Athens: I was born and raised in your summer haze!

So being from Greeceland at the moment is interesting to say the least. In our modern times of fast travel and mingled nationalities one of the first questions to ask when you meet someone is "where are you from?", and the reply "I am a Greek girl living in Brussels" usually elicits reactions such as "AAWW you poor people", "How is it over there at the moment?", "Do you still have family there? Is your family ok?" Or a forced long discussion over the future of the euro, the eminent collapse of capitalism and the demonization of Goldman Sachs, the great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money! :) So I decided to give you another taste of Greeceland, and specifically Athens, the city where I was born and raised and the city that will always break my heart. This is the 8th year that I have been living abroad and every time I visit Athens it keeps getting harder and harder to say goodbye. Athens is a massive metropolitan city full of traffic, air pollution, garbage and hideous Soviet style apartment buildings yet it's beauty is beyond words! The center of Athens has a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain magic if you will. There are a million little hidden treasures around every corner, whether it is a cool little Berlin style bar (after all Athens is the new Berlin for those of you that haven't noticed yet!), a family run restaurant where tomatoes are delicious and you basically eat your grandmothers food for a meager price, or the gorgeous graffiti that has started covering and transforming all those Soviet style buildings into works of art. Our streets are alive and so are our people, something revolutionary is bubbling away from the politics and the violence and some of the most interesting and avant-garde works of art have started coming from our little country. In times of crisis art blossoms and let us not forget that chaos breeds creation. So this is a love letter to Athens and a little tour of my favourite things to see and do in our blessed little piece of land.

For drinks and midnight fun:

HOXTON Bar and Gallery
Voutadon 42, Gazi, Athens
If I ever opened a bar it would look like this, an industrial space with big worn out Chesterfield sofas, library lamps, a rotating art exhibition, rock&roll music, a bunch of old clocks and great Bloody Marys during happy hour!



SIX D.O.G.S.
6-8 Avramiotou, Monastiraki, Athens
For the coolest hidden garden in all of Athens, home-made little treats, late night dancing, concerts and really delicious dinners on special occasions





BOOZE COOPERATIVA 
Kolokotroni 57, Athens
Located in a beautiful neoclassical building BOOZE is the perfect place to enjoy a smoke (the owner has a strict smoking policy! Smoking is to be encouraged and enjoyed in this bar), a game of chess, lovely lady DJs, art exhibitions, video projections, performances and the occassional random party on the second floor after the witching hour!

BIOS
Peireos 84, Athens
For pretty much everything! The best view of Athens and the Acropolis during the summer when the terrace is open, gigs, exhibitions, screenings, workshops, performances, the quirky decor! 






NIXON

Agisilaou 61 B , Keramikos, Athens

For great cocktails, a bite to eat and film screenings

POP
Kleitiou 10B
A tiny favourite little bar with great indie music and amazing cocktails, try the Zombie, sweet but lethal!

TΩΡΑ Κ44
Konstantinoupoleos 44, Gazi, Athens
Easily the coolest interior in any bar in Athens! Great cocktails and parties ansd a lot of local bands have gigs there.

TAF- The art foundation
Nomarxou 5, Monastiraki, Athens
A hidden gem, one of the most interesting spaces for exhibiting art. Behind a tiny wooden door lies a yard surrounded by a decrepid two story building that dates back to 1870 and serves as a gallery for experimental art! ENJOY!


So just a tour of my favourite bars has taken longer than expected so restaurants, galleries and fun things to do will follow, I leave you with a quote from a really accurate article on Athens that was recently published in the New York Times

"Athens is an anarchic, overcaffeinated mess of a city, filled with oleander and concrete, jasmine and car exhaust: part Milan and part Karachi, a strange combination of European sophistication and third world chaos." AND THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT!

New York Times Article: In Athens art blossoms amid debt crisis

Me in front of work by the French artist Matthieu Laurette at the Kunsthalle Athena.



Our city is praying (right next to Omonia square where the heroin junkies hang out). My favourite graffiti at the moment.