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Published: January 29th 2007
It's difficult to keep track of everything that's I'm experiencing!
But, I'm going to try my best.
At the present moment, I'm sitting in the living room of our flat. I've just been brainstorming the different kinds of dishes I know how to cook and what ingredients I'll need to buy. It's sad how few recipes I know off the top of my head. I guess that's one of the reasons I like to cook more than bake, recipes are less important that way.
Speaking of food though, we went to the laiki today on Theophilou street. It's a huge (huge!) open-air farmers' market that they have in each neighborhood in Athens every week. I couldn't believe the amount of vendors there were. They had tons of stuff too. At first I wasn't so surprised: flowers, pears, apples, spinach, cucumbers, herbs, tomatoes, eggs, wine - wait, what? Eggs and wine? Oh yeah and fish and meats and clothes and all kinds of other stuff. I don't imagine that the vendors need any kind of permit to set up shop. I think they just come and sell.
It's a really cool market though. I got to use some Greek, however poorly, to buy a kilo of karota (carrots) 1.5 liters of krasi (wine) and a kilo of spanaki (spinach), which, as it turns out is an awful lot of spinach (2.2 pounds).
I also chanced upon the local Catholic church, Hristos Vassileos, or Christ the King. It's on the same street as the laiki and looks very nice. It was especially cool to see written im Greek "Ekklesia Katholikos." I really liked the inside too. It's always heartening to walk in and immediately find an image of St. Anthony or, as they say here, Agios Andoni.
I went with one of my flatmates, Elizabeth from Idaho, to see the ancient olympic stadium, which is very nearby where school is. I saw it yesterday, but only from far away, not up close. Well today we found the back gate to be open and walked right into the compound and up to this track on top of the stadium wall. It was quite easy to then take the steps down to the seating area and down farther to the bottom. There we were able to get a really close look at the track and all the seats and even drink some water from the fountains at the bottom. After maybe 5 minutes a very nice Greek man came over and said that we weren't allowed to be there and kindly kicked us out. It was the kind of thing where he was so nice that I felt guilty for breaking the rules. But, then, I'd feel guilty for breaking the rules in almost any situation.
One more thing- I had a gyro for the first time yesterday at the little gyro bar at Varnava square (which is where my school is located). They're really incredibly good. They're like a lovely Greek taco: a flatbread lightly grilled in olive oil and folded around roasted chicken topped with tsadzkiki (yogurt-cucumber sauce: amazing!), tomatoes, and french fries (which, the Greeks do not call french fries, but "patates," since they didn't need the French to invent anything for them). Anyhow, the gyros there are very filling and satisfying for only €1.80, which is under $3- not bad for dinner!
Tomorrow I'm supposed to see some kind of art museum and also see a bit more of down town. So far, I've only really been in Pangratti, which is definitely not the touristy part of Athens. I'm excited to see a slightly different side of the city.
Kalinikhta!
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Rainkkite
non-member comment
Mmmm Gyros
I love Gyros, there is a very similar dish called a Döner in germany that is made by turks. I lived on the stuff. Oh, and get used to the whole not-refrigerating eggs thing. Apparently the eggs in europe are way more badass (re: samuel jackson) than in the u.s. and can just chill (or rather not chill) at room temperature.