Christmas in Athens.
This year it is pure magic! It is transformed into a festive scene with many events, activities and a jolly atmosphere that gave Athens a merry atmosphere!
Syntagma square, which is the heart of the city, has an impressive natural Christmas tree of 17 meters. The whole square has dazzling festive decorations and pop-up installations such as the one of The Museum of Illusions with their most famous exhibits taking us to the world full of illusions. But the most impressive part of it was the 3D projection mapping on the Parliament building. This spectacular show was during the illumination of the Christmas tree at Syntagma square, on the 10th December.
Voukourestiou Street, one of the most glamorous shopping streets of the city centre, has Christmas installations, perfect for Instagram moments.
Christmas decorations are also spectacular in City Link and especially at Stoa Spirou Miliou.
The historic Athénée cafe (ex Zonar’s) at the City Link is also beautifully decorated.
But for me, the heartbeat of the Athenian Christmas decorations is at Little Kook.
This cupcake shop shows a master in Christmas decorations, and is something that I haven’t seen anywhere else! These multiple sparkling decorations are expanded to smaller shops nearby, that also belong to Little Kook family. Christmas starts from here!
The newest addition of the Little Kook family, is King’s Theatre wine bar. It is located just a few meters away from the main shop. If you like fairy tales then I strongly recommend to visit!
The Athenian version of Winter Wonderland is the Christmas factory at Gazi, which is a festive paradise for children and adults! There is Santa’s house, Toy’s factory, Sweet factory and Fun factory.
And truly, what adds up to this festive scene, is Athens by night! Oh, what a night!
The coffee shops, the bars, the pubs… the quirky shops… it’s for every taste and the decorations are so beautiful! Most of the pictures below are around Agias Eirinis sqaure, where there are many wonderful places to dine or to have a drink.
There is also SNFCC’s Christmas World where it is transformed into a unique Christmas destination! You can enjoy the thousand Christmas lights that decorate the tall trees in Agora and along the Canal of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. There is also the specatcular canal dancing fountain, a water show, accompanied by Christmas tunes. Apart from the ice rink, there are various activity installations with interactive lights for both kids and adults. It is just wonderful!
Last but not least, are the greek Christmas traditions:
The Greek Santa Claus is Agios Vasilis (St. Basil) and is giving us the presents on the New Year.
On Christmas Eve, on New Year’s Eve and on Epiphany day, there is the carolling. Groups of small children accompanied by musical triangles, walk from house to house singing Christmas carols (ta kalanta).
The greek Christmas treats are melomakarona and kourabiedes. Melomakarona (you can find the recipe here) are olive-based treats with honey, topped with nuts, while kourabiedes are butter-based cookies with almonds topped sugar. They both smell and taste delicious!
At 00:00 of the New Year’s Day, we eat Vasilopita (St. Basil pie). It can be a vanilla cake or tsoureki, and is traditionally sprinkled with powder sugar. Vasilopita has a hidden coin. When cutting the cake into slices, it is distributed to family and friends that are usually surrounded. The receiver of the coin has luck for the whole year.
Hope you will have a spectacular 2020 with lots of joy, creativity, luck, health and love ♥
Until next time!
