Glass finds compelling reasons for visiting Athens

Athenian Delights – Glass finds compelling reasons for visiting Athens

IF you’re tired of Athens – someone might have said once – you’re tired of life. It was a city of renown two and a half thousand years ago, attracting visitors from all over the Greek world, and today it has regained the magic that made it the capital of Mediterranean culture in the ancient world. A record-breaking 30 million people will have visited Greece in 2017 but mercifully not all of them stay in Athens.

The Winter Garden at Hotel Grande Bretange is not as seasonal as the name might suggest

The city has suffered woefully over the last few years but its troubles are economic and not the kind of ethnic or geopolitical difficulties that can make travel to some other global destinations problematic. Athenians have demonstrated against their economic plight on so many occasions and so vigorously that protest fatigue has set in but Syntagma Square continues to be daily enlivened at 11am when the slightly surreal Changing-of the Guard ritual  kicks in outside the Greek Parliament.

A majestic view from the restaurant of Dionysus Zonar’s

Another good  reason to check out Syntagma Square is a grandiose  nineteenth-century stone building dominating a corner adjacent to the Parliament: Hotel Grande Bretagne. This illustrious hotel has form as a meeting spot for discreet gatherings of treaty-signing politicos and matchmaking socialites and when I visited the president of France was staying there — the lobby had more than its fair share of unsmiling security guys trying to look like Jason Bourne.

Hotel Grande Bretagne needs visiting, not just for its Winter Garden but for what awaits on its top floor at GB Roof Garden restaurant: absolutely jaw-dropping views of the majestic Acropolis that cannot be bettered anywhere else in the city. If staying here, the view is the ultimate morning treat because it serves as the breakfast room; if not, book a table for dinner or drop in for a drink.

Changing of the Guard outside the Greek Parliament

Be warned: your time at the Acropolis will be shared with endless tour groups unless you’re at the ticket office at or soon after 8am. Equally compelling is a visit to the world-class Acropolis Museum: it demonstratively shows – without the need to be telling you– why the British Museum should return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. A great spot for a late breakfast or lunch, close to the Acropolis, is Dionysus Zonar’s.

Don’t be deterred by the coach and taxi park outside because the restaurant is too small to facilitate large groups. Dionysus is a tiered restaurant with a casual café setting on the lower level and white-tablecloth for more formal meals higher up. The food is refined: salads with red, yellow and black tomatoes, carob rusk and soft and grainy Anevato cheese; chilled and bright green melon soup with mastic and an almond syrup called soumada.

When the city’s first high-rise building was completed – the Athens Hilton in 1967 – it became emblematic of modernity’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean. The exterior remains architecturally eye-catching and you can’t miss it when seeking out Vrassida St that lies almost in its shadow. On this quiet, tree-lined street, two chic little restaurants stand side by side, independent of each other but culinary sisters when it comes to classy, bistro-style dining. At Vezene the tables are on a glass floor but your attention focuses on the menu: wagyo from Spain; fish cooked savoro-style (a recipe from Corfu mixing olive oil, raisins, garlic and spring onions) and  terrific wines from around the country that include, most surprisingly, an admirable Greek rosé.

Vezene ‘s chef in situ

Next door is Vassilenas, a restaurant originally established in Piraeus, Athens’ port city, in 1920. That establishment is still there but at the end of last year a branch was opened in the capital. The setting is attractive and low-key, with LED lighting from discreetly placed empty wine bottles in the ceiling. Vassilenas is not trying to be flashy, relying on word of mouth reaching Athenians who want pure, fresh ingredients and a touch of imagination. A Greek salad, with tiny apple-shaped Greek capers, has creamy xigalo cheese from Crete and not a morsel of feta on the plate. Fish is cooked in the savoro manner but deconstructs the constituents so the raisins, for example, are pickled and separated from the rest. The lemon dessert comes with geranium cheese. The strong wine list is unapologetically biased in the national interest.

A culinary carnival at Cookoovaya

Cookoovaya, named for the owl of Athens, symbol of wisdom and the city’s ancient goddess Athene, makes for a final treat. Sheltered from the street by manicured hedges, the menu changes daily according to what’s fresh in the markets No ordinary Greek salad here – the cheese is Ksinotiri from Crete – and a dish to shout about is the sea bass in white cabbage and wild rice. It arrives on a little trolley pushed by an oven-gloved waiter who proceeds to tear open its wrapping and clear away the wood ash. The bougatsa for dessert is a  tower of filo, vanilla cream, cinnamon and ice cream which again is given a hearty tap; the shreds are served a little like Eton mess but so much nicer.

A White-winged Tern flying over Schinas National Park

Like any city, the need for an escape route from Athens will be felt sooner or later. I found it by spending half a day with a birdwatcher  and a copy of Birds of the Mediterranean by Paul Sherry (Helm Field Guides). Tours are tailored to suit your interests and mine were very general so there was no crouching in hides, just trips to Schinas National Park (which includes historic Marathon) and the 2004 Olympic Rowing Centre. The odd jogger aside, the Centre was deserted by humans and left to kingfishers, reed warblers and grebes.

The crisp and clean Vassilenas

The wildlife, the Acropolis and its museum, wonderfully affordable restaurants and the abiding sense of being in a place where culture took a giant step forward are all good reasons for visiting Athens. Flights from London take just over three and a half hours; time to get into the right mood with the memoir 92 Acharnon Street, one of a number of travel books about Greece published by Eland Books.

 by Sean Sheehan