Bouzoukia!

a bouzouki

Kate, Lacey, Susan, Carrie, Christy, me

 

 Bouzoukia Night! 12 of us "Americans" went out for the traditional Greek “Las Vegas” style night club outing! The bouzouki is a stringed guitar style instrument yet nowadays, it isn’t the spotlight of the show! Nightlife in Athens is just that - at night. Most clubs, bars, bouzoukia venues don’t begin until midnight and go well into the early morning. It is said that Athenians spend more money on going out to a bouzouki than anywhere else!

A former student’s dad (and my good friend’s husband) owns a bouzoukia club called Anodos. So I arranged for us to go to this unique yet traditional Greek outing. Our table was right beside the stage as you can see from my photos. They certainly pack you in there! It was a fantastic time! There were 4 singers whom performed before the headliner Natassa Theodoridou came on. The show began at midnight. Instead of throwing plates (as it is now considered a hazard) people buy plates of carnation heads and throw these at the performers. This shows the performers you like what you are hearing! Mr. Louskos generously gave our table 8 plates of the flowers!

But the peak of the entertainment / the liveliness of the guests and singers didn’t peak until about 3.30 AM.  

Natassa Theodoriou

At this time you found people dancing on their seats and right on the stage with the performers! For the 40 Euros per person, you have your reserved table, nuts and fruit and ¼ bottle of liquor. It really is a great deal for the live entertainment you get. Like most places in Greece, the no-smoking law doesn’t really apply and I would estimate that 90% of the people in the club last night were smoking! That is really the only turn-off. I don’t know if you could imagine that, nowadays!



Half the group left around 3ish and myself and the other half we left about 4:30, but then continued to stay out in the Gazi area. To take a taxi home during the morning hours costs double so we stayed out until we could take the metro home. I got home at 6:45 am this morning!!!! This is quite impressive for me! But really it was a great night!