Food Tour with Zoe

As we were leaving our apartment, I left the key inside it and closed the door. Oops. Ruth messaged the owner and told him what had happened and we hoped for the best.

Keyless, we walked to the oldest area of Athens, called the Plaka and met Zoe, our food tour guide. She was super enthusiastic; this tour is a new one and she's very  eager to make the tours go well. We were the only people on the tour - SCORE!!! She was also happy to have a break from translating a book; she speaks at least four languages fluently. And she's nice. :-) 

Our first stop was at a traditional Greek coffee shop, down an alley and away from the very crowded market area. Ruth and Clara had Greek-style coffees and I had a mountain tea. Good stuff, all of it. There was also a Greek cookie that was made with honey - the Greeks love their honey! And we enjoyed mostly 70's music like David Bowie drifting in from the last remaining vinyl record store in Athens.

And there was also a traditional sweet Zoe remembers from her childhood when people were hire poor. It's a cute, little, ground, rose flour sweet they call "spoon sweet".

Next up was a place for exceptional gyros. I arrived late because I had to run back to the apartment and meet the owner's father who let me in to retrieve my key. But I got back to the tour before they had finished their food.

The word gyro comes from the Greek for "going around" or "rotating" and that's what's done with the donair meat; it's slow cooked rotating around a heat source. The pitas are bbq'd to have a charcoal-y taste. Get in my belly!

Here's what they used to roast the meat a couple of thousand years ago or so. I think they roasted the whole animal at once. It sucks to be a delicious animal.

On the way to the next place we stopped for a few supplies to be used for the next feed. 

Moving on to the next food tour spot, we were seated in front of a meat and cheese tray. It looked back at us and whispered, "Eat me." The meats were beef and pork. The cheeses were feta, flour cheese (which Zoe drizzled with olive oil and fresh oregano), and another cheese that I can't remember the name of, but it was hard, unlike the first two. 

There was also some olive oil bread, walnuts, figs, pine honey, and raisins. We made a rustic cheesecake by putting some flour cheese on the bread, drizzling it with honey, and then topping it with walnut and raisins. It tasted nothing like any cheesecake I've ever had but I loved it. 

A pie place was next on the list and we had a feta and spinach pie as well as a sweet custard pie. These are not your grandma's pies; they are two thin phylo pastries with the goods in between. We just downed these on the street outside. There was some left over; Zoe gives those to homeless people. 

Our last foodie experience was at a honey place. They are a third generation apiary and they also make these little donuts that we got with pistachio sauce.

The owner came out and gave us a honey tasting and quite a sales pitch for their honey and skin care products - so we got some. 

We also went through the Kook, some absolutely bizarre café that decorates their business for each holiday. In the photo below, at the sides of the path there are tables with customers seated and having cake etc. How the servers got through the crowds without spilling anything is baffling. 

After battling crowds through the streets, we were on the way back to our apartment and stopped for a view of the Acropolis and were serenaded by an excellent street saxophonist.

And then there was another cat.

- Rik