The Out-of-Towners: Martin Olofsson

Martin Oloffson is an Athenian Swede who knows Athens like the back of his hand and has traveled far and wide through Crete and the Peloponnese. He is this week’s featured Out-of-Towner, offering us personalized views, insider experiences and know-how of Greek life.

Name
Martin Olofsson

Profession
Co-owner and founder, 12 years ago, of Myran – Scandinavian Design –  the only Scandinavian Design specialist store in Greece.

Life status
I live by the foot of Lycabettus hill with my daughter Maia and our Cretan Labrador, Saga.

Where in the world I am from
I’m a Swede born in Copenhagen and raised in Stockholm, and have passed through Paris and London on my way to Athens.

A few words to compare where I’ve come from with Greece
Swedes, sometimes naively, believe that the state, in most cases, is trying to impose what’s best for its citizens. Greeks, sometimes naively, are convinced that the state always tries to screw you over.

I came here because…
I met a girl… who then became my wife and who passed away in 2014. We lived in Athens for 10 years and then we moved to her home village of Myrtia, outside Iraklion in the last year of her life. I stayed on for a year in Iraklion before moving back to Athens.

I’ve fallen in love with…
The food, the wine and the mountains. And the people are nice too.

It makes me mad that…
People are dying in the waters somewhere close to us as and that there doesn’t seem to be a solution or, even worse the will to find a solution, to this problem.

The most Greek thing that fits into my hand
A gyro.

If I knew then what I know now
I am very happy that life doesn’t come with spoilers.

MY FAVORITE PLACE TO:

eat: At the small kafenio in the village of Agios Vassileios, near Peza in Crete. Cretan food at its very best.

watch the sun set: On one of the long sandy beaches to the east of Iraklion, watching the charter airplanes landing, one after the other.

party all night: When I used to do that, it was at Bar Guru Bar on Plateia Theatrou, which has been closed for about 6 years now. That probably says something about how much I party these days. When I go out, I usually go to Galaxy bar on Stadiou Street.

swim: Southern Crete

shop: Varvakeios fish market and Myran – Scandinavian Design for obvious reasons.

watch the world go by: While I get my morning coffee at DaCapo, on Kolonaki square, obviously.

read peacefully: At the new coffee place next to the amazing Takis bakery in Koukaki. When my daughter goes to the Swedish school on Saturday mornings, I enjoy my weekly hour of solitude, with a coffee, the best croissant in Athens and a fresh newspaper. Heaven.

work out: I walk with my dog or run with my dog on Lycabettus daily, and every time I’m amazed by the beauty of the city from above, seeing the Acropolis and Piraeus and the ever-changing sea, or glimpsing at the peak of Mt Parnitha to see if the first snow has arrived.

escape: I’m a sucker for forests and mountains, so I love the Peloponnese because it has everything; mushroom-picking in the Parnonas Mountains or Mt Taiyetos, skiing on Helmos, swimming in Mani or Messinia. I can never get enough of that place. During my time in Crete, I met the amazing people from Pierra Creta and took up ski mountaineering on Psiloritis. I never thought I would ski in Crete, but my most amazing skiing memories are from the trips to Psiloritis. Like another planet, not even two hours by car from the city.

feel like a local: I am a local.

Photo by Angelos Giotopoulos