Books, Graves, and Ouzo
ΕΡΑΤΩ / Erato
This beautiful antique bookstore is located in Monastiraki, and sells first editions, scrapbooks, old maps, and engravings, as well as books of history, literature, poetry, and more.
After browsing through bookshelves for a bit, we stopped to refuel at The Brunch Factory, where I ate the most decadent pile of pancakes I’ve ever had in my life. However many pancakes you think you count here, there were more than that, and so much cream and chocolate that I couldn’t even finish it and had to take it with me.
Πρώτο Νεκροταφείο Αθηνών / First Cemetery of Athens
Having opened in 1837, this is the official cemetery of the city of Athens and the first to be built. It is located near the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Panathenaic Stadium, sitting at the top of Anapafseos Street (Street of Eternal Rest). Pentelian marble was used by craftsmen from Tinos, an island renowned for its marble sculptors, to create the works that adorn the graves throughout the cemetery.
The cemetery covers an area of 225,000 square meters, and is home to over 12,000 graves. Some famous personages buried in this cemetery include Melina Mercouri and Heinrich Schliemann, a German archaeologist famous for his work in Mycenae and Tiryns, and discoverer of the Mask of Agamemnon. The tomb of Heinrich Schliemann is visible here on the right, above the orange tree.
The stele seen here on the left is the tomb of Melina Mercouri.
The most famous sculptor from Tinos, Yannoulis Chalpeas, created his most famous work in the form of the tomb of Sofia Afentaki, an 18-year-old girl who died of Tuberculosis in 1878. The work is known as called I Kimomeni, “The Sleeping Girl.”
The cemetery was a fantastic place in which to take a break from the cacophony of Athens. The place was mostly empty, except for the resident cats, and we could even hear birds singing, hiding somewhere in the branches of the crooked trees.
Βρεττός /Brettos
We ended the day at Brettos, the oldest distillery in Athens. It all started in 1909, at the ground level of an old mansion in the heart of Plaka. This is where Michael Brettos produced ouzo, brandy, and liqueur in different flavors, including cherry and masticha, using old family recipes from Smyrna, Istanbul. Once demand rose, he set up shop to both sell and serve his drinks to an increasing number of customers.
The drinks in this place are absolutely delicious, and the décor is as unique as it gets, combining the antique spirit of the space with the modernity of the backlit, colorful bottles on shelves reaching up to the ceiling. You can still find, placed by the entrance, the hand-made ouzo distiller that Brettos first used all those years ago.
Gold Colored Fox 