Fresko yogurt bar, where you will discover there are multiple varieties
of the thick, strained “Greek yogurt.” Fresko has yogurt made from the
milk of cows, goats and sheep, as well as a variety of traditional
toppings ranging from thyme honey to “spoon sweets” (fruit boiled in
sugar and lemon juice).
3. Acropolis Now | 5 p.m.
The
five-year-old Acropolis Museum, designed by the Swiss-born architect
Bernard Tschumi, houses spectacular artifacts from the country’s most
famous site. Finds date from the Hekatompedon, the oldest known building
on the Acropolis, though the showcase is the Parthenon Gallery, where
portions of the Parthenon frieze are dramatically displayed. Most of the
frieze is, of course, at the British Museum in London. (Lord Elgin had
the sculptures from the Propylaea and the Erechtheum removed between
1801 and 1812, when Greece was still part of the Ottoman Empire.)
4. The Road to Hipster Square | 7 p.m.
Restaurants,
cafes and bars have bloomed along the back streets between Syntagma,
across from parliament, and Monastiraki, home of a lively marketplace.
Meliartos is a standout bakery, cafe and creamery that uses locally
sourced ingredients for its pies, sandwiches, ice cream and yogurt.
Lukumades is named after the luscious fried dough balls that are the
main course here, served with honey, chocolate praline or
mastic-flavored ice cream. On nearby Agia Eirini Square
cigarette-rolling hipsters sip Stubborn Mules at Osterman, which also
has one of the best brunches in town.
5. Greek Wine and Cheese | 9 p.m.
A
low-key but excellent wine bar, Heteroclito celebrates the Greek
vineyard, which has been growing in body, flavor and international
respectability. Grab a table outside and order a glass of Melissokipos, a
white from Crete, and the excellent Greek cheese platter (8 euros),
with aged dry anthotiro (a goat’s milk cheese) from the Cretan city of
Chania and smoked, spicy cow’s milk cheese from the northern city of
Naoussa.
6. Art and Song | 10 p.m.
Many
artists in Athens say Greek culture wallows too much in its past and
fails to appreciate the dynamism of its present. These voices — visual
and musical — have found homes in the Art Foundation (known as TAF) and
Six d.o.g.s. TAF opened in 2009 in a renovated 19th-century complex with
galleries and a space for lectures, plays and concerts. Six d.o.g.s.
has an excellent cafe-bar and spacious garden and hosts concerts ranging
from underground metal-rap to nostalgic indie-folk.
Saturday
7. Award-Winning Coffee | 9 a.m.
Athens
used to be a tough place for coffee snobs. But at Yiannis Taloumis’s
Cafe Taf, you can revel in that perfect cup of Kageyo Cooperative
Rwandan coffee. Taf’s barista, Stefanos Domatiotis, was named World
Brewers Cup Champion for 2014. Enjoy a fresh-brewed cup with a piece of
apple pie or vanilla cake at the cafe (5 to 6 euros), on the edge of the
bohemian Exarchia neighborhood.
8. Ancient Cubism | 11 a.m.
The
Museum of Cycladic Art showcases the trove of Greek art belonging to
the shipping magnate Nicholas Goulandris and his wife, Dolly. Most of
that art came from the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, where an
ancient civilization flourished between 3300 and 200 B.C. The collection
includes the noted geometric figurines that inspired Cubist art as well
as frescoed Minoan vessels and Roman-era jewelry from Cyprus (7 euros).
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9. Vegetarian Delight | 2 p.m.
Greeks
love their meat, so vegetarians often make do with salads, spinach pies
and eggplant dip. The Greek-Iranian couple who opened Avocado near
Syntagma Square created an eclectic menu of Greek, Asian and macrobiotic
dishes and a juice bar. Try the black-eyed pea patties with Florina
sweet peppers (7 euros) and the Brama Briam panini (7.50 euros), with
roasted eggplant, red peppers and cheese from Metsovo. If you need a
quick energy boost, get a Go Green (a smoothie made from spinach,
parsley, apple, lemon and ginger, 4.90 euros). This is one of the few
restaurants where the smoking ban is enforced.
10. Live Your Myth | 4 p.m.
In
pre-crisis days, Athenians often power-shopped for Gucci and Fendi in
the old-money neighborhood of Kolonaki. Now there’s been a revival in
clothes and accessories designed by Greeks. Koukoutsi features elegant
T-shirts, bags, diaries and postcards. T-shirts cost around 25 euros. If
you have more to spend, go to Zeus & Dione, which showcases upscale
Greek jewelry artists like Ileana Makri, Liana Vourakis and Lito and
also features beautifully fluid, Greek-inspired dresses like the Medea
(750 euros). In Plaka, the neighborhood near the Acropolis, try
souvenir-shopping at Forget Me Not, which sells Greek-made finds like
Rainy July’s swimming-cap handbags (40 to 50 euros) and clothes inspired
by ancient Greek iconography by the young fashion designer Nikoletta
Ververidou.
11. River Gods and Olympians | 6 p.m.
According
to legend, the river god Ilissos worshiped in a sanctuary on Ardittos
hill next to what is now the Panathenaic Stadium in Mets, a neighborhood
in eastern Athens. The architect Anastasios Metaxas refurbished the
ancient Olympic stadium in the late 19th century to host the Olympics in
1896. The Panathenaic Stadium, which the Greeks call Kallimarmaro
(“beautiful marble”), is the finishing point for the Athens Classic
Marathon held each fall. The stadium is a short walk from the National
Gardens; take a stroll along the winding, landscaped paths and stop at
the Aigli Cafe for a Greek-style tiramisù.
12. Meze and Degustation | 9 p.m.
Greeks
have become judicious about eating out, and there’s been an explosion
of affordable tapas places, like Mavro Provato. Try the Myrto, a salad
with roasted manouri cheese, nuts, oranges and blackberry dressing (6.90
euros); the sarikopita, a soft-cheese pie finished with honey and
toasted sesame; and the Mavro Provato lamb slow-cooked in parchment with
new potatoes and herbs (12 euros). A more expensive option is the Funky
Gourmet in Keramikos, a creative spin on Greek food that deserves its
two Michelin stars. The degustation menus are 100 to 195 euros per wine
pairing, but you can sample delights such as Greek bottarga with white
chocolate, snails, lamb chops and a smoked ice cream sandwich.
Sunday
13. Brunch and Beach | 10 a.m.
Several
new brunch places are catering to a long-ignored concept in Greece:
breakfast food. The Nice N’ Easy cafe, known for its organic fare,
serves huevos rancheros, pancakes and Bloody Marys (15 to 25 euros). The
New Taste cafe, housed in the New Hotel near Syntagma Square, serves
eggs Benedict and quiche (10 to 20 euros). After brunch, head out to
Vouliagmeni Lake, set inside a jagged boulder and known locally as a
natural spa. The lake, which stays warm year-round, is just south of the
seaside suburb of the same name; entry: 8 euros. If you want to prance
around in a designer swimsuit, go to Astir Beach, the fanciest spot
along the so-called Athens Riviera. There’s a 25-euro fee for summer
weekends, but it drops to 18 euros in the fall.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-athens.html?_r=1
Ανάρτηση από:dimiourgia-epikinonia.blogspot.gr
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