Shopping in Athens

You can buy just about anything in Athens and even on a purely visual level the city's markets and bazaar areas are worth an hour or two's wandering. Among the markets, don't miss the Athinás food halls, nor, if you're into bargain-hunting through junk, the Sunday morning flea markets in Monastiráki, Thissío and Pireás. The Athens flea market spreads over a half-dozen or so blocks around Monastiráki square each Sunday from around 6am until 2pm. In parts it is an extension of the tourist trade - the shops in this area are promoted as a "flea market" every day of the week - but there is authentic Greek (and nowadays Soviet refugee-Greek) junk, too, notably along (and off) Iféstou and Pandhróssou streets. The real McCoy, most noticeable at the Thissío metro station end of Adhrianoú and the platía off Kynéttou near the church of Áyios Fílippos, is just a bag of odds and ends strewn on the ground or on a low table; dive in.

The Pireás flea market - at similar times on Sunday mornings - has fewer tourists and more goods. The market is concentrated on Alipédou and Skilítsi parallel to the railroad tracks about 500 metres from the sea. It is a venue for serious antique trading, as well as the sale of more everyday items.

In addition, many Athenian neighborhoods have a laïkí agorá - street market - on a set day of the week. Usually running from 7am to 2pm, these are inexpensive and enjoyable, selling household items and dry goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables, dried herbs and nuts. The most centrally located ones are: Hánsen in Patissíon on Monday; Lésvou in Kypséli and Láskou in Pangráti, both on Tuesday; Xenokrátous in Kolonáki, Dragoumi in Ilisia, Tsámi Karatássou in Koukáki and Arhimídhous in Mets, all on Friday; and Plakendías in Ambelókipi (one of the largest) and Kallidhromíou in Exárhia, both on Saturday. Finally, if you're after Greek plants or herbs , there's a Sunday morning gathering of stalls on Vikéla in Patissíon and plants and flowers on sale daily at the Platía Ayías Irínis near Ermoú.

For electrical gear, now about as cheap in Greece as elsewhere in Europe, the best place to look is in the streets off Patissíon, just north of Omónia square.

Greek handicrafts are not particularly cheap but the workmanship is usually very high. In addition to the stores listed below, consider those at the National Archeological Museum, Benáki Museum and Cycladic Art Museum , which sell excellent, original designs as well as reproductions, and the cluster of antique shops at the base of Adhrianoú , near the corner of Kynéttou, which are good for Ottoman and rural Greek items like backgammon boards, hubble-bubbles, kilims, etc; the best is at Adhrianoú 25.

Herbs and herb teas are sold dry and fresh at most street markets and at the Athinás bazaar. Otherwise, the following central outlets are useful.