GREEK BOUTIQUE ALERT: "The Power of a Flower" delivers botanical bliss in Athens, with a secret socially rewarding side

Amid the city zoom pretty flowers bloom...here's where to find them

Stop in your tracks in the middle of any given busy city center and you’re going to notice things that the people who run the world would prefer that you didn’t notice — like, say, the power of a flower.

In this messy age of social media obsession, price gouging, political upheaval, and, let’s see, wars that are spuriously fought in our names, it’s worth remembering, without going full on Amish of course, that flowers are prettier than TikTok.

I was reminded of this, amid the fray of Syntagma Square in downtown Athens, when I popped into a cheerful little flower shop tucked right under the street-facing side of the iconic Parliament building. As it happens, I needed to buy some flowers but, does one ever really need a reason to buy flowers? Think about that for a minute.

Anyway, "Power of a Flower" is, according to its website, “a social cooperative enterprise made up of young people with particularities, who grow Greek plants and flowers, weave original bouquets and deliver them themselves to our subscribers every day, crossing all over Athens. They sell them in our stores at Eleftherios Venizelos airport and in the old flower shops of the Parliament.

Through the cultivation, production and distribution of Greek plants and flowers, we defend the inclusion of people with special needs in society, offering them work, skills acquisition and socialization.”

The people behind Power of a Flower perceive people with special needs as people with special abilities, who with their inherent potential can make a meaningful difference to their wider community. Through buying their bouquets, “you are part of this story.”

This is a great concept, staffed with some really nice people. I haven’t seen the shop at the airport, but I recommend it sight unseen — what better way to liven up your hotel room or say thank you to someone than with flowers that have such a great backstory?