Food And Drink in Athens

Culinary Athens is shown through markets rather than restaurants. The central Varvakios has worked since the nineteenth century: meat rows, fish counters, spice and olive shops all around. Tours run through it and the neighbouring lanes, explaining how feta cheese differs from mizithra and why Greeks eat tomatoes only in season. Tastings happen on the move, at the counters.

The second line is the evening one. Night tours through the floodlit centre combine sights with stops at a mezedopolio, where you order not a dish each but a dozen small plates for the group. There are also dinners with a traditional Greek show — music, dancing, sirtaki, exactly what such an evening promises.

The third line leaves the city: private trips to Cape Sounion with lunch at a fishing taverna on the way, cruises with Greek food aboard, gourmet programmes by e-bike with stops for mezedakia. Practical notes: Greeks eat lunch at two or three and dinner after nine, and before that a taverna may stand empty for reasons other than being bad. Meze is built for a group, with four people taking eight to ten plates. In the markets cash is used more often than a card.