The many faces of Syntagma Square's Culinary Art Page 2

Some Major Changes to the square

Zonars was an institution and a class act which many people miss! The space is still there but hasn't opened just yet so who knows exactly what kind of eatery will attempt to replace Zonars - stayed tuned. Maybe, as promised, it actually will be a new re-incarnation of Zonars.

You might think I am digressing talking about an ice cream or a place that no longer exists while on the Syntagma square page but you are going to need this information in your travels within Greece because some cultural things, like squares and institutions (like cafe's) that abound in and around squares, remain the same throughout Greece.

Additionally, if you come to Greece and don't try one of the many varieties of frappe coffee's available in cafe's and sweet shops (pictured above) you might as well have stayed home! ->

You will encounter many cafe's and even Flocafes & Dodoni's all over Greece (but not in Syntagma Sq unfortunately) and they have both great ice cream and other sweets! (None have congo bars however!)

Garden variety cafes of various stripes are plentiful in Greece, where drinking coffee outside and people watching is a national pastime and you will find two cafes at least in Constitution squares' central park like area at the bottom of the stone steps. These new cafe's are, unlike Papaspirous below, hidden as if Frank Lloyd Wright had designed them and they hug the interior walls of the central part of the square. Cafe photo above left click to see larger.

Incidentally, I am still crestfallen by the (1991) closure of Papaspirou's in Syntagma Sq proper and where now stands that culinary inspiration known as Mcdonalds and proving once again; that location really is key.

{There are several MickyD's in Athens by the way, Monastiraki, Omonia, just behind the Hilton at the end of Museum row and Glyfada and Piraeus too.}   There are 49 of the franchises throughout Greece and administrators say they have yet to make a profit which I find hard to believe. Goodies, (also in the square, right next door in fact), a Greek chain, with a more healthy and varied menu is their biggest competitor.

Several years ago Papaspirou's was a pastry-cafe shop with tables and chairs that took up the entire center of the square (above right c1963). I remember, watching, slack jawed, the poor waiters trying to scramble across busy Friends of Greece street (Phillhellinon) laden with huge glass filled trays.

Learn more about food in Constitution Square: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6