When I arrive at the Mustache’s restaurant in Plaka, on a street with many of the handsome neoclassical buildings that were the architecture of preference for the new Greek state in the 1830’s after its Bavarian king arrived bringing his Munich classicism with him, a group of friends and strangers is sitting inside, drinking cold drinks and watching television over the bar. The choice outdoor tables are given over to the tourists, and whenever there is a flurry of activity, one of Mustache’s friends will hop up behind the bar to fix a tray or carry a plate. If a party speaking a language someone at the table knows well arrives Mustache will call out “German”, Maria, or “Italian”, Ari. But English is most in demand: the largest number of tourists visiting Greece are Britons. Some 1.1 million of them every year. After a spate of interpreting and waiting on a table, the volunteer returns to the group table with its sips and mezedes -there is something touching about this arrangement, in which working never arrests friendship.
Patricia Storace, “dinner with Persephone: Travels in Greece”, 1996
