These items are available in the main shopping area downtown around Syntagma, Plaka and Monastiraki, the flea market. Your best bet to find souvenirs and jewelry is at Pandrossou pedestrian walkway. Monastiraki comes alive on Sundays from 08.00 to 13.00. Other interesting gift idea is museum copies of ancient Greek art, sold in many shops and at the National Archeological Museum. Greek food specialties found at mini markets near Syntagma square.
Jewelry always seems to be a hot item for tourists visiting Greece.
The country may not be known for its gold producing, but it has a history of at least 3.000 years of manufacturing unique and skillful hand-crafted gold jewelry. Eighty percent of the jewelry sold in the 4.000 jewelry shops throughout Greece is handicraft and every piece of jewelry passes through four to five technicians. Greek jewelry offers a lot of creativity in design, low labor costs and very good technicians. It all adds up to a smart investment and a very nice gift to take back home. Most of these shops in Athens are located on Voukourestiou and Mitropoleos streets and Syntagma square in the center of the city and in the Plaka area as well.