“It has to be right here!” I exclaimed for the tenth time. Yet again, Rich and I walked up and down the sidewalk, around the corner and back, on an obscure street in downtown Athens. The helpful little GPS map on the phone showed a blue dot (us) right next to the red pointer (the alleged taverna). We’d been shown the place just two days earlier. Had it somehow vanished since then? It wasn’t until someone trotted down the steps, ducking under the lintel, that I realized I was looking directly at one of the two doorways that give the restaurant, Diporto, its name. (Still searching? It's the low brown opening with the pink graffiti.) I felt as if I’d discovered Narnia at the back of the wardrobe. “Quick, let’s go in before it disappears again,” I urged. ![]() The Diporto is without doubt my favorite eatery in Athens. To be fair, the actual food isn’t exceptional, but here I found the old-school atmosphere I remembered from my visit to Greece as a teenager in 1972. In those days, tavernas were masculine enclaves where the occasional young hippies who passed through were viewed as amusing curiosities and treated with traditional Greek xenia, the generosity and courtesy shown to those who are far from home. From the moment we entered the Diporto, our host, Kyr. Mitsos, refused to let little things like no written menu and no English stand in the way of dishing out generous helpings of xenia. As we settled at one of the wooden tables, he brought over a chunk of crusty bread and several sheets of paper that would serve as plates and napkins. Then he fetched a pair of glasses and a large tin cup set in a plastic container of ice. I picked up the cup and sniffed. “Water?” asked Rich. “Retsina.” Retsina is a hearty white wine that carries a hint of pine, a flavor popularized 2000 years ago when Greeks were sealing their wine jars with pine resin. It was the perfect complement to the food that began to arrive: crisp sardines, chunky vegetable stew, garbanzo bean soup, and yellow split peas with onions and olives. OK, to be honest, the split peas were a bit underwhelming, but everything else was great — not Michelin-star great, but comfort-food-at-grandma’s great. When we’d eaten our fill, Kyr. Mitsos came over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. He frowned in thought, then wrote a number — our bill — on the paper covering the tablecloth. Xenia is considered a two-way street, an obligation on both sides to make the guest-host relationship work. During our time in Greece, Rich and I did our best to express our genuine appreciation to our kind hosts at the Diporto, our Airbnb, our EatWith dinner, the Taste Athens Food Walk, and everywhere else we went. While we rely heavily on mutual goodwill to get us past the inevitable faux pas that arise in a foreign social setting, we also do a little advance research in an effort to keep personal embarrassment and international incidents to a minimum. I tend to talk with my hands, so I paid close attention to Rich’s latest find, the Culture Crossing Guide, which explains that certain gestures, considered perfectly innocent back home, cause deep offense among Greeks. For instance, while a thumb’s up is OK, a thumb’s down is most definitely not acceptable in polite society. And apparently holding up your hand with the palm facing the other person is a good way to get into a bar fight. Even the simplest non-verbal communication becomes tricky when a single downward nod means “yes” and a single upwards nod means “no.” To add to the confusion, the Greek word for “yes: (ναι) is pronounced née, and the word for “no” (όχι) is pronounced oh-he, sounding much like okay. As you can imagine, the possibilities for misunderstandings are endless. Seeking further guidance, I recently downloaded the updated Kindle edition of one of my old standbys, the book Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries. Even if you’re not in town on business, you’ll find a wealth of useful advice and information, such as: “After giving or receiving a compliment, Greeks sometimes make a puff of breath through the lips to ward off the ‘evil eye.’” I love this idea and fully intend to employ it in any situation in which I feel there’s a risk that the evil eye may fall on me. Perhaps the richest information can be found in the online Cultural Atlas. Here’s one of my favorite bits: “To fully understand the Greek communication style, one must appreciate their love for discussion. ‘Kefi’ refers to the contentment, bliss and joy one feels when a moment is so overwhelmingly enjoyable they are transported by it. The Greeks recognize kefi arising when an engaging conversation with good company becomes particularly delighting and fulfilling.” Rich and I enjoyed a lot of kefi during our most unplanned, disorganized trip ever. One of the main reasons we travel is to be transported by unexpected delight at the sudden confluence of good company and good conversation — if possible combined with good food and a cool bottle of retsina. Last night we flew back from Athens to Spain, drawing this adventure to a close, but we’ll carry the memories forever: Anna and the pay-as-you-go elevator, Rich’s Albanian haircut, the disappearing Diporto, and the joys of xenia and kefi. And I still have stories from the trip to share; watch for my upcoming post: Dive Bars of the Mediterranean. Thanks for joining us on the journey!
10 Comments
Kim Day
4/25/2018 09:06:44 pm
This was a fabulously entertains trip for those of us traveling via your blog!
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Karen McCann
4/29/2018 09:07:59 am
Lisbon is a wonderful town and am sure you and Suki will have a great time there, Kim. We've been a couple of times, and I do have one recommendation: The Casablanca Tour, which explains why everyone in the classic film was trying to get to Lisbon during World War II. Here's my post about it: https://www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog/well-always-have-lisbon-the-casablanca-tour. If/when we visit again I promise to write more about the city; it's a gem.
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Faye
4/26/2018 01:50:18 am
Love the whole concept of “kefi’“....good company, good conversation, good food, cold beer or glass of wine. Will be doing 31 days in Europe starting in 3 weeks and hope to have the above.
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Karen McCann
4/29/2018 09:11:26 am
Like you, Faye, I was enchanted with the concept of kefi, which neatly defines the essential elements of life that, combined in a fortunate moment, create real joy. Here's hoping you experience plenty of kefi during your 31 days in Europe. What a grand adventure lies ahead of you!
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4/26/2018 07:36:16 am
Good heavens! We live here and have never consulted a resource for appropriate gestures and customs. . .and haven't yet been in any bar fights. I applaud your thorough research and love the place you found in Athens to dine (we have a lot of those type places in our area - where the owners, sit at the table and tell you in Greek, sometimes English, what they are serving and then it is time for the bill, write the amount on the paper tablecloth -- happened just last night in the village! Come visit on your next trip to Greece. . .
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Karen McCann
4/29/2018 09:15:28 am
Comforting to know that you can survive comfortably (and bar-fight-free) in Greece without doing all the research, Jackie. Because our trip was so unplanned, we did our research on the fly, and some of the stuff I wrote about I learned after the fact. As you can imagine, I tried to recall how often I might have committed a faux pas — but living in Spain, I know everybody realizes how clueless we foreigners are, and they cut us plenty of slack. Would love to check out your area next time we're in Greece; it sounds wonderful!
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C Saunders
4/27/2018 03:01:12 pm
Getting the bill on a paper tablecloth rang a bell with me. i was on a business trip to Cannes (yes, I know, poor me) and my boss and I decided to take a rare break to go to Antibes. What a lovely little town and there was a wonderful market on. We found a tiny restaurant built into the walls and dined well. At the end the owner did the tablecloth bill which the boss neatly folded up and took back to the Finance Manager in the UK as part of his expenses claim.
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Karen McCann
4/29/2018 09:17:21 am
The bill on the paper table cloth is a classic, and no doubt caused a few chuckles when your boss took it back to the home office. I think it's a lovely holdover and I'm glad to know it manages to survive in a world where tablets and computer printouts are the norm.
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Lynne Reynolds
4/29/2018 07:58:30 pm
I’m not surprised you couldn’t find it Karen! Now that’s quite an entrance, any idea why they leave the graffiti and no real sign that they are there? Maybe the owner has enough regulars so doesn’t need to attract more. Sure is a fascinating place and you and Rich have a knack of finding them!
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Karen McCann
4/30/2018 09:07:14 am
After 150 years in business, I guess the tavern figures everyone in the vicinity knows about it. Or maybe they like the underground, almost clandestine atmosphere. As for the graffiti, it looked quite fresh, so I suspect they paint over those doors a lot! I feel lucky to have found the place, which I heard about through great site called Like a Local (https://www.likealocalguide.com/).
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Winner of the 2023 Firebird Book Award for Travel
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This blog is a promotion-free zone. As my regular readers know, I never get free or discounted goods or services for mentioning anything on this blog (or anywhere else). I only write about things that interest me and that I believe might prove useful for you all to know about. Whew! I wanted to clear that up before we went any further. Thanks for listening. TO I'm an American travel writer based in Seville, Spain.
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