I’m probably one of those sorts who don’t mind being inconvenienced as a result of refusing to learn how to drive. You can consider it a vice – I don’t mind. Every time I prepare for a journey beyond Athens I stock up on all the required patience. This time it was to coastal city Volos, midway up the mainland’s east side, a four-hour KTEL bus ride from Athens, or four episodes of Squid Game.
The good thing about Volos is that you can cover all distances on foot. It’s not a big city. Volos has bicycle lanes and a town plan that helps you keep your bearings. Upon arrival, I took a stroll around the port area and the promenade. It’s pleasant to sit there, on one of the benches, or at a café, and gaze out to sea.
That’s the state I was in, but without a coffee, so I headed slightly uphill towards Agios Nikolaos square and settled at Rubia Speciality Coffee Shop (74 Glavani, tel. +30 2421216044).
I had been told that I would find a large range of single-origin coffees here, all roasted locally. I went to the place with reservations but was pleasantly surprised. It is equipped with over eight coffee grinders, each one for a different type of coffee. I tried a Kenyan variety and followed it up with a Colombian variety for espresso, before taking away a freddo espresso made with coffee from El Salvador. I continued my stroll at the pedestrianised shopping street Ermou, observing shop windows and people who came and went. On a small side street, I discovered Harta (16 Skenderani, tel. +30 241033250), a bookstore-café-tsipouradiko (shop serving tsipouro spirit with side dishes), in business since 2008. It is divided into two sections, one side hosting the venture’s book shop, stocked with an excellent selection of books, and the other, the café and tsipouradiko, featuring a large map of Greece on the wall and a tall bar. Behind it, Dimitris, who runs this section, prepares terrific meze dishes for tsipouro.
The experience got me in the mood for meze dishes and tsipouro, the time of day also being appropriate to indulge. I was faced with the dilemma of whether to head uphill to Nea Ionia or to the Palaia area, on the city’s edge. The city’s best tsipouradika are clustered in these two areas. In Nea Ionia, Demiris (23 Efraimidou, tel. +30 2421065559) serves the most unusual seafood meze dishes, while Filaraki (54 Krokiou, tel. +30 6950670794) also serves special seafood meze dishes, with great dexterity.
In the Palaia area, Nikos-Gianna (50 Papakyriazi, tel. +30 2421022767) is a hangout for university crowds. Its tables, set underneath mulberry trees, fill by early midday. Finding a vacant table can be difficult. Kavouras (3 Hatziargyri, tel. +30 2421028520) has been in business for over 70 years and is the oldest tsipouradiko in the city centre. It prepares all food on a charcoal grill and potatoes on embers.
After a few rounds of tsipouro and meze, it was time for a coffee, accompanied with a sweet. I headed straight for the tastefully designed Groove Boutique (229 Ermou, tel. +30 2421033033). A relatively new spot launched as a boutique patisserie, café, delicatessen and liquor store, its sweets, possessing French finesse, are the creations of Evgenios Vardakastanis and Giannis Kikiras. I loved the lemon tart, the inviting apple pie with crisp biscuit crust, as well as the tiramisù with smooth cream. Groove Boutique also serves quality coffee, supplied by Greek coffee company taf, which, besides its popular Pianeta blend, also provides a number of single-origin coffees. I recommend that you try the Peruvian coffee, or a variety from Ethiopia, featuring greater acidity and prolonged aftertaste.
Before getting back to the tsipouro and meze combination, I returned to the port for an evening stroll. The lights from the nearby Pelion area villages were now lit and seemed like candles hanging from a big, imposing tree. This was a lovely image I could not get enough of. I slowly made by way from the seaside area and headed back into the city centre’s alleys. The next stop was the well-known Mezen (8 Alonnisou, tel. +30 2121020844), a new-era tsipouradiko, I would say, that brought about change to the city’s traditional tsipouradiko standards.
Grigoris Helmis and Andreas Diakodimitris co-run Mezen, serving innovative and imaginative meze dishes that go that step further, without sacrificing flavour. I would not be exaggerating if I were to say that everything on the menu deserves to be tried.
The time had come for a drink at a bar. Volos is home to a number of good bars. I will make note of The Black Duke (66 Taki Oikonomaki, tel. +30 2421026151), possessing a good vibe. It greatly resembles an Irish pub and offers a wide variety of whisky selections. A little further on, at the buzzing pedestrian street Don Daleziou, a new city nightlife hub, Red Nose (8 Don Daleziou, tel. +30 2421038870) was one of the area’s first all-day bars. It serves mainstream cocktails, attracts young crowds, and the atmosphere is pleasant.
The setting is similar at Grappa Vino & Aperitivo (1 Dimarhou Kontaratou, tel. +30 2421030370), close to Agios Nikolaos square. At one of the square’s corners, Grooove (4 Dimarhou Kontaratou, tel. +30 2421033032) is a bar I would have really enjoyed having in Athens, my home base.
Its owner, Thanassis Kouziokas, who also co-owns the aforementioned Groove Boutique venture, has established an elegant and interesting space where customers can enjoy quality coffee, food – curated by Grigoris Helmis from Mezen – and, of course, well-made cocktails. I should also mention Grooove’s extensive choice of drinks, offering over 500 spirits. Yes, you can definitely enjoy a good drink here.
