Psyrri
Polis Hammam.
An Ottoman bath, two streets from Ermou.
An authentic Ottoman-style hammam in the heart of Psyrri, architecture by Makridis Associates. The Roman bath, the Pasha ritual, the marble bench, the foam massage. A two-hour escape from the city, two streets from Ermou.
Avliton 6-8. A narrow alley off Ermou, deep in Psyrri. The starry entrance is the first sign you're in the right place.
Polis Hammam started in Thessaloniki — in Kalamaria, a quiet suburb where the brand made its first traditional bath. The Athens flagship came after, opened in Psyrri in the historic centre, designed by Athens architecture firm MAS — Makridis Associates. The brief was to translate the Ottoman bathhouse vocabulary into a contemporary register, with stated debts to Zaha Hadid's volumetric philosophy. The result reads as both — marble benches, hot rooms, vaulted ceilings, lighting that follows the curve of a body in steam.
An Ottoman bath two streets from Ermou. Two hours, start to finish. Book well ahead.
The hammam tradition is older than Greece itself in any continuous sense: Roman thermae feeding into Byzantine baths feeding into Ottoman hammams. Polis takes the Ottoman register seriously. The rituals stay long — the Pasha treatment runs ninety minutes, three rooms, three temperatures, three pairs of hands. The Roman Bath is the deep-clean classic. The therapists are trained the slow way. The robes are linen, the towels are peshtemal, the soap is olive.
By appointment only. Book a few days ahead in season. Bring a swimsuit if you want one; most people don't. Leave two and a half hours in the diary minimum. Branches also in Piraeus, Thessaloniki Kalamaria, and the Capsis Hotel — the Athens one is the headline.
2014
Year
€€€
Price
