Athens Gets Its First Cat Cafe

The proprietors say they wanted to create a space that “calms and relaxes” guests and gives Athens’ street cats a chance to find forever homes.

Natalie and Dimitris went all in on their dreams for a cat cafe.

After experiencing similar places overseas and falling in love with the concept, they quit their jobs in tech and hospitality, found a nice spot in the Athenian neighborhood of Thissio — known for its prime views of the acropolis and Parthenon — and established the first cafe in Athens’ 3,000-year history.

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Guests film their favorite cats as the little ones play on a network of walkways and cat trees. Credit: Greek City Times

When I visited a cat cafe in Tokyo, slots were segmented into 30 minutes at 2,000 yen (about 13 bucks) per and coffee was from a vending machine. (To be fair, Japan’s vending machines are excellent and many of them brew fresh coffee internally.) Cat cafes in New York tend to operate in a similar manner, although without the vending machines and with strict separation between food prep areas and the sections where the cats roam, lounge and poop.

But Natalie and Dimitris wanted a cafe that reflected the pace of Greek life, so appointment is by reservation, there aren’t any limits on how long people can hang out, and half the cafe’s space is a fenced-in yard where people can enjoy the cats and the Mediterranean weather.

People can even serenade the kitties, who are all former strays by sitting down and playing a piano inside the cafe.

But ultimately, the couple told the Greek City Times, they opened the cafe — called simply Cat Cafe — because they love cats. Unlike their Turkish neighbors across the Aegean, Greeks aren’t known for caring for street cats despite many of them eking out a living in Athens and other cities.

In Greece, Natalie and Dimitris said, cats are “very misunderstood animals.”

“From the beginning, our goal was to bring people who don’t have cats into contact with cats,” they told Greek City Times. “To interact with them and get to know them. And decide to adopt one.”

Note: The original interview was in Greek and translated to English for the Greek City Times, so there’s some funky phrasing. Readers who are fluent in Greek can read the original here. Top image credit: Pexels

11 thoughts on “Athens Gets Its First Cat Cafe”

  1. superb, having been to many cat cafes in the UK they fill a brilliant gap in providing a socialising and play area for the cats, all the ones I visited limited time and numbers and also closed for many hours to give them their own time. All are adoptable ( with multiple checks) I am sure there are less scrupulous ones. I have yet to find one. cats are not misunderstood (in my opinion) – they are Gods to be obeyed and served!!!

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    1. I think in an urban environment and in cultures like the UK, US and Japan it makes sense to have time slots, but Greece is one of those countries that operates on its own time and sitting in cafes for hours is normal there.

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      1. I don’t think they’re negative per se, it’s more of a lack of care. They’re not shooting cats with BBs and arrows and .22 rifles like idiots in our country do, but they don’t have the animal welfare and shelter infrastructure.

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  4. I very well know that Greeks don’t care for animals well, since I follow and support Takis Shelter and Jutta Shelter on the Greek island of Crete, and DAR shelter on the mainland. They regularly rescue animals in shocking condition.
    Please go on YouTube or Facebook, look them up, and report on them to your readers. We regularly call Takis “Saint Takis” or “Daddy Takis,” and we’re used to seeing “Takis’s miracles.” He has literally made the blind to see (check out Grandpa). DAR can always use more help.
    I would love to get together with other followers and create an educational program in the schools in Greece to get the children to change from the traditional way of treating animals. I don’t think that a cat (or dog) cafe would be enough.

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    1. I’ll check it out, thanks for the recommendation.

      I know Cyprus has a lot of cats as well. Not sure about the other islands. All i remember from my time there were farm animals. Lots of goats who would walk up to people like it was no big deal.

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