Halvas Drapetsonas, Drapetsona, Attica

The Halvas Drapetsonas workshop was opened in 1924 by Costas Mezardasoglou, a refugee from Asia Minor. Mezardasoglou had worked in a halva factory in Asia Minor, where he learned the art of hand-making traditional halva. Costas began making his own halva using rudimentary means, in an old wooden shack, a few metres away from where production takes place today. When the state donated some land to refugees, Kostas constructed the building that is still the Halvas Drapetsonas workshop. As the years passed, his son George became interested in the business and eventually took over production completely, as Costas became too old to work. Halvas Drapetsonas is the best in Greece, and remains today a traditional, family business, producing all kinds of traditional confectionary.