Au Revoir Bar.

Patission 136. The avenue running north from Omonia, past the Archaeological Museum, into Kypseli. Small door. Sign older than your parents.

Au Revoir opened 10 March 1958, founded by brothers Theodoros and Lysandros Papatheodorou — by every honest count, the oldest bar in Athens still serving. Aristomenis Provelegios designed the interior. The original crowd were poets, actors, journalists: people who arrived after the theatre closed and stayed until something else opened. Frank Sinatra had a drink here in 1962. The booths he sat in are the same booths.

Nothing has changed. Wooden booths, the lamps, the mezzanine that still smells faintly of cigarettes. Short drinks list, classic — no foam, no fire, no flourish. The bartenders remember what you ordered last time, even if last time was a year ago. Lysandros's son Sotiris runs it now. The crowd is younger. Sinatra plays at least once a night.

Open every night until two. Closed July and August — it's a winter bar, the city goes to the islands. Sit at the mezzanine if you can; the booth at the back if you can't. Order a Negroni. Don't ask for vodka.