Dining in Greece

Our escapades started again when we touched down in Athens. As soon as we walked out of the terminal we were informed there was a national taxi workers strike. We went up to a line and begged them to help. Buses were not operating and Uber is not very common in Greece (they use another app which I lost and forgot). Luckily, the driver had mercy because my wife was pregnant so they considered it a “health and well being” exception and took us to our Airbnb. I will blog about that whole experience later.

But one cannot talk about Greece without talking about FOOD. We made breakfast at our Airbnb each morning after going to the supermarket. But lunch and dinner were on the road. For breakfast desserts though we did fine these items:

These little donut balls are quite common in coffee shops. They are almost like very warm Krispy Kreme donut holes. They were like biting in to air with a little puff pastry. You could have several toppings — we chose honey and cinnamon.

I got this desert before a tour in the morning. It looked like a pretzel but it was a sweetbread and it went well with a tired baby.

We did do a walking “eating” tour of Athens. We got to sample the breakfast goods above but also had some fantastic olive oil, followed by a few other appetizers and then finally the very popular and tasty Gyro. Now in the US most gyros come with lamb meat but that was actually hard to find. Much more common was beef or chicken. We chose beef.

We had gyros a couple of times on the trip and it always came with fries. Sometimes inside the wrap!

Now you might notice the greek salad. A little different than ours back home with just a huge piece of flat feta on top and if you look closer, no lettuce.

We actually had it served this way many times. It was pretty good but I did miss the lettuce. Cutting the feta, which was more hard than soft, took a little effort though. When I wanted a change and some lettuce I ordered a Caesar salad which was incredibly good.

Probably the most popular appetizer from Greece is the dolmades. A meat or veggie mixture rolled in a grape leaf. We actually didn’t find this very often and the one time I ordered it, it was served in a sauce. Different and interesting. But delicious.

Greece, being on the sea, had some AMAZING seafood. Back at home in Pune, our selection of seafood is fairly thin — some local fish variety and shrimp. Athens had all we could ask for. This seafood risotto and salmon we ate was delicious. Nice and fresh!

The seafood was good but it was also time for us to really enjoy some good steak before we returned to India. As part of one of our tours we went to the local Athens meat market. Careful though, I recommend not going with small children. They literally have everything. Rabbits, hanging from a rope. Skinned lambs and cow heads staring at you. You want a cow heart? A pig’s hoof? All there. And they literally had a bucket full of balls — yes testicles in a bucket. That was an educational experience. Here is a G rated pic of the beginning of the market before it got weird:

So after viewing all of this butchered meat we decided it would probably be best to ditch the Greek salads and seafood and raise our cholesterol levels before our return to India. So we went to dinner at a steak restaurant and had some amazing dishes.

Now the next topic is a bit controversial because it is pasta. Now I thought pasta was Italian and yes some Greeks agree with that. Others will tell you it is actually Greek (when you go to Greece you find out EVERYTHING originated there whether fact or fiction). Anyway we definitely enjoyed some good pasta dishes. This is one Tami ordered called truffle bacon pasta.

And of course, as is usual, Nate ordered the most expensive and largest meal on the menu — the lobster spaghetti. He promised he would eat it all and when he didn’t he promised to eat the leftovers. I threw them away at 4am on our way to the airport but here he is when he started it. I gotta give it to him, he is ambitious.

And finally to end us off there was dessert. Honestly we usually just ordered one or two off the menu and split them all. We were so stuffed dessert was almost obligatory since we were in Europe. For example, I don’t remember what the hell this was or even if it was any good but it was one of the only dessert pics I took:

But you can’t go to the Mediterranean and NOT have Gelato. So we did stop by a couple of stores as we strolled back home. Look at these mountains of fattening, diabetic inducing creams.

Just fantastic.

On the whole trip (UK and Greece) I gained about five pounds but it was worth it. Suffice it to say in Greece you will never go hungry, never go thirsty, and never leave thin!