Athens Travel Blog

Welcome to Athens Chocolate 101, a course covering all things chocolate and delicious in Athens. Lesson one: deliciousness for the masses. Athens is home to not one, but two domestic chocolate makers: Ion and Pavlidis. Bitter The Pavlidis (Pah-VLEE‘-this) Chocolate Factory was started in 1861...

Nippy outside! Good thing kitchens in Athens are focusing on heavier dishes designed to keep you warm and fluffy through the winter; one of my favorites is Beri meze which, roughly translated, means the plate of the drunkard. It’s prepared according to the individualistic interpretation of the...

Alright boys and girls, now gather round. I have to tell you the story of why, for no apparent reason, Greece is granted a few days of perfect weather in the dead of winter- a phenomenon that has been occurring since ancient times. The daughter of the wind, Alcyone, was deeply in love with her husband,...

For the third day running, Greece is on holiday. The soundtrack of the streets is the constant, highly personalized ring tones of mobiles, followed by the greeting “Xronia polla! Kalie xronia!” Any hoop-ti-doo, personal or national, is reason enough to shout out the first wish of “many years”;...

On December 18th, the esteemed Jacqueline de Romilly, age 97, crossed over in a Western suburb of Paris. Her ardent passion of ancient Greece resulted in her being awarded Greek citizenship in 1995 and the title of “Ambassador of Hellenism” by the Greek state in 2000. Her departure came...

Like many of you will do, I’ve traveled away from my home in Athens to visit family for the holidays.  I must admit that I’m sorry to miss the plates of Greek Christmas cookies that appear on the counters of shops, hotels, or are offered by generous hosts over coffee. The tradition is to...

Funny fact about Athens: Christmas just wasn’t that big of a deal until King Otto came along in the nineteenth century, bringing a whole sackful of Bavarian customs and traditions along with him, like a Christmas tree just outside of the palace. It took! Every year the lighting of the Christmas...

Should your eyes rest on a gentleman in Athens of any age who is in a state of deep conversation, heavy thinking, sitting, waiting, or watching, (common activities for anyone in Greece) it’s likely that he’s complementing the activity with a long string of beads and a graceful flip of the...

The afternoon was wearing on and the weather was changing, so it was time for the sailing school to put an end their open water course. They tacked their boats and pulled them into the harbor at Flisvos Marina under the watchful eye of Greece’s most formidable armored cruiser of the 20th century,...

Ho-ho-ho-boy… you’re stuck in Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos for six hours. Well, lucky you. Born for the 2004 Olympic Games, this airport is modern, clean, and chock-full of ways to while away your layover. There’s so much, I’ve compiled an awards list to...