Athens no longer cheap, but bargains exist

Greeks don’t rush their coffee, generally drunk strong and sweet, so cafes usually overcharge. Iced instant coffee — or frappe — is a national favorite, and competes with many sugary modern variants. Greek coffee (known as Turkish coffee to the outside world) is made by boiling water, sugar and ground roasted coffee beans, leaving a layer of foam on top and sludge at the bottom of the plain white cup.

SHOPPING: Souvenirs run from elegant jewelry and fine carpets to the nasty Acropolis fridge magnet. Walk down the main streets of Monastiraki and car-free Plaka for the full experience. Leather goods and silverware are well priced. Most store owners don’t enjoy aggressive haggling but may respond to a polite request for a “better price” if possible. Ruby’s jeweler in Plaka (Adrianou 105, 210-3223312) is a welcome break from the irritating salesmen.

Athens also maintains its tradition of kiosks, miniature hubs of commerce that sell beer, ice cream, baby wipes, aspirins, umbrellas, and other small necessities, including sometimes international newspapers and magazines.

Many old tailors and craftsmen still have shops in the city’s commercial triangle, bound between Stadiou, Ermou and Athinas streets. They’re hard to spot, but ask a store owner to direct you. The tailors’ skills are dying, but there are still places where you can show a seamstress a wedding gown from a magazine and they’ll make you an exact copy for a bargain.

The classic shopping strip is Ermou Street, in the heart of Athens. It’s filled with shoe shops and departments stores, including outlets of European clothing chains. Head to the Kolonaki district for upscale stores. Or if you must, go the “the mall,” a ridiculously large and teenager-filled shopping complex near Athens’ Olympic stadium (take the subway to Nerantziotisa station).

LODGING: Athens is no longer just a stop en route to the islands, thanks in part to the overhaul of the hotel industry for the 2004 Olympics. There are many decent downtown hotels. If booking on the Internet, generally avoid the area around Omonia Square and around Patission and Athinas Streets unless you thoroughly check the reviews. Hotels there, billed as central, are often seedy.

One hotel popular with young travelers is Athens Studios, with clean and simple rooms, near the New Acropolis Museum, and its own laundry facilities; http://www.athensstudios.gr. Also popular is the Tempi Hotel in Monastiraki, offering good rates and location; http://www.tempihotel.gr. Slightly farther from the center is the Hotel Tony, on a quiet street in the Koukaki neighborhood; http://www.hoteltony.gr .

STAY OUT: Last word: When you visit Athens, stay outdoors as much as you can. Watch a vintage movie at an open-air cinema, eat at a taverna garden and fill your table with starters, sip Greek coffee at Syntagma Square while you use the free Wi-Fi, catch a show at Herod Atticus, and walk around the center as much as you can. Or catch elaborately dressed presidential guards outside Parliament holding a changing of the guard ceremony on the hour, with the full ceremony Sundays at 11 a.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Check listings in the English language Athens News — http://www.athensnews.gr/ but there’s more in the print version — and Athens Plus, which posts the entire newspaper online as a pdf — http://www.ekathimerini.com. The City of Athens also runs an English site at http://www.breathtakingathens.com/.