KAFENIO
Tiny and lively , the traditional Cretan “kafenia” (coffee shops), are usually a family affair.
Hidden away in lush green gardens, nestles the traditional Kafenio of Cretan Malia Park. Stone-brick walls, traditional wooden chairs, rustic ambiance and a wonderfully simple coffee menu is on offer, with typical Cretan meze dishes, delicious local desserts and great tsikoudia – all prepared and offered with love and care.
A VITAL PART OF THE SOCIAL LIFE
There’s an art to whiling away a morning or afternoon in the kafenion, the traditional Greek café.
Traditional cafés, or kafenia, have been an essential feature of social life since the 1830s. Men still spend hours at their neighbourhood kafenion, talking politics or playing backgammon with a coffee in one hand.
The habit to stop by at the Kafenion on a Greek coffee and raki, a chat, playing cards or backgammon is still part of a place’s social center.
Opening Hours: 17.30 – 23:30, Sunday Closed
THE GREEK COFFEE RITUAL
A love of coffee and socializing is very much a part of Greek culture, as is the historic concept of philoxenia, or Greek hospitality. Greek coffee is the love and passion of every generation. You may enjoy your Greek coffee in “hovoli” – heating in hot sand – and get a good sip of the Greek living. Brewing the ideal cup of Greek coffee is an art form . When you order your cup of coffee you also define the degree of sweetness you desire. A special vocabulary exists just for this: “sketos” (without sugar), “metrios” (with a tsp. of sugar), “glykos” (sweet, with 2 tsp. of sugar) or “variglykos” (very sweet).
