The Rise of Athens Hotels: Hospitality in 19th Century Greece

The opening of what’s considered Athens’ archetypal due Hotel d’Europe was successful 1932. Credits: Public Domain

Walking into modern hotels successful Athens today, 1 is welcomed by polished marble floors, seamless Wi-Fi, concierge services, rooftop pools, and menus crafted by renowned chefs.

In stark contrast, the earliest forms of hospitality successful Ottoman-era Athens were humble and utilitarian. Merchants and wanderers slept successful roadside hanis—primitive inns with shared courtyards, nary furniture, and animals stabled beneath the precise floors wherever guests laic connected their ain rags to rest. Even with the dawn of independency successful the 19th century, erstwhile Athens began to modernize, travelers inactive contended with muddy streets, sparse amenities, and unpredictable lodging conditions.

By 1813, much structured inns appeared—simple quadrate buildings with courtyards for animals, a well, and spartan upstairs rooms. Visitors brought their ain bedding and ate humble meals if they paid extra.

By 1827, Athens had astir 30 inns. The astir renowned was Hani tou François, located adjacent today’s Karaiskaki Street. Unlike others, it welcomed not conscionable traders but wide travelers, making it thing of a section institution.

The archetypal edifice successful Athens

A cardinal translation occurred successful 1832, with the opening of what’s considered Athens’ archetypal due hotel: Hotel d’Europe, tally by an Italian couple, the Casalis, famously some one-eyed.

Initially intended for merchants, it offered cleaner and quieter quarters than inns. In 1835, it was renamed Albergo Nuovo, and aboriginal Royal, supposedly due to the fact that the king had stayed there. By then, Athens was dilatory transitioning from makeshift hospitality to much structured and comfy accommodations.

A twelvemonth earlier, successful 1834, Athens’ archetypal hotel-restaurant—Petroupolis—opened astatine the country of Aiolou and Agia Irini Streets. Though acold from luxurious (diners wiped their hands connected waiters’ jackets), it marked the opening of hospitality that included some lodging and meals.

By the mid-19th century, much hotels opened successful Athens. Credits: Public Domain

The edifice roar begins

Soon after, different hotels followed. The Anatoli and Anglia hotels opened connected Aiolou Street successful the 1830s and 1840s. At this time, Athens was becoming a beacon for travelers and intellectuals, each drawn to its recently liberated presumption and past ruins.

However, Athens continued to look basal infrastructure issues. Roads were muddy, sewage flooded ungraded streets, and interior cleanliness contrasted with outer squalor. In 1836, a German-Greek mates established the Munich Hotel, offering humble but cleaner conditions adjacent Ermou Street.

In 1837, Athens took a large measurement guardant with the operation of its archetypal purpose-built hotel, the Aiolos, designed by metropolis designer Stamatis Kleanthis. Located astatine the junction of Aiolou and Adrianou Streets, it featured a basement, crushed floor, 2 precocious stories, 25 rooms, and an interior courtyard. Though its operation resembled a khan, it was acold much refined. Remarkably, the gathering inactive stands today, restored and disposable done Sotheby’s.

As Greece stabilized, caller hotels emerged—often converted neoclassical mansions featuring restaurants. With improved amenities specified arsenic beds, linens, and adjacent rudimentary bathrooms, hospitality evolved. Restaurants were cardinal to a hotel’s success. A paper advertisement for Hotel Byzantion successful Syntagma boasted: “Dinner 9 courses. Breakfast 5 courses.”

English travelers praised the Hotel of Europe’s good edifice and imported beer. In 1842, Vasilikon Hotel hosted a lavish banquet for Athens’ ineligible community. Yet challenges persisted. At the Beautiful France edifice connected Solonos Street, customers had to petition h2o a time successful advance, arsenic moving h2o remained a rarity—even successful luxury hotels—until precocious successful the 19th century.

Central Athens successful the precocious 19th century. Credits: Public Domain

Othonos Square: The beating bosom of Athens’ hospitality

As speculation swirled implicit wherever the royal palace would beryllium built, hotels sprang up astir Othonos Square (today’s Omonia). From 1835 until World War II, much than 50 hotels operated connected Aiolou Street, thirty-seven astir the square, and galore others on Athinas Street.

Merchants lodging determination boosted section commerce, creating a bustling hospitality ecosystem. While luxury developers waited for confirmation astir the palace’s determination (eventually Syntagma), Othonos Square flourished arsenic a hub for fund hotels and travelers.

To compete, the country needed much than volume—it needed grandeur. Enter the “twin jewels” of Athenian hospitality.

The gathering of the Bageion Hotel. Credits: Public Domain

The Golden Age: “Alexander the Great” and “Bageion”

In 1889, the Alexander the Great edifice opened connected Athinas Street, followed by its “twin,” the Bageion, 4 years later. Both were designed by renowned designer Ernst Ziller and ushered successful a caller architectural era. These were imposing structures with expansive atriums covered by solid roofs, ringed by impermanent rooms.

Alexander the Great was primitively intended arsenic a backstage residence for nationalist benefactor Ioannis Pangas, but its standard prompted him to repurpose it arsenic a hotel. With 62 rooms, 129 beds, ornate lounges, and an elevator, it acceptable a caller standard. Even its 24-hour edifice became celebrated for serving patsas (tripe soup) successful mugs, nary less.

Just crossed the square, the Bageion Hotel occupied onshore that erstwhile belonged to statesman Spyridon Trikoupis. It excessively became a awesome of luxury and innovation, completing the duplicate crown jewels of Athenian hospitality.

From stables and dusty khans to grand, neoclassical hotels, Athens’ hospitality country evolved rapidly successful the 19th century. Driven by tourism, trade, and politics, the metropolis transformed into a magnet for intellectuals and travelers.

Behind each inn oregon expansive edifice lies a portion of modern Greek identity—woven done architecture, food, and the imagination of comfortableness successful a once-occupied onshore reclaiming its spot successful history.

This nonfiction draws connected probe by Tonia Maniatea, primitively published by the Athens-Macedonia News Agency.