The main shopping districts are in the area bounded by Syntagma, Monastiraki, Omonia, and Kolonaki. For serious retail therapy, most natives head to the shopping streets that branch off central Syntagma and Kolonaki squares.

Syntagma is the starting point for popular Ermou -- now a pedestrian zone lined with hundreds of stores and adorned with the occasional street performer -- which leads down to Monastiraki. Streets parallel and perpendicular to Ermou make up this shopping area: Mitropoleos, Voulis, Nikis, Perikleous, and Praxitelous among them.

Much ritzier is the Kolonaki quarter, with boutiques and designer shops on fashionable streets near the square like Anagnostopoulou, Tsakalof, Skoufa, Solonos, and Kanari. One of the main hurdles is figuring out when shops in Athens are open. Shops may stay open from 9 AM to 9 PM in summer, though most close Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons around 3 or 4. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, many shops close between about 3 and 5. In winter (October-mid-April) hours are slightly reduced.

The souvenir shops in Plaka are usually open from early morning until the last tourist leaves. Originally set up by the government to provide employment for veterans, the sidewalk kiosks called periptera are the Greek version of a convenience store. Those in central squares are often open until very late, and they are occasionally open around the clock.

Shops on Pandrossou sell small antiques and icons, but keep in mind that many of these are fakes, and you must have government permission to export genuine objects from the Greek, Roman, or Byzantine periods.

Greece is known for its well-made shoes (most shops are clustered around the Ermou pedestrian zone and in Kolonaki), furs (Mitropoleos near Syntagma), and its durable leather items (Pandrossou in Monastiraki).

Athens has great gifts, particularly handmade crafts. Better tourist shops sell copies of traditional Greek jewelry, silver filigree, Skyrian pottery, onyx ashtrays and dishes, woven bags, attractive rugs (including flokati, or shaggy goat wool rugs), and little blue-and-white pendants designed as amulets to ward off the mati (evil eye). An inexpensive but unusual gift is a string of koboloi (worry beads) in plastic, wood, or stone. Reasonably priced natural sponges from Kalymnos also make good presents. The price is set by the government, so don't bother to bargain.

Try the central market on Athinas for tasty local foods including packaged dried figs, pistachios, pastelli (sesame seed and honey candy), and olives.