Modern urban Athens souvenirs
May 8, 2015 1:34 AM

Looking for a specific kinds of Athens souvenir, which may or may not exist: ones based on "urban" icons like their taxi signs, and other infrastructure-y things like that. Most definitely not looking for keychains containing photos of the Parthenon or other such tat, they are already being thrown at me with abandon, thanks.

In Toronto, for instance, has the spacing store that sells things like buttons and magnets based on the subway stations. Is there a place to get those sorts of infrastructure tchotchkes from Athens? Am I being too optimistically geeky?

"Just walk around Monastiraki" won't really be helpful unless you think you know of a specific place :)
posted by Mike Smith to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
https://goo.gl/maps/vIKEP

Somewhat close to this hotel, on the same street, either a few shops up or down is a marvelous spice shop. All sorts of absolutely wonderful authentic Greek things. Look for their beautiful ornate metal salt and pepper shakers. This is the perfect place to pick up gifts for people at home.

And if you like art, check out Qbox gallery one block over.
posted by Murray M at 3:51 AM on May 8, 2015


How about street name signs - something like this? Other cities have them so strictly speaking it's an "urban Greece" rather than "Athens" thing, but they are pretty iconic. You'll find some gag signs in this style in the tourist places, and you can probably get one custom made somewhere downtown, but I wouldn't know exactly where.

Not exactly infrastructure, but this is also an Athens souvenir to me.

Also if you take the subway all the way down to Piraeus you'll find this tiny Electric Railway Museum - they might have something for the infrastructure geek.
posted by Dr Dracator at 4:01 AM on May 8, 2015


Newly licensed drivers in Greece need to display an "N" in their rear window, but it doesn't have to be a government-issued decal so you can get funny and cute signs in shops that meet the requirement. We bought one shaped like a miniature tshirt that had some funny phrase with a prominent "N" and hung it in the rental car. Good souvenir because it's not tourist-specific, but also possibly useful for warning that you're not an experienced local driver!
posted by HoteDoge at 6:28 AM on May 9, 2015


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