ATHENS

[Guest George]

Does anyone have any information on escorts or rentboys bars in Athens? I'll be going there in a couple of weeks and want to use my time wisely -- that is to say seeing as many guys as possible.

I hear Relax Sauna is good. What is the form there? Do they speak English? How much do the guys cost? And what are they like?

all information gratefully received!

George

[Guest martin666]

The best area to pick up rent boys is around Omonia square. In particular, there is a small street / walkway (no cars) between Omonia and Karolou street.

The street is narrow and short, with a few shops and a porn cinema. At the Omonia end of the street (the north west side of the square there is a hotel (Mirage?) and a cafe on the left of the opening, and on the right a shop.

Walking down the street (it actually is sloping downhill), there are some flower beds where people sit and then some public telephones. The boys tend to be late teens, early twenties maybe not always the prettiest you have ever seen, but normally beautiful bodies, slim, tanned and no chest hair. If you wait around somebody will probably catch your eye or try to talk to you.

They will probably want to go to a quieter area to talk business. Normally their English is not so good, it's best to have a small notebook so that he can write down the price. Expect to pay around 30 Euros for the boy and 10 - 15 for the use of a hotel room. They vary in what they will do, many are not gay but just short of money.

I think that the best time to go is afternoon, rather then evening. Also it may be unsafe to go away from the main streets after midnight in that area.

 

Sorry, I don't have any information on the Relax sauna. I went to the sauna on Zeinonos street a couple of years ago but wasn't impressed, not much action with the clientele and the boys were too old for me.

[Guest George]

I'd like to thank Martin for his very helpful response. Here's some more info from my trip. I spent a couple of afternoons at Athens Relax Sauna (not far from Omonia Square). It's open from 1pm to 8.30pm. About ten guys in all work there, some very good looking, some ordinary, one or two not really that good. Most a little overweight. Three of them are straight. The working boys wear towels of various colours but not the dark green which the other customers have. I saw three guys, one of whom -- a muscular straight guy called Vassilis -- was excellent. It's 50 Euros for an unspecified period -- I suppose I spent about half an hour with the first two, maybe 45 minutes with Vassilis. They want more if they come -- 150 Euros. The Sauna itself is a bit poky but acceptable. You can get coffee and soft drinks in a little café room. The staff were quite friendly.

 

Omonia Square I checked out too. A few guys are clearly there to make money. Some were fairly good looking, others nothing special. I met a Kurdish guy I quite liked but since we didn't have any common language I gave up on it. There were one or two police about every so often, but they didn't really seem to be looking very closely at anyone and weren't hassling people. Still it was a bit disappointing. Tried it in the afternoon and evening.

 

There's a very good publication with local info and a map called Deon. From this I discovered a number of clubs with escorts (or rent boys if you prefer). Most of the clubs are close to Fillis Street, about 10-15 minutes walk from Omonia Square on the way to Victoria Square. (There are also a couple in other parts of the city, but I didn't get to them on this visit.) The clubs are open from 11pm till well into the morning. Biggest and busiest is the Fantasticko, which has some floor show (or stripping anyway). Also very busy was Live Bait. Then there was the Piccadilly, Michel, the Gallery and one other I can't remember. None of these four were busy but there were a few people there and they may have picked up later. (I went early.) Didn't actually see any guy from these so cannot report on price. Apparently you go off to a hotel (the Hotel Brazil in Fillis Street was mentioned). Some attractive guys certainly. Including some nice Albanians.

 

The Greeks are friendly but not all that many speak good English, and there are a lot of Eastern Europeans and guys from further afield who probably speak less. I felt quite safe at all times walking round, however late.

[Flower]

>The Greeks are friendly but not all that many speak good

>English, and there are a lot of Eastern Europeans and guys

>from further afield who probably speak less. I felt quite safe

>at all times walking round, however late.

 

Actually, if you are speaking about Greeks under 30, all who have gone to school -- the vast majority, really -- speak English as a 2d or third language. They have a free education system there and Greek plus mandatory English + a third language is mandatory in their system.

 

--and that has also been consistent with my experience there -- that the under 30 crowd always speaks English and quite well, however, I'm sure that a few fall between the cracks just as in our education system. I would guess, however, that if you are finding that a lot of young people there don't speak English, then they are either not Greek, but really immigrants or have migrated from much poorer areas of the country where they weren't educated as most there are.

 

Having injected that bit of trivia, I haven't found or looked for escorts there, but usually brought a favorite with me. :+