I made lovely new friends in Greece between fits of ruin and museum hopping.
Boo’s Café – Athens, Mainland Greece
When I was a child, my parents nicknamed me, “Boo,” for my
numerous, good-natured attempts to startle and scare them.
So when I came to Athens and saw the sign for “Boo’s Café”
on the street behind my hotel, I felt it was a good omen.
Sipping a Greek coffee at Boo's
The atmosphere for this stony lair is surprisingly out in
the open. Each of the windows pivots to become a door on to the street. The
dark antique rosewood chairs for patrons to sit in are playfully mismatched.
High color oil paintings, beaded
mannequins, leaded glass, and other over-the-top props cover every wall.
A short walk from the hotels on Omonoia Square, (Sarri
Street between Epikourou and Kreizi) Boo’s is primarily an after-dark place.
Weekend nights are just right!
Their daytime patrons are theater district managers, art and
furniture sales people who come in for a hit of Greek coffee and a wrap and
then dash. Tourists linger over postcards and biscuits.
Boo’s doesn’t have a website and they don’t have Wi-Fi. They
aren’t even listed on Google Maps.
There are plenty of places in Athens that do have those features. My experience has shown that such serviceable locations often have less character.
So make a friend and hunt out for Boo's without your devices for a change!
Yankos Café – Adamas, Milos
On the touristy island of Milos, Yankos is easy to spot. It's on the East end of the pier.
Two huge illuminated spheres with dancing shadows spotted from a distance turn out to be pedastaled fishbowls flanking their entrance.
While that gimmick makes them hard to mistake, the basics of Yankos are top notch.
It’s a place to center oneself and get work
done. There are a half-dozen laptops open at any time many
of which belong to locals.
I am in love with the feeling of being constantly adrift at Yankos. Gauze curtains blow like sails, dial lamps loll like suns. White sofas crest against blue canvas chairs connecting you to the surf and surrounding sea.
Fried cheese. Some poor little cow had to push all that out!
I returned for meals at Yankos based on the food and
exceptional (multi-lingual!) service.
Breakfast is the big meal on Milos and there are many local specialities worth trying. I recommend
a the watermelon pie, a strudel-like pastry topped with candied
watermelon rind.
Though I am eating vegan now, I ate copious amounts of fried
cheese while I was in Greece. The wedge of locally sourced cow proteins at Yankos was the size of my head with whole tomatoes and lemon for garnish. These are generous folks.
