Nea Smyrni Farmers Market Athens

Old-school shopping

Dimitris from Athens

"The "Nea Smyrni Farmers Market" in Athens, or 'laiki', is where my grandmother would do her grocery shopping. I, too, have learned to appreciate it..."

The farmers market, more correctly "people's market" - a direct translation from Greek (laikí agorá) - is a tradition everywhere in Greece. Vendors, merchants and farmers from all over the country meet at a specific time and place every week and set up their benches on a town street. In Nea Smyrni, my hometown, this is Megalou Alexandrou St every Wednesday, and it goes on for 500m, not including sidestreets.

It's important to remember that laikí isn't just a farmer's market: there you can find not only fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, but also fish, olives and olive oil, nuts, wine, underwear, clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils, cleaning products and more. In other words, anything a housewife -or houseperson, we're not sexist!- might need. My grandmother only ever did her grocery shopping at the laikí. She would rarely go to the supermarket.

Nowadays, I'm following in her footsteps and carrying on the tradition. Unfortunately, it's mostly other grandmas I see when I stroll along Megalou Alexandrou on Wednesdays, though in the last few years, I've been noticing more and more young people rediscovering the old ways.

The produce on sale in these markets is not organic unless stated, but it's the best quality and cheapest non-organic food you can possibly find. Indicatively: €1 for a braid of garlic, €1.50 for 1kg of rice, €2 for 2kg of broccoli. The later you go, the better bargains you'll find.

To get there, take a tram to Agias Foteinis or Megalou Alexandrou.

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Athens Spotter Dimitris

About Me Hi! I'm Dimitris Hall. I've been an Athens Spotter since 2013 and have worked with Spotted by Locals as the site's editor, social media and content manager since early 2017. I was born a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and grew up in Nea Smyrni (New Izmir), a suburb of Athens that a century ago didn't even exist as a concept. I’m a μισός-μισός, a “half-and-half”, my constituent parts being Greek and Australian, which honestly doesn’t sound quite right, since the last time I was in Australia was more than 15 years ago, and that just for holidays. I woul...

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Megalou Alexandrou, 17121

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