From the central food halls to the old workshop streets
Follow the stalls of Varvakios Market into the spice shops of Evripidou and the workshop streets of Psyrri, where the goods on display tell the story of everyday Athens.
📍
Athens, Attica, Greece
INTRODUCTION
At 42 Athinas Street, a covered market occupies a city block between Omonia and Monastiraki. Inside Varvakios, fish counters fill the centre and butchers trade around them. Across the road are fruit and vegetable stalls. A turn onto Evripidou Street brings you to shops selling the herbs, spices and preserved foods that go with the fresh ingredients.
The walk continues into Psyrri, where the windows change from food displays to kitchenware, leather goods and café tables. The streets are close enough to cover in one morning, and their shops give you a way to read what people have done for a living in this part of Athens.
Begin at the market while the counters are trading. Then follow the route west to Iroon Square, where the changes in the neighbourhood are easiest to see.
KEY HISTORICAL MOMENT
In August 1884, a fire destroyed the old market stalls east of Hadrian’s Library. Athens had already begun building a municipal market farther north on Athinas Street. The loss of the older trading ground accelerated the work. The new complex was completed in 1886, giving the city a permanent covered home for a large part of its food trade.
ORIGINS
The old market had served Athens since Ottoman times. Its stalls stood near the Roman Agora and Hadrian’s Library, in a part of the city long associated with commerce. As the nineteenth-century capital grew, municipal authorities began work on a purpose-built market in 1878. The new site was beside the Varvakeion school, farther up Athinas Street.
The site gave the municipality room for a full block of shops around a central trading space. Sofokleous, Evripidou and Aiolou streets define the other three sides of the block.
The late nineteenth-century works included a roof and basements. Look up when you reach the fish hall and compare its wide span with the narrower aisles beside it. The difference is a quick way to understand the plan. A large central space could accommodate a cluster of fish counters, while rows of smaller premises lined the surrounding passages.
FOOD AND TRADES
Athens’ expanding population gave shopkeepers and master artisans more customers, but keeping a small business open could be difficult. Historian Nikos Potamianos traces the pressures on them through changing rents, the introduction of Sunday rest and disputes over prices. Such questions mattered both to the person selling over a counter and to the household buying from it.
Around the market, different streets offered different goods. A shopper could buy meat or fish in the halls, then pick up olives or dried herbs nearby. The market building worked as part of a larger shopping district.
On the Psyrri side of Athinas Street, small workshops and supply shops served a different set of needs. Leatherworkers and shoemakers could buy materials and fittings nearby. Pallados Street became associated with kitchen equipment and utensils, another trade that served both households and people who made a living preparing food.
Seen from the street, the link between market and workshop is straightforward. A cook buying ingredients also needs containers, pans and tools. Shops serving those needs could trade within a short walk of one another.
ACROSS CENTURIES
The municipality and the Ministry of Culture carried out repairs in stages from 1979 to 1996. The market remained a place to buy food. Its history can be read through the overall layout and the continuing use of the counters, even where individual fittings or shop signs have changed.
The businesses around it follow their own rhythms. Butchers, fishmongers and produce sellers work to market hours, while surrounding shops and places to eat keep separate schedules.
From the late twentieth century, Psyrri attracted more bars, restaurants and cultural businesses. Some workshops closed or moved, and former workspaces acquired new uses. Around Iroon Square, a visitor can see older building fronts above businesses aimed at a different clientele.
In more recent years, some new makers have opened businesses here. Leather goods and other small-scale production still have a place in the district, alongside hospitality and retail. The balance varies from street to street.
INTERESTING FACTS
The market and the Varvakeion school both carry the name of the benefactor Ioannis Varvakis. When the municipality began building the market, the school was already standing beside the site. The shared name records a connection that was once visible on the street. The Greek name Varvakios Agora now distinguishes the central food market from other places in Athens that also carry the name agora.
The fish counters can bring together oily fish such as sardines and anchovies, catches from Greek waters and imported seafood. What is available changes with the season and the day’s supply. If you are curious about where a particular fish came from, ask the seller or read the label. A display can tell you more than a list of species.
Athens’ visitor guide points out containers for olive oil, wicker baskets and jugs among the goods sold around Pallados. Each has a use beyond display. An oil can makes a staple easier to store or pour, and a basket can carry produce home. Their presence makes sense in a district where people buy both food and equipment.
In the city’s guide to Psyrri, architect and resident Sotiris Hainis describes his loft overlooking Iroon Square as a former workshop that made military uniforms. It is one documented example of the work that once occupied upper floors in the neighbourhood. As you walk, look above the shop signs to get a better sense of those spaces.
WHAT TO SEE & DO
Start at the covered market on Athinas Street and look for the central fish hall. From there, take one of the public aisles past the butchers. As you move between the sections, compare the depth of the counters and the space available in front of them. Different goods call for different ways of displaying and handling them.
Before leaving, glance across Athinas towards the produce stalls. The food market extends beyond the covered building, and the crossing makes that relationship easy to see.
Go to Evripidou along the edge of the market block. Look for shops selling dried herbs, spices, nuts and preserved foods. If you want something easy to carry, ask about Greek mountain tea or another dried ingredient. Some shops specialise in herbs, while others stock a broader range of provisions.
Look at what occupies the doorway as well as what sits on the shelves. A small frontage can reveal a great deal about the kind of shopping a street serves.
Head west across Athinas into Psyrri and make for Pallados Street. Look in the windows for cookware, containers or utensils. The goods on display give you a way to compare the street with Evripidou. Both cater to kitchens, but the needs of a restaurant or household are visible here in the equipment.
Pause at a junction to look along the narrow frontages. You can cover this part of the route slowly, without needing to enter workshops or interrupt someone at work.
Continue to Iroon Square, also called Plateia Iroon, where several small streets converge. Stand back from the tables and look up at the buildings around the square. Seeing their upper storeys helps put the scale of the neighbourhood in perspective after the much larger market block.
If you want to stop for lunch, this is a convenient place to end. Miaouli Street leads back towards Monastiraki, so you can finish the walk near the metro.
WHY VISIT?
This walk suits travellers who want to understand central Athens through the places people use for work and shopping. At Varvakios you can see how food sales are organised inside a municipal building. In Psyrri, the small shopfronts make it easier to see how different trades shared a neighbourhood and how some of those spaces have changed use.
The route also fits easily into a morning near Monastiraki. For nearby historic sites and a wider look at the centre, continue with the Athens history and travel guide.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Start at Varvakios Market, listed at 42 Athinas Street. From Monastiraki metro station, served by lines 1 and 3, walk north along Athinas. The route finishes at Iroon Square in Psyrri. On maps the district may also appear as Psirri or Psyri.
Allow about 60 to 90 minutes for the route and time at the counters and shop windows. This is an editorial estimate. Add time if you plan to buy ingredients, pause for lunch or browse the side streets between Iroon Square and Monastiraki.
Go in the morning if the food halls are the priority. The City of Athens lists the market as generally closed on Sundays. Individual traders and surrounding shops keep their own hours, so check locally if you are visiting on a holiday or going to a particular shop.
The route follows public streets and entry to the food halls is free during trading. Food, drinks and purchases are paid separately. If you want to buy something to carry through the rest of the walk, dried goods are simpler to manage than fresh fish or meat.
The floor in the fish hall can be wet. Wear shoes with grip, use marked crossings on Athinas where available and leave space for people carrying supplies. If you need step-free access, check the approach to your intended entrance and the condition of the aisles before setting out.
Location
Athens, Attica, Greece
Site type
Self-guided city walk
Market completed
1886
Key event
1884 · Fire at the old market
Start
Varvakios Market, 42 Athinas Street
Route
Athinas, Evripidou and Pallados
Finish
Iroon Square, Psyrri
Suggested visit
60–90 minutes (editorial estimate)
Plan a self-guided walk from the municipal market to Psyrri.
EXPLORE MORE
Continue exploring Athens or follow Greek history beyond the capital.
Explore Monastiraki and the sites around Athens’ historic centre.
Visit the walled city where the Knights of Saint John built their stronghold.
Find more historic neighbourhoods and destinations across Greece.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies allows us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may affect certain features and functions.