Courtesy: Manos Chatzikonstantis

A culinary exploration of Keramikos, one of Athens’ lesser-known neighbourhoods. You’ll eat your way through local restaurants and visit the weekly farmer’s market, all the while learning about the area’s unique character.

By Katherine Whittaker

Who will like it

Whether it’s your first foray into Greek food or you’ve been nibbling on tiropita (cheese pie) and sipping raki (Greek grappa) for years, there’s something to learn on this tour.

Our guide

Carolina Doriti is the Athens bureau chief at Culinary Backstreets, which tells the story of a city through the people making its food. She has worked as a chef, food stylist, culinary producer, and cooking instructor, and is currently working on a cookbook.

Personal highlights

I have a soft spot for Greek markets, so the weekly laiki (farmer’s market) was bound to be one of my favourite parts. Carolina identified several fruits and vegetables I didn’t know about before. She also introduced me to Nikos, the Cretan fish salesman who gave us plenty of salted anchovies and a little bit of raki from under his stand.

Ground covered

The tour winds through backstreets and plazas all over the Keramikos neighbourhood.

The new foodie neighbourhood of Athens

In antiquity, the Keramikos neighbourhood was known for its pottery (“keramos” is Greek for tile). It was once split by a wall, dividing the district into outer and inner Keramikos. Outside of the gates sat the cemetery where famous Athenians were buried. The graveyard is now a fascinating archaeological site.
Carolina picked this neighbourhood for food tours because of the interesting stories behind it, but mainly for the vast selection of excellent, authentic restaurants, specialty stores and markets you’ll find here.

After browsing so much fresh produce, we’re hungry again. Carolina takes us to a Cretan restaurant. In true Cretan style, she orders raki for all of us, and then fills the table with small plates to illustrate meze culture. But this is a lesson within a lesson: the sharing dishes she orders all focus on the island’s special cuisine. A dakos—a hard rusk bread topped with tomato, onion, and soft cheese—is placed on the table. She also gets briny artichokes, and apaki, a lean smoked pork that comes cut into bite-sized pieces. As we eat, we sip raki, and the tour suddenly becomes lunch with friends.

Top Tip: Come hungry. Really hungry. You will eat at several different restaurants, trying all kinds of Greek foods.

What’s the verdict?

You’ll almost certainly try something you haven’t tried before, or stumble upon your new favourite restaurant in what might become your new favourite neighbourhood.

Book this tour

Duration: 5.30 hours
Cost: €125 per adult. For groups of 2-7 people.
Time: 10:30 am on Tuesdays

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The new foodie neighbourhood of Athens

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