A Parisian Café-bistrot hidden in Athens

A Parisian Café-bistrot hidden in Athens

Wait! Don’t start yet! Put some –~~appropriate~~– parisian music on first!

“I will take you to a très jolie Parisian corner hidden in the center of Athens” told me my friend Dio, a Greek but for 12 years a glorious Parisian and I followed her without second thoughts, while my mind had already traveled to the Parisian streets and I had in my ears the distinctive voice of Edith Piaf!

Lotte “sent” Paris from afar, with its bright green facade and the wooden windows with country curtains; a corner café-bistrot tucked in a small road, you should know where to go to find it. When I entered I was flooded with an aura of another era, something out of a movie. Perhaps it was not a coincidence, since the owner, Theodora Athanasopoulou is an actress. So do not be surprised if you see actors when you visit it and because Lotte is so small it is almost certain to talk with them. A nice friendly atmosphere and a charming vintage nostalgia are the elements that give me the intimacy which I seek to make a long visit (pardon Theodora, if your café was not so cute I would have left earlier).

I asked Theodora for the decoration and learned that for years during the weekends she was visiting antique shops with her bike and bought things. “Before it was an atelier” she says, “I lived next door in the corner and when I passed I was staring at it and thinking that here it could be a nice bistot, to come and drink my coffee.” The idea became reality in late December and already it has fanatic customers. At the basement there is space that Theodora wants to use in the future for small theater performances, art exhibitions, bazaars and more. Already the café hosts handmade jewelry in the same style (as if there were not several reasons for lotte to enchant us!)