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If you married Manhattan’s The Plaza hotel to “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” film director Wes Anderson’s movingly quirky 2014 tribute to mentorship and love, you might very well wind up with the Hotel Grande Bretagne. Situated on Syntagma Square in the heart of Athens’ cultural, shopping and government district, the Grande Bretagne, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, also stands at the crossroads of ancient and modern Greek history – a stately, enduring observer of time’s and a nation’s seismic shifts.
The Rooftop Garden Restaurant overlooks the Acropolis and its crown jewel, the Parthenon, the temple of Athena, goddess of wisdom, arts and crafts and war in a just cause, for whom the city is named. Alexander’s Cigar Lounge in the hotel’s inner garden pays tribute to the Greco-Macedonian conqueror of the Persian Empire, while a tapestry version of Charles Le Brun’s “Alexander’s Entry Into Babylon” (1661-65, oil on canvas) hangs over the bar of the Winter Garden Restaurant, whose décor and leisurely elegance evoke The Plaza’s The Palm Court.
So legendary is the 302-room hotel itself, just over 150 years old, that when we took part in Arrangements Abroad’s April 16-26 cruise “Türkiye to Greece: Heroes, Saints & Emperors Aboard Emerald Azzurra” (see sidebar), many of us scheduled a before or after stay there. But just was makes the Grande Bretagne so, well, grand? Surely it must be the seamless blend of classic, traditional décor, impeccable service and superb cuisine. Many hotels, however, also offer that. The Grande Bretagne has one thing more. Similar to the fictional establishment in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” whose story unfolds like a group of Russian nesting dolls, the Grande Bretagne has an unbeatable narrative.
It began in 1874 when owner Savvos Kentros moved the hotel to its current location. He would soon partner with Efstathios Lampsas, an assistant cook to King George I turned French-trained head chef, who with his wife, Palmyra Palfois, would help transform the hotel into an Athenian gem, adding electrification (1888), a luxe restaurant (1891) and an orchestra for dinner dancing (1894). Although Lampsas would pass in 1923, the hotel – which became part of The Hellenic Hotels Co. S.A., later Lampsa Hellenic Hotels S.A., in 1919 – continued its improvements, with refrigeration (1927), a new 110-room wing (1930) and another 42 rooms (1938).
As in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” however, the Grande Bretagne would know brutality as well as beauty. In 1940, the hotel became the headquarters for the government and the Allies as World War II intensified. It was requisitioned by the Axis Powers a year later, with Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts on one floor and the Nazis on another. The Grande Bretagne reverted to the Allies in 1944 but still was almost blown up by the Greek Resistance that Christmas. Only news that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was staying there spared the hotel. (The actual planned demolition of architect Theophil Hansen’s building would come in 1957 to make way for a major expansion.)
By then, though, the Grande Bretagne had become the watchword for glamour, entertaining European royalty and the Hollywood variety (Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor), along with modern Greek goddesses (actress Melina Mercouri, opera star Maria Callas). With so many celebrities, not to mention several American presidents, including Bill Clinton, as guests, it’s not surprising that the Grande Bretagne would over the years be a magnet for journalists, too. In 1947, one – the Daily Mail’s Chronis Protopappas – got the social scoop of the year while imbibing at the bar when he learned that the United Kingdom’s Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) had become engaged to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a day before the official announcement.
Just as the Grande Bretagne has borne witness to the country’s sometimes violent political and socioeconomic transitions – so much so that it took over the renovation of Syntagma Square after one such upheaval – it has also seen several changes of ownership. In 1991, descendants of Efstathios Lampsas sold their majority shares in Lampsa Hellenic Hotels to CIGA, which was acquired by ITT Sheraton in 1995, which was in turn acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, now part of Marriott International, in 1999. A year later, Lampsa Hellenic and the Grande Bretagne came under the control of Regency Entertainment S.A., with Athanasios and Panagiotis Laskandis overseeing management. In 2003, a year ahead of the Athens Olympics, the Grande Bretagne became part of the Luxury Collection and underwent a more than $90 million refurbishment. Twenty years later, the hotel said, it enjoyed its most successful year financially to date.
Much of this can be gleaned from the hotel’s splashy GB Magazine and the documentary that plays on the in-room TV — that is when you’re not sightseeing. The Grand Bretagne is a 10-minute walk from the Plaka – or Plaka, as the locals call it – the touristy shopping and dining area; and diagonally across the street from the Hellenic Parliament, housed in a former palace, and its hourly changing of the guard. Or head down Pireos Street, a kind of embassy and museum row, for the Benaki Museum and, just off it, the Museum of Cycladic Art, two of the many carefully curated and choreographed museums that you will find not only in Athens but throughout the country.
You may, however, prefer just to chill in the hotel itself. When we think of the Grande Bretagne now, we think of the bust of the Apollo Belvedere in the refreshing spa; the large chocolate hazelnut and chocolate pistachio cookies in GB Corners Gifts & Flavors, the exquisite bake and gift shop; the pianist in the Winter Garden Restaurant, seamlessly transitioning from one standard to another as the hotel continues its tradition of music and dining; a complimentary bottle of the house red wine from the concierge; the delicious puréed root vegetable soups and Greek salads in the Winter Garden; the lobster pasta, an Aperol spritz and the view of the Parthenon in evening at the Roof Garden.
As we gazed out at the Parthenon, we watched a patron on the terrace sampling Macallan whiskeys. A bird perched on a chair opposite him and, spying a nut dish, picked a cashew and stole away.
Like that moment, our taste of the Grande Bretagne, was all too brief. But our relishing of it – the memory of that enjoyment and the promise of more to come – is enough.
At home in the world with Arrangements Abroad and the Emerald Azzurra
“Türkiye to Greece: Heroes, Saints & Emperors Aboard Emerald Azzurra” (April 16-26) marked our second Greek odyssey with the cultural tour operator, which has more than 48 years of experience featuring 10,000-plus tours to 100-plus countries; and our first experience aboard the Azzurra, the 361-foot, 100-passenger superyacht launched by Emerald Cruises in 2022. Both exceeded expectations.
We can crystallize what makes Arrangements Abroad and its 10-year-old Museum Travel Alliance special in one of the legendary stops on our Aegean tour from Izmir, Türkiye (as Turkey prefers to be called) to northern Greece, and that is Troy. This historic Turkish site – the setting of the Trojan War and Homer’s “The Iliad,” which dramatizes the turning point in the story – is actually a series of nine layered cities stretching back to 3600 B.C. and unearthed in 1871. The visitor follows along a series of wooden ramps and stairs punctuated by signposts with Roman numerals indicating which stone or brick excavation you’re looking at.
Arrangements Abroad prepared us with superb lectures on “The Iliad” by Denis Feeney, professor of classics and Giger professor of Latin at Princeton University, and on the site by Timothy P. Harrison, professor of Near Eastern archaeology at The University of Chicago, and we had guides who accompanied us throughout our journey as well as site-specific guides. That was to be expected. What was an unexpected delight was the young archaeologist who came in on a Saturday to talk to us about new excavations at the site. It’s that kind of cultural extra that sets Arrangements Abroad apart.
As for the 50-cabin Azzurra, it was like being at sea with a devoted family. The ratio of passengers to crew – an international group sailing under the Bahamian flag — was about one to one. There was no challenge that could not be surmounted, no task left unaccomplished, no food allergy that could not be countered with a tasty dish. Our cabin attendant managed to rescue a blouse whose metal clasp got caught in the dryer – the passengers loved the little laundry room – by removing the clasp, fixing it and putting it back on the blouse. One of the servers – like a young mother – would advise the breakfast-skippers to have some nourishment for morning sightseeing and then come to your table with a tempting berry smoothie. The captain himself oversaw our departures on tenders for our trips to the islands of Skyros and Amorgos. (It helped that the spring weather was picture-perfect — 65 to 75 degrees every day with sunny skies and smooth waters, although it sometimes felt much hotter on land.)
At one point we docked next to a nautical behemoth whose passengers disembarked to clapping crew members, a red carpet, cocktails and Rosemary Clooney singing “Mambo Italiano.”
“I’m glad we’re not on that ship,” one of our group said as the others nodded in agreement.
We wish the Azzurra and Arrangements Abroad many bon voyages. — Georgette Gouveia
