Athens Bouzoukia bars & clubs

With more than 3000000 people in the Athens basin, Greece's capital has a very active night life. Like every other big city in Europe Athens has everything to offer for every age. the young ones prefer the bars the so called "barakia" in Greek. Those are pub style places with loud mainstream music or latest Greek modern music. The most popular outing of the Athenians though, are the famous Bouzoukia place. The Bouzoukia a few decades back was a place for the proletariat and the lower classes. Since the middle sixties Bouzoukia with the promotion of the Greek popular music Laika and the films of the Greek cinema have become the main entertainment for all ages.

The new type of Bouzoukia places though, has nothing to do  with the old ones. Light effects, loud music, ballets, fancy clothes and expensive prices. In the old Bouzoukia you could enjoy the most famous singers and bouzouki players with  the whole  family with a kilo of retsina and some lamb chops or a bottle of 3 stars cheap cognac, today you must pay an arm and leg for a bottle of whisky, some fruits and nuts. That's why many Greeks when go to bouzoukia usually they will share the bill. As an alternative to bouzoukia there are many restaurants and taverns that have a couple of musicians, usually a bouzouki and one guitar and you can enjoy good Greek music while dinning. Unfortunatelly live music in those places you will find mostly Fridays and Saturdays.

For the tourists that travel to Greece and want to get to know the local way of life, the main places of night activity is the area of Plaka and the area of Psiri and Thission near and around the Acropolis, in Plaka, once the centre of the Athenian nightlife still some restaurants offer syrtaki and bouzouki shows for the tourists. Psyrri a former scruffy area of any kind of handicraft shops next to Monastiraki flea market, became during the late 90's the replacement of Plaka with numerous restaurants, taverns and bars attracting a huge part of the Athens night outing, another place of nightlife with many bars and upmarket restaurants is the Thission area , mostly for the younger generations.

A good magazine about knowing events, places, clubs, restaurants and all kind of entertainment in Athens is the Athinorama. Within this magazine you will find all the addresses and telephones of all of the above businesses like bars, clubs, restaurants, theatres, music halls ech.

If you want a taste of the new style of Greek floor show try Asteria in Glyfada at 2 G.Lambraki street, another one is at the centre of Athens in 48 Panepistimiou street at the former REX theatre with floor show and famous Greek singers like in Asteria. In both places the price for a bottle of whisky cost between 160-180 euro. For more humble occasions you can try taverns with live Greek music  like the good old taverns in Plaka ,Sissyfos at Mnisikleous street 31, or To perivoli tou Ouranou  at 19 Lysicratous street near Hadrian's Arch.