The Foundry Hotel: Athens Hospitality Scene Welcomes New Concept

Athens’ Foundry Hotel offers quality, style and unique rooftop picnic experience

Situated in the historic Psyrri, a neighborhood full of artisan shops, small restaurants and hip bars, is The Foundry, a hotel that opened its doors last October, aiming to offer guests to Athens a unique experience.

Combining industrial design with a modern mid-century style, the hotel features 12 fully equipped apartments in a building that counts decades of history, originally built in 1930 and having served as a font foundry.

Through the years the building developed into a printing house before becoming a cultural center with a gallery and theater space, actively promoting the arts.

Today, keeping all this history within its walls, The Foundry has been fully transformed into a place that welcomes guests, business travelers, couples and friends, who seek an urban sanctuary in the heart of modern Athens.

Unique rooftop picnic experience

Meanwhile, the Foundry has discovered a way for its guests and visitors to “relax in the countryside” while actually being in the center of the Greek capital.

Wanting to offer a unique experience to their guests, owners Miltos Portokalis and Marios Koulouros, together with Greek architect, Efi Malandraki, created a unique Rooftop Picnic Garden that takes the ‘meeting up for a coffee’ experience to the next level.

The owners of The Foundry Hotel Athens, Marios Koulouros and Miltos Portokalis, with (from left) Greek architect Efi Malandraki and Press à Porter’s Ioanna Alexatou and Flora Paraskevopoulou.

“The rooftop of this 30’s building poses as a typical garden or yard of a traditional Greek home, at the same time offering a meeting point for relaxation and fun,” says architect and co-owner Miltos Portokalis.

Right from the hotel’s Rooftop Picnic Garden, guests can enjoy a clear view of the Acropolis, Philopappou Hill and the Gazi district while enjoying a picnic basket full with Greek cheeses and delicatessen selections, along with chutneys, olives, vegetable chips, bread and breadsticks, fresh salad and seasonal fruits, while enjoying wine from small wineries and Greek labeled beer. Moreover, a day dish is prepared on the spot and in open view.

The hotel’s Rooftop Picnic Garden is open from Wednesday to Sunday (6pm – 1am).