Kolonaki

The square and the streets off it

Kolonaki Square, properly Filikis Etaireias, takes its name from a two-metre column that still stands in it. The district grew from the late 19th century as the quarter for families who wanted to live near the royal palace, the building that is now Parliament, and the cafés on the square still fill each morning with Athenian professionals around ten. The streets climbing off it hold the designer shops, the good bookshops and the galleries.

Downhill towards Vasilissis Sofias you find the museums and the embassies, so a visit can run from a coffee in the square to a gallery to an exhibition without a taxi. Give the climb off the square a look before you commit, because the streets steepen quickly and the pavements on the upper ones are narrow.

Why it is expensive

Kolonaki is the closest smart residential quarter to Parliament, the ministries and the embassies, and it has been the address of choice in Athens for a century. The district exists because of that proximity: from the late 19th century, families who wanted to live near the royal palace, today's Parliament, built here rather than in the working streets further out. That history is priced into the coffee.

A freddo espresso on the square costs roughly twice what the same drink costs in Exarchia, five minutes downhill. Exarchia itself is named after a 19th-century shopkeeper called Exarchos, and its prices belong to a different quarter of the city. If the square's bill annoys you, walk down a single block and the tariff drops accordingly.

The hill above it

Lycabettus rises directly out of the north-east corner of the district and no other Athens neighbourhood has a hill like it at the end of the street. Legend says Athena was carrying a limestone rock to the Acropolis when a raven brought her bad news, she dropped it, and the hill stayed. The funicular opened on 18 April 1965 and runs from the base station at the top of Ploutarchou, a steep ten minutes from the square, to the chapel of Saint George at the summit.

The footpath is free at all hours if you prefer to climb. Wear real shoes, because the path is rough in places and offers little shade. Lycabettus Hill has the fares, the hours and the walking route in detail.

Coffee and the square

Sitting on Kolonaki Square is a legitimate Athens experience and it costs about twice what coffee costs elsewhere in the centre. Nobody is being cheated. The rent is the product, because this has been the city's smart address since the late 19th century, when families built here to be near the royal palace.

You are paying for the square itself, the people-watching and the unhurried table service that Greek cafés do well. Two streets downhill the same coffee returns to city prices, and the walk takes a couple of minutes. Morning is when the quarter is itself, with Athenian professionals at nearby tables rather than a queue of visitors.

If the bill matters, treat the square as a stop rather than an afternoon, then finish your coffee in Exarchia.

Where to actually eat

There are good restaurants in Kolonaki and there are expensive ones, and the overlap is smaller than the prices suggest, so choose with care rather than by reputation. The district has been the wealthy quarter since families built here in the late 19th century to be near the royal palace, and its dining rooms are aimed accordingly. For value, walk down to Exarchia, named after a 19th-century shopkeeper, or across to Psyri, the rough quarter of 19th-century Athens, where the prices reflect the neighbourhood rather than the address.

For a smart dinner in Athens, this is where it is, and it is worth booking, because the serious kitchens on these streets fill up on weekend evenings. Ask what is fresh rather than ordering the most expensive thing on the list.

Shopping and bookshops

The best English-language and art bookshops in the city are in these streets, along with the designer retail that has followed the wealthy families who built the district from the late 19th century. If you want a book about what you have just seen on the Acropolis, about the Parthenon's long afterlife as church, mosque and ruin, this is the district to buy it in, and the staff in the good shops know their stock. The galleries on the streets climbing off the square make a second reason to come, and they sit close enough together to see several in an hour.

Shop windows stay shut on Sundays like the rest of Athens, so plan your buying for a weekday. Combine it with coffee on the square and you have a morning.