So we’re in our 5-star hotel in Athens, Greece. Thank you Priceline! We got in at 2am yesterday, woke up at about 1pm, and used the rest of the day as a recoop day. We went to a couple of restaurants in the area. One was an authentic Cretean (Cretian?.. help!) restaurant where we started with a Takos “salad” (and we’re discovering that the salads here aren’t necessarily what we mentally conjure with the word) that was half-a-loaf-‘uv hardened (toasted) bread with cold tomato puree and shaved feta cheese with a drizzle of olive oil atop. Jen got a burger with cheese in the middle, but the “burger” showed up as two mini sausage-shaped seasoned ground meat patties (with cheese in the middle) on top of soft pita bread. I ordered (and received) pork chops with soft pita bread that were perfectly seasoned and cooked (and only cost 8euro!). Our food came with fries that tasted phenomenal with the meat and pita all rolled up.
For dinner we went to a little place around the corner from our hotel, a lil’ mom-and-pop grill house, where we shared a Thatiki salad, shaved lamb meat with pita, and sliced potato. We wanted to stay close to the hotel because Jen’s foot was starting to hurt, and we didn’t want it to be too bad for our second day.
Yesterday, Saturday, we got dropped off by our hotel shuttle near Syntagma Square which is in a shopping area. There are many small side streets that first house commercial clothing lines, then weather into small shops of novelty tshirts and souvenirs. After walking down several of these, Jen and I discovered the side-side streets where the more flea market-esque antique dealers hang out. It was later in the day by the time we found some of the ones with more unique items, so the market atmosphere was winding down. But the market is supposed to be in full swing on Sundays, so we would have the opportunity to hit them again the next day.
We picked up a couple of street food items that were absolutely delicious. One was a GIANT donut that was just the simple donut with large crystalline sugar all over it (and soon all over us! Messy fare). The second was a still of coconut with chocolate around it and more shaved coconut on the outside. It was amazing. And there we street bands playing their instruments next to a historic church in a square nearby. And there were a bunch of big stray dogs that were asleep in awkward positions in awkward locations in front of stores (Greece has approx 150,000 stray dogs, so they are pretty much everywhere). And there were strange teenagers with signs for “FREE HUGS” all over the place (and they were pretty assertive about giving these hugs away), we were basically walking with these kids down one street because we were going around the same pace, and we kept passing other groups of kids like’em headed in the opposite direction. Figured that it was either the new “hip” thing to do for high schoolers on the weekend, or they were clever pickpockets. None of them were good looking enough to risk getting ripped off, so we were lucky not to get suckered into it. J
There’s a lot of beautiful jewelry and cool pottery. And a bunch of the shops sell interesting olive oils and wines. At lunch, Jen and I went to one of the many restaurants around the shopping streets, and got a table in a beautiful interior garden area that had natural light pouring in through the clear ceiling and winding vines crawling up the walls. It was really pretty. Jen got moussaka which is a casserole with courgette and aubergine (zucchini and eggplant) and I got lamp gryos, shaved meat with pita and fresh onion, tomato, cucumber salad to eat with + the tsaisiki yogurt salad that seems to come as a side with most things that come with meat and pita. I also got ouzo which is an aniseed spirit (…and apparently “spirit” means liquor, rather than “wine cooler-like drink” as I previously thought…because I never order “spirits”…I’m not very religious –buh nuh-na)which was quite strong. Good, but STRONG.
Unfortunately, Jen’s foot was starting to hurt pretty bad two-hours into our flea market excursion. Jen has plantar fasciitis, for those of you who are unfamiliar with her podissue. Not “serious”, but quite an impediment when most of the sights are seen on foot.
So today, Sunday, we’re sitting in our hotel room watching the London marathon. Our bed is HUGE and super comfy, so that is a nice perk J Jen’s got her foot in her weird foot stretching sock, trying to heal up. I’ve had her taking Tylenol every few hours to keep the internal swelling down and encourage whatever healing (or just not hurting) we can get.
I’m thinking about calling the National Archaeological Museum along with some of the other sites we could see tomorrow and the next day (last two days!!) to see if they have wheelchair options so that Jen won’t have to walk too much but we can still see what’s there. Maybe the concierge will know if the Acropolis requires visitors to walk up the entire hill…because we actually have a pretty good view of it from the top floor of our hotel, if not. But yeah, open to any suggestions or not-thought-of options from you guys. Maybe we can get her a cane or a crutch or something for the time being.
Anyway, it’s Sunday the 17th, and we leave Athens on the evening of Tuesday the 19th. We fly back to London for one evening, then back to the States the next morning.
Looking forward to seeing all of you again! Jen’s getting a bit sad about the end of the trip, but excited about getting home… There’s a bit a sadness about the traveling coming to an end. –But none of those thoughts yet! We’re in Athens, baby! Woo-hoo!
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