Kafeneia (the traditional Greek cafes)
“These vintage mainstays have touched team SteMajourneys more deeply than any other Greek shop. Perhaps it is their unpretentiousness or the broadminded acceptance of total strangers, like ourselves, we haven’t really figured out it yet. And we have visited many kafeneia all over the country, at first in order to collect basic tourist info and inside tips and getting to know a place better, leading to share an abundance of stories with their owners and patrons. ”
This is where the heart of even the most remote village beats - from those of white and blue Greek isles to the most barren mountains in North Greece. Behold the humble kafeneio, the place in which most of the day people sitting for hours over their coffee and shots of drink, where history meets local fables over a cup of greek coffee. Throughout our journeys we ‘ve explored these cafes-social institutions of a bygone era and sought out the backwoodsmen who live on to salvage them. In Aspropotamos, Christos and Mr. Stefanos (in Chaliki and Krania respectively), in North Tzoumerka, Napoleon with Mrs Lambrini (Kalarrites), in Lake Plastira, Mr. Pantelis (Kerasia) and, above all, Mr. Stefanos in Paleokaria (Trikala) who is the oldest living grocer and kafeneio owner in the whole country. Simultaneously cafes, their shops for years have been also supplying the neighborhood with all kinds of goods, whereas nowadays they are more of a folklore attraction for urban travelers. However, a kafenio is what Greece is made of - and not just another place to drink coffee-, an authentic reminiscent of old good times that should be enshrined. Let's enjoy some of them before they fade away...
“At kafeneio tourists are offered hot cups of hospitality, whereas locals - mostly a group of old men, retired or widowed, find shelter between a nod and a smile. Companionship is all, and conversation is entirely optional. Inside the coffee shop is typically furnished with little more than a few tables and chairs back-dropped by the fighters heralded for their bravery during Greece’s War alongside a series of family portraits. During wintertime, everything revolves around the wood stove which dominates the center of the kafeneio.”
“Each kafeneio wears the history of a place and its people, its rather a hub of living history and culture than a social establishment or the arena of heated political discussion, after all, some of them have been serving coffee for over 200 years.”
“Through wars and socio-economic crises, even at funerals(!), the kafeneia have remained at the heart of communal life in Greece. So this summer please do forget frappe (iced instant coffee) and get to the closest kafeneio you ’ll find for a small cup of coffee comfort.”