A Photo Journey to Greek Kafeneia

By NEO Magazine on December 14, 2013

“The Coffee routes – A photographic journey to the Greek traditional coffee shops” by photographer Miltos Kourboglou was released recently in Athens.

This book portraits the photographer’s immersion into the unique universe of the Greek tradition and his effort to highlight the role of the traditional coffee shops, that have been, and still are, basic elements of the social life of modern Greece. Mr. Kourboglou travels following the steps of the ancient Greek geographers Strabo and Pausanias, crossing the country, from the neighborhoods of the large metropolitan areas to the little countryside villages, from the isolated mountainous Greece to the remote little islands of the Aegean Sea.

Into this travelogue the reader will find collected and illustrated, in all their glorious simplicity, most of the extant Greek traditional coffee shops. The traditional coffee shops are the epicenter of the social life of the local communities in modern Greece, places where people meet, exchange news and ideas, socialize and have fun: the owner and the customers, elderly or young, retirees or workers, local governors and members of the clergy, a fascinating mosaic of the Modern Greek society.

The photography book is a bilingual (Greek/English) edition of high quality, published by Omniref Ltd. It is a hardcover 28X28 cm (11″X11″) book with 228 fully illustrated pages.

Miltos Kourboglou was born in Athens. He studied Mechanical Engineering and, after graduating, he worked as certified engineer holding managerial and executive position within local and multinational companies. In the last few years he runs his own engineering company and he dedicates his leisure time in traveling all over Greece, visiting places, meeting people and capturing with his camera the colors and tastes of Greek lifestyle. Miltos lives in Glyfada, Athens, with his wife and their three children, who all share the same passion for traveling and photography.

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