Breakfast in Athens

Greece is not the land of hearty American-style breakfast, Most Greek breakfasts consist of coffee and a cigarette or two

An Athenian may eat a piece of hard crusty bread (paxamadia) to fill the gaping hole in their stomach though this has little do do with nutrition. But we American travelers know better. After all it is no secret that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and if you just have a couple cups of coffee and a piece of bread you may find yourself on top of the Acropolis, staring at the magestic beauty of the Parthenon and thinking about nothing except food.

If you are staying at a fancy hotel like the Grande Bretagne or the Electra Palace you will be quite pleased when you see their breakfast buffet table, piled high with croisants, fruit, yogurt, eggs, bacon, sausage, cheeses, cakes, pastries, cookies and more, constantly being refilled. You get what you pay for and these are high end hotels which take pride in their ability to make their customers happy at the breakfast table. But if you are staying at an inexpensive hotel then breakfast may be at the subsistance level with coffee just strong enough to get you to a real cafe, paximadia, maybe some yogurt and a boiled egg. So after gazing at the table at the piles of pre-packaged butter, honey and marmalade you may want to go and search for greener pastures. Like loukamades (fried dough with honey) at Doris the famous old shop at 30 Praxitelous.

I sometimes have a coffee at the Hotel Attalos where I usually stay. Their coffee is pretty good for a budget hotel. But if I need serious espresso-style coffee I go across Athinas street to this little cafe that looks like a fast food place at an airport called Mandarino. Not the kind of atmosphere I seek out but darn good coffee and not much of a struggle to get to from the hotel. Plus the couple who own it are really nice. They bake their own tiropitas, pizzas, breads and pies and have the cheapest espresso I have found in Athens and maybe the best. If I want a little more atmosphere I can continue on to Diorofos on the corner of Aeolis and Evripidou at the central market. If I am on the move I can go get a cheese-pie(teeropita ), or spinach-pie ( spanakopita ) from one of the small shops or bakeries. There's a great one on Voulis Street, two blocks down from Syntagma called Ariston where you can get pies with many different things baked into it from zuchini to artichokes or versa-visa. But these shops are all over Athens now and though Ariston has the most impressive collection of any of them you can usually find something right around the corner from where you are. Or you can just get a tiropita from a stand if you are not choosy and don't require variety.

One of our favorite hangouts is the Kydatheneon in the Plaka at Farmaki #1 in the little square called Platia Filomouson on the corner perpendicular to the Byzantino Restaurant and next to the pizza place. A beautiful old taverna-ouzerie, most of the tables and chairs are under the trees in the little park and it is a cool place to relax and get away from the sun. Great coffee! Also yogurt with fruit, or ice-cream to keep the kids busy while you get your coffee fix. They also have beer, wine, drinks and food too. Good spot for a frapouzo. You can get breakfast at the Byzantino too and they make pretty good coffee. The Oinas Cafe also on the square makes terrific coffee and was my headquarters for the 2004 Olympics. I would read all the papers, drink coffee after coffee and watch some of the events on their big-screen TV before picking myself up and walking to Syntagma Square to go to an actual event, usually baseball or basketball. Just down the street is a wonderful breakfast place on the corner of Geronda and Daedelou, just a block from the square. It is called Tristrato and it is run by a middle aged gentleman and his daughter, or maybe it's his wife, or his sister, or just someone who works there. Or maybe he works for her since her name is on the card. I don't really know or care and neither should you. But it is a lovely traditional galatadiko which is a milk and pastry shop. Great yogurt which you can get with fruit, nuts, honey or all of the above. Lots of different coffees and pastries and the whole place is furnished in antiques.

A frequent breakfast stop for us, also mentioned in my important Coffee and Cafe Guide, is the Diorofo Cafe on Aeolis street at the corner of Evripidou in the central market. They make cheese pies, spincah pies and leak pies. Not exactly bacon and eggs but pretty good for you. But probably the food is secondary. They make great coffee. Even better is the Terina on the square at the intersection of Kapni Karea and Adrianou Street across from the wall of Hadrian's Library. Many of the cafes will have quiche and stuff like this on the menu. There must be a couple dozen little pastry shops within two blocks of Syntagma Square, all serving espresso and displaying beautiful cakes and pittas.

Across from the post office on Metropoleos at Syntagma is Cafe-Neon, a cafeteria where you can get any style of omelet, coffee, pastries, tea or bread. It's not what you would call a "Greek experience", but if you are one of those people who requires a hearty breakfast to get yourself going, this is a good bet. They even have espresso and cappuccino. FLOU on the corner of Voulis and Apollonos streets has a selection of spanakopitas, tiropitas, crepes, croisants, fresh fruit juices, ice-creams, omelets, milkshakes and sweets and the croisants you can get everywhere. Very friendly too.

If you want to be like the working class Greeks why not go down to the meat market to one of the restaurants there for a nice steaming bowl of patsa, made from the innards of sheep and famous for it's life-saving properties in the event of a serious hangover, or I suppose even jet lag. What could be more invigorating than a ladle full of intestines and other animal organs before you begin the climb up the Acropolis.