The Aegean Dispatch: Part 1/3
The city you don't want to leave
You are travelling to Greece this year. But not the napkin-waving, plate-smashing kind of Greece. Not Santorini at sunset with a thousand other people pointing cameras at the same thing. You're looking for the places that pour Otto’s Vermouth. The places where the walls are quiet, but tell stories.
This is a three-part guide. Starting with the city you don’t want to leave. Athens.
In many minds, Athens is simply the stepping stone. The city you pass through on your way to the islands. That couldn’t be more wrong. Spend two days here and you might find yourself wanting to cancel the rest of the journey.
Where to Stay
When in Athens, stay at THE DOLLI. Situated on Mitropoleos, at the edge of the old city, you feel connected to the energy around you.
A private mansion born in 1925, designed by the same architect who later converted the royal palace into the Greek Parliament. Decades as an exclusive textile house. A hôtel maison since 2023, after a seven-year restoration of a building that had been left quietly falling apart.
Some buildings take time to find their purpose. This one was always about making people feel at home.
They give you a true Athenian welcome. Sweet things waiting on arrival, replenished hourly through the day. A lobby that feels more like a palatial lounge than a reception. Bouclé sofas, marble pedestals, hand-painted Cocteau plates on the walls, an ancient Greek ceramic on the console beside it.
An art collection spanning millennia. From functional contemporary works, a Calder mobile overhead, a Lalanne chair in the corner, to pieces from the tombs of Egypt.
With only 46 rooms, each feels like a home you’ve visited before.
THE DOLLI is a play on eidolon. The ancient Greek word for image. Something that is seen. The thing your eye reaches for. Look outside and you’ll find golden eyes looking back. Look inside, and the eyes follow you.
Look around the hotel, and you will be rewarded.
You dine 500 metres from the Acropolis. A narrow door, a travertine terrace, jasmine and myrtle, an infinity pool. The Parthenon always watching from across the rooftops.
If you’re after something with a creative edge, Mona (above) draws an interesting crowd. Artists, writers, people who’ve been to Athens before and know where to go. Less formal, more alive.
For old-world glamour, Hotel Grande Bretagne (below) on Syntagma Square is a statement in itself. Even if you’re not staying, go for a martini in front of the tapestry in the bar. It’s the kind of room that hasn’t needed to explain itself since 1842.
Where to Drink
You've already had the best first Negroni in Athens on THE DOLLI rooftop. Don't rush to leave it. The sun goes down to your right, the Acropolis turns gold in front of you, and the city comes alive around you.
