Laiki Market

from the suburbs of Athens // Europe

By Lauren di Matteo

WRITTEN BY NICOLE BRAVO

“Pretty lady, buy a pot? No finer pot in brass or silver.”

“Sugar dates, sugar dates and figs! Sugar dates and pistachios!”

“Would the lady like a necklace? A pretty necklace for a pretty lady.”

“FRESH FISH! We catch ‘em, you buy ‘em!”

This scene (from Disney’s Aladdin), flashed through my mind as we walked down the road through the local Laiki Market. This is what we would know as a farmers’ market and it shows up daily in different parts of the city. There were women selling dresses, shirts, and bras; holding onto their tarps flapping in the summer breeze, sweating in the late morning heat. As we strolled down the road, jet-lagged and exhausted, gawking at this strange world we had just stepped into, we were unable to fade into the background and just observe as we would have liked. Men from every fruit stand called out to us as we lingered or passed right on by. They shouted in Greek, asking us to purchase their apricot over the other guy’s just down the way, buy their fish because they were the freshest, take a look at their flowers in bloom. I was pretty sure that man’s fish were not the freshest as they sat there on wooden slats, whereas a few stands down they were placed on ice. But those apricots were the best price, because as you go further down the road, most of the prices increase. For this reason, I had to wait until we got back up the hill to buy the Napoleon cherries I’ve always wanted to try, and since it’s cherry season, how could I pass them up?

Lauren pulled out her camera and that in itself revved up the excitement. I’m not sure if we were more interested in them, or them in us—we were the only non-Greeks there and boy did they notice. She began asking people if she could take their picture by smiling and pointing to her camera, and they acquiesced. At this, we heard the vendors begin yelling to one another, “Photographia! Photographia!” Those that followed seemed very pleased to be chosen for a photo and happily obliged; their openness was a pleasant surprise. I think Lauren was given far more attention than she had bargained for, evidenced by the fact that one man casually asked where her husband was, another gave her a lovely flower, and one old man practically chased her down after taking a photo of a backgammon game,which she did at his request and therefore refused to pay him for. All in a day’s work. Glyfada, thank you for the warm welcome.