Psyrrí
A grid of narrow streets north of Monastiráki that spent the 20th century as a district of leather workshops and metal shops, emptied out in the 1980s, and came back as the most creative eating and drinking quarter in Athens. Five-storey murals, shutters down on half the workshops and bars behind the other half, tables in the street from ten at night, and rebetiko coming out of a doorway. It is scruffy, loud after dark, quiet and slightly derelict-looking by day, and it is where Athenians actually go out.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants to eat and drink where the city does. Night people — nothing here properly starts before ten and it runs to three. Street art enthusiasts: this is the densest concentration of large-scale mural work in Greece. Food travellers, because the central market is on its eastern edge and the tavernas around it are the real thing. Solo travellers, who will find it easy to fall into conversation.
Things to know
- Psyrrí runs on a late clock even by Athenian standards. Restaurants fill at 10pm, bars at midnight, and a lot of places don't open at all before 6pm. Arriving at 7.30 for dinner means an empty room.
- Evripídou Street, on the market side, is the spice and herb street — sacks of oregano, mountain tea and dried peppers outside the shops, and the smell of it is the best thing in the neighbourhood. It's a daytime street; it shuts by early evening.
- The Varvákios central market is closed on Sundays and public holidays and runs roughly 7am to 6pm the rest of the week. The meat hall is not for the squeamish and the fish hall is spectacular. Go before 11am when it's still trading properly.
- Rebetiko venues are not concerts. The music starts late, often after midnight, there's usually a cover or a minimum, you eat and drink through it, and people get up and dance when they feel like it. Book at weekends.
- The street art is a real programme, not vandalism — several of the largest murals were commissioned — but tagging is everywhere and the neighbourhood will look shabby if you're expecting restored facades.
- Prices here are noticeably below Pláka and Monastiráki for equivalent quality. A full taverna dinner with wine runs €18–25 a head at the traditional places.
- The streets immediately toward Omónia thin out and get less comfortable after dark. Stick to the bar grid between Iroón Square, Sarrí and Agíon Anargýron at night and you're in a busy, well-lit area until very late.
- Little Kook, the fairytale café on Pittáki, changes its entire street-filling decoration several times a year and draws long queues. It's a spectacle rather than a café — worth a photograph, not necessarily worth the wait for a table.