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Plaka at Twilight: Another Side of Athens's Culinary Heart

There’s something different about Athens as day turns into night. As the sun begins to set behind the Acropolis, the city exhales. Locals fill the streets, the clink of glasses echoes from crowded courtyards, and the scent of grilled meats and summer herbs floats through the warm night air. This is when Athens truly shines, when its spirit spills out of kitchens and kafeneia, and the pace of the day gives way to the pleasure of the table. And there is perhaps no better neighborhood to fall in love with Athens at twilight than the historic Plaka neighborhood.

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Backstreet Plaka: Exploring the Culinary Heart of Athens

The historic Plaka district might be one of Athens’ most popular tourist destinations, but there’s another part of the area that visitors rarely see, one where the city’s ancient heart beats a little louder. Under the shadow of the Acropolis, this is the place that saw the birth of classical Greek and Western civilization and also the turbulent arrival of Christianity. There are traces here of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, found in the ruins, churches, local houses and – most importantly – in the food