Spend Sunday mornings in Athens in the slightly seedy area of Plateia Avissynias, as the area comes alive with Athen's notorius Monastiraki Flea Market.

Part treasure-trove, part bizarre bazaar, you'll find trinkets and old junk you never knew you needed, as well as antique shops that are are here all week. Rub shoulders with the locals who get there early to scoop the best buys, and bring your haggling skills.

Cafes and bars bordering the market overspill onto the street at weekends, and add to the festive ambience as you sift through the stalls.

It makes for a colourful, slightly manic morning, and your rummaging may be rewarded with a treasure or two - I came away with some antique pink Turkish bottles, and bags of old ornate jewellery - I managed to resist the ancient gramophone that I was told still works!

Plateia Avissynias & Ermou

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Avoid the scores of tacky tourist shops that spring up in Plaka during the summer months - your friends and family won't miss the miniature Acropolis keyring or T-Shirts printed with 'It's all Greek to Me' you could have wasted your Euros on.

Instead, there are two brilliant places to pick up local and traditional Greek handicrafts.

Oikotexnia is run by the Institute of Social Protection, so you will be helping to preserve and promote traditional Greek handicrafts as well as scoring some top quality souvenirs. Best buys include knotted carpets, fluffy Flokatis rugs, embroidered cushions and tablecloths.

The Centre of Hellenic Traditions is a haven from Plaka's mass-produced tat and sells Greek art, icons, pottery, wood carvings, embroideries, and prints. Best of all, there's a charming cafe on-site for enjoying a view of the Acropolis

Oikotexnia, Filellinon 14, Plaka

Centre of Hellenic Tradition, Mitropoleos 3 and Pandrossou 36 in the Plaka

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Athen's Central Market is packed full of stalls selling mouthwatering Greek food - cheeses, olives and dried fruit, but it is essentially a meat market.

If you really want to eat like the locals, and fancy some cheap and filling fare away from the overpriced restaurants in Plaka, brave the tavernas in the centre, feeding hungry workers and hung-over clubbers with steaming bowls of 'Patsas', tripe soup.

Epeiros and Papandreou are the most authentic, with stoves simmering over with huge pots of chickpeas and all manner of tripe soups, which the cooks swear are cholesterol-free and have medicinal properties.

The science behind that may be sketchy, but a bowl of the soup blasts hangovers away after one too many glasses of ouzo, and the restaurants are incredibly atmopsheric, with tables crammed with loudmouth market workers day and night. I opted for the Mayeritsa which is a tripe soup made with an egg-lemon sauce, and after a few nervous spoonfuls, found myself licking the bowl clean.

If you can't face the tripe, pick from plates piled high with lamb so tender it falls off the bone, roasted potatoes and bottles of delicious red wine.

Between Sofokleous & Evripidou, Athinas 42

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Greece is a wonderful place to visit over the Easter weekend - more specifically, Athens. Orthodox Easter is celebrated in Greece, meaning that shops and restaurants aren't closed in observance of western Easter. Athens is a surprising vibrant and cosmopolitan city. The seaside area of Glyfada is filled with fantastic cafes, bars, shops, restaurants and beach clubs. Psirri, an area in the center of Athens, has a booming nightlife and is full of a bohemian young crowd. There is, of course, also a wealth of historical and archeological sites to visit.

The average high temperature in April is 20.2 C/68.4 F and many locals swim in the sea year-round. There are low-cost flights available from the UK. It's a great place for a long weekend in Europe.

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One of the most visited areas of Athens; old bookshops; Greek art shops; rags and bones; old DVDs and CDs and bursting with tourist and locals all year.

At the end of Athinas and Andrianou street ,metro station Monastiraki or Thission
www.athensguide.org/ravel-to-athens.html

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Watch out for the human statues and old-fashioned Greek musicians who parade up and down the street especially on Saturdays. Another good place to shop for just about anything is the Hondos Centre; this is a departmental store which has shops dotted all around Athens. The main shop is in Ommonia Square and sells everything from clothes, shoes and watches to household goods, toiletries, perfume, makeup and even traditional souvenirs. It is also a lot cheaper than the other department store, Attica.

Central Athens, Across the road from Syntagma Square; nearest metro station: Syntagma

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If you're looking for shopping heaven in Athens, The Mall is the place to go. Brand new, and the first major shopping centre in Athens, it has hundreds of shops (Greek and international), restaurants and a multiplex cinema. In the northern suburb of Maroussi next to the Olympic stadium but easy to get to, with a direct metro taking 20 minutes from the centre of town.

35, Andrea Papandreou str., Maroussi, adjacent and parallel to Attiki Odos highway
Kifissias Avenue Exit;
nearest metro: Neratziotissa;
tel: 210 630 0000 – 5;
www.themallathens.gr/

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This is a pedestrian street lined with lots of bars, along from the Old Mosque in Monasteraki. On a spring bank holiday afternoon all the cafes were packed with Greeks drinking and chatting away - the volume of people talking without any background music is amazing in itself. There were also loads of people selling cheap handbags and sunglasses so you can get the kit to pose like the locals.

Monastiraki

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A long-established summer trend. Buy a pair of handcrafted, ancient Greek-inspired sandals and dare to impress. You can't go wrong by visiting Melissinos's new shop (by far the most popular sandal maker) in Psiri.

Agias Theklas 2, Psiri.
Tel: 00 30 210 321 9247
www.melissinos-art.com

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Tired of those endless hours of sunbathing? If you are in the mood for reading and have run out of books look for something that suits your taste in the multi-storied Eleftheroudakis book store. English literature is on the mezzanine, most popular titles are displayed on the ground floor. And if you feel like leafing through glossy magazines without paying a cent you may do so in their wonderful sixth floor cafe over big cups of coffee and fresh croissants.

Panepistimiou street, Athens

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Both stores are on Tsakalof Street in the elegant area of Kolonaki. High-heeled sandals that will capture your heart, boots of exquisite leather, fabulous loafers and flats, must-have bags. Prices range from reasonable to sky-high, but you will be unable to walk out of these stores without at least one pair of new shoes.

Tsakalof Street, Kolonaki

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This creation of the Mastic Producers Union of Chios looks more like a jewellers than anything else, but the valuable products it sells are all made using the therapeutic and invigorating resin of the mastic tree from the island of Chios, birthplace of Homer.

Chios' Mastic is a unique product, granted a PDO (protected destination of origin) from the European Union.

6 Panepistimiou Street & Kriezotou Street, Syntagma; tel: 210 363 2750;

Athens airport: Main Terminal/Departures/Intra Schengen Area
www.mastihashop.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastic

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For the best high street shopping experience, visit Athens' recent and state-of-the-art retail additions. Attica is Greece's largest department store with over 500 brand names on its eight levels. It opened last April. Very modern and upmarket environment, I spent an hour exploring it.

The other shopping experience is the very impressive The Mall, just north of the main Olympic complex, in the northern suburbs of Athens. It’s a massive shopping centre with 200 shops, a 15 screen multiplex cinema and numerous restaurants. It opened last November and it has already proved very popular with the locals. Very good public transport access.

Attica is on Panepistimiou Street between Panepistimio and Syntagma metro stations (line 2) (no website available)
The Mall Athens is off Neratziotissa station, where line 1 and the suburban rail line meet; www.themallathens.gr

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This is a big covered market. It’s quite fun to watch the locals buying their fish and chickens but for visitors I recommend it for the fruit and nuts. I stocked up on pistachio nuts for munching while I was sightseeing and came home with bags of dried figs and pine nuts at bargain prices compared to England. You can also buy slabs of halva if you have a sweet tooth.

Athinas Street, between Omonia and Monastiraki metro stations

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One of the northern suburbs of Athens but not too far from the city centre and excellent for shopping (from shoes to clothing and more).

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