Dining Out in Athens

---

Yesterday afternoon, we met with our Greek host, ostensibly for only a few minutes in the lobby, but it was a meeting that turned into lunch at a small cafe-type place just across from the hotel in Constitution Square. I hadn't brought my sunglasses with me and it was a very bright and sunny day, reflecting so brilliantly off of the marble steps that I almost couldn't keep my eyes open. We sat at a tiny table and decided to have a bite to eat at this Eonikon Cafe, packed with Greeks and tourists so tightly that you felt as though you were sharing your meal with the table next to you. Because it's a recent law in Greece that you cannot smoke inside, no one was sitting there - besides on such a beautiful day, it would have been criminal to sit inside. We learned from our host that it is impossible for a Greek to eat a meal or drink a cup of coffee without a cigarette, so even though it's illegal to smoke inside now (and about a 500 euro fine), they do it anyway. Needless to say, I had to wash my hair and send my clothes to be cleaned when I got back, battling both a cough and a headache. That is one thing I really love about the States, so few smokers!

At any rate, the table was so tiny, I couldn't picture how we would eat there, but our waiter soon brought over a square wooden table topper that he put over our little round table, and that worked perfectly. I ordered the Mediterranean salad, which was rocket lettuce (another name for arugula, not sure why that is), a soft greek cheese, sun dried tomatoes and oil and balsamic vinegar. There was also several small slices of french bread, with a drizzle of oil and vinegar. It was perfect - the flavor of the cheese was just enough to compliment the sharp taste of the vinegar and lettuce, and though I only had a few of the smaller sun dried tomatoes, it was just enough sweetness to make a great combination. Plus, I love anyplace that gives you fresh bread with oil and vinegar. I'm so easy to please.

After lunch, all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep. We returned to the hotel around 2:30, and I first needed to finish the welcome packets and have the hotel pick them up. I emailed my contact, who called me a few minutes later and said she'd send someone right away. Well, I've learned from a few experiences here at the hotel and outside that my idea of "right away" and the Greek idea are very different. It seems that there are many things here to which the answer is, "well, that's just the Greek way!" Right away turned into 4:30, and managed to be just as I was also talking to our events planner on the phone. But finally, I was able to take a short nap!

The plan for the evening was to have dinner with a few members of the Board who had arrived early. We'd spoken with our host earlier, who was unable to join us for dinner, and he told us that he had a friend who knew all the restaurants in Athens, and would have the perfect choice for us. We told him we were looking for a very casual, authentic Greek taverna, close to the hotel so that we could walk. He found one about 15 minutes away on foot, in Plaka, called Platanos - he said it was so good, this friend had even had his last birthday there. My dad figured it out on the map and plugged the address into his GPS and we headed off after meeting up with the other four joining us for the evening. We finally arrived and quickly learned that it was definitely not what we were looking for. All of the tables were outside, which was perfect, but they were full of tourists and in fact, just before we left, a group of about 20 Americans arrived. The menu was in Greek, English, French, Spanish, and even Japanese, which I would venture to say is NOT true of a real Greek taverna. Instead of ordering from the menu though, we asked the waiter to bring us a selection of Greek specialties for us to share. This was a great idea, but the food was less than special unfortunately. We had stuffed grape leaves (of which I only ate the filling - not bad), what appeared to be giant lima beans in a mildly spicy red sauce, also not bad, Greek salad, which I didn't have, and a few other dishes I can't remember (so clearly, they weren't that memorable!). One of our dinner companions commented that the feta on the Greek salad was only average, saying that while we were in Rome, the mozzarella was so outstanding, it was disappointing that we couldn't get mozzarella of the same quality at home. But he said that this feta tasted the same as the feta he could get at the supermarket in America. That was definitely a shame. The main course was either grilled calamari (which in my mind should be deep fried - our Swiss dinner companion suggested it, much to the horror of the waiter, so we got it grilled) or lamb. There was also a potato dish that looked a bit like Shepherd's Pie (though I didn't try that) and french fries. I had the lamb, since the calamari came out as either one large tube that you could slice pieces off, or the tiny squids - I don't eat heads and really, I don't eat seafood either. My meat diet is generally limited to standard beef and chicken, though I do branch out (I've had cow's tongue soup and reindeer before) but this lamb was not good. It had pieces of bone in it, and by pieces, I don't mean a large bone like the other dish of lamb on our table, but small pieces that I had to pull out of my mouth before attempting to bite into them. The fries were good, but saltless, so all in all it was fairly disappointing. After finding out that they didn't have any coffee and dessert was only baklava, which was considered too sweet by a few of the group (obviously not me, I actually don't think it's sweet enough), we decided to head back to the hotel bar.

Perhaps we are simply too spoiled, because when I read a few reviews of the restaurant today, it says that it is usually packed with Greeks and has simple, but delicious food. I'm all for those things, but I really don't feel like we found them at Platanos. Additionally, if you do plan on going there despite my review of it, they only take cash, so be certain that you have plenty (though the food is definitely cheap). Perhaps too many tourists have read the good reviews of it, and now the locals don't go there anymore!

On the walk back, we wandered down one of the main shopping streets in Plaka and many of the shops were still open or only just closing for the night at 10pm. It was mainly touristy stuff, but it might be fun to wander around there on Saturday afternoon after lunch. We also passed what appeared to be a political rally, with loud music, and a possible competing rally with a speaker, but no audience. Back at the hotel, we went up to the Roof Garden for a little while, and the Acropolis is even more beautiful in the moonlight. I took a few photos of it, which came out okay, but I'll have to bring my small tripod up there to set up a timed exposure to really get the full sense of it.

Finally, after many laughs and a serious discussion about Swiss bank privacy laws, it was time to retire. I was wide awake by then (ah jet lag), so I was up for a few hours watching a movie and puttering around before I finally fell asleep around three. Fortunately, I had nowhere to be this morning, so I was able to sleep until noon and joined a few of our delegates for lunch at 1, followed by our Board Meeting at 2. Tonight, we had hoped to be on the Roof Garden again, but it seems that inclement weather is moving in - very uncommon for Athens at this time of year, but for some reason, ILN meetings always seem to have lovely weather in the days leading up to and following the conference, and then "surprisingly uncommon" weather during the conference. But the one thing I can't control is the weather, unfortunately, so we've had to move the dinner inside. Of course, it now seems to be only cloudy, so I would like the skies to just open up so it can be clear that we made the right decision! At any rate, we've moved breakfast to the Roof Garden, so at least the group can enjoy the view in the morning and at night, they can go to the bar. Now, it's time for a bit of relaxing, because there are only two hours until the official activities commence!

---

Comments

[@kkoolook]

this is a great post!