Traveling While Introverted

As is the case whenever we visit a capital city, one of the first things I check is whether we can book a tour of the National Library. Unfortunately, tours were unavailable. Then I searched for the Jewish Museum. As luck would have it, the museum is closed until this summer for renovations. (It’s just more motivation to visit Athens some time in the future.) When I mentioned all of this to Adam, he was surprised to learn there was and is a Jewish presence in Greece. Jews, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic, have been living in Greece for centuries. Sadly, 85% of their population was decimated during World War II and the Holocaust and now there are only approximately 5,000 Jewish people throughout the country. Diasporic Jewish Greek communities have been pivotal in the resurgence of Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish. The Jewish Women’s Archive has a wonderful episode about it you can listen to here. To learn more about this interesting history, I recommend checking out Greece: A Jewish History by K. E. Fleming. If your local public library doesn’t have it on the shelf, ask them to ILL it for you.

That said, it’s time to focus on all the food we ate. Before we arrived in Greece, we had an overnight layover in Madrid from São Paulo. We were supposed to arrive around 11:30 am which would have allowed us plenty of time to explore Madrid. Our flight was delayed and by the time we checked into our hotel and showered, it was already late afternoon and we were exhausted. So, we went for a walk in the neighborhood near the hotel and ate a late lunch/early dinner at El Garnacho, a Spanish restaurant filled with locals. The menu is extensive and it took us quite a while to decide what to order, but eventually we chose items we haven’t had in a very long time. Before we began our meal, I was impressed with their house-brewed vermouth and gluten-free bread. What a delicious welcome to the European continent.

Top row: lomo ibérico (rather than jamon iberico because we never tried it; it’s a little fattier but less porky and has a smoked paprika flavor); grilled asparagus (an expensive vegetable in Latin America, if you can find it)

Bottom row: crispy pig ear with lots of smoked paprika (crispy, fatty, and gelatinous); roasted rabbit in a garlic sauce with french fries

The next day, we flew into Athens. As we mentioned in our general post about Athens, one of the reasons we flew into Greece is because my best friend, Ido, and his partner, Shay, are currently staying in Greece. So, once we were settled in our apartohotel, Ido and Shay took us for an evening tour of their favorite spots around town. When dinner time rolled around, they took us to a Greek restaurant they had already vetted. Though this wasn’t our first time eating Greek food, the flavors and textures were better than what we were familiar with from the United States. I especially loved the stuffed grape leaves because they were served hot and the leaves themselves were softer than what I’ve typically had in the U.S. Adam also tried a new dish called pastitsio: a baked casserole made of pasta, ground beef, cheese, and béchamel sauce. He didn’t like it because it was too cheesy, so I didn’t bother asking him to try moussaka.

Photos left to right: Greek salad with feta on the side, beets, stuffed grape leaves with tzatziki on the side; souvlaki, gyros, and kebabs with lots of tomatoes and pita on the side; pastitsio

The next day, as Ido and Shay were showing us around town, we ate at another Greek restaurant. By this point, we realized a Greek salad is mandatory at every meal. It’s amazing how such a simple salad changes slightly from restaurant to restaurant but is always so refreshing. Our other starters and mains were a little different from the evening before, though. The stuffed vegetables and marinated sardines were excellent. The lamb was decent and the squid was a bit chewy, but still fun to eat.

Top row, left to right: Greek salad with feta on the side, stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki; marinated sardines; stuffed bell pepper and tomato

Bottom row, left to right: lamb shank with fries; grilled squid with vegetables

One of the sweets that Ido and Shay recommended Adam try was loukoumades, which are deep-fried donut holes traditionally topped with honey and cinnamon. When we were exploring Athens on our own, we found a loukoumades shop. Adam ordered specialty red velvet ones that were stuffed with sweet cream and topped with red velvet crumbs (left photo). In the evenings, I kept seeing people roasting chestnuts and grilled corn, especially in the tourist areas. I couldn’t resist and bought a small bag of roasted chestnuts for us to share and they were lovely (center photo). The photo on the right is of the farmer’s market that stops in the Koukaki neighborhood, our neighborhood, every Friday. Rather than having a designated marketplace, the market hops around the city on different days so that everyone can easily access fresh and affordable produce. Considering how excited I was to visit my favorite markets in Tel Aviv, shopping at this market made me very happy.

On the day we took the ferry to Aegina, we arrived in the port area, Piraeus, a little early to explore. As we walked around, I spotted a deli that made my mouth water. Initially, I was going to just take a photo and drool over the meats hanging outside, but then I pulled Adam into the store. I decided we should get a few deli meats as a snack for the boat ride, so I asked the man behind the counter to make a little packet to take with us. Whatever you want, just no cheese or gluten I wrote in the translation app. I think we had some Genoa-style salami, a peppercorn- crusted pastrami, a local pastrami, and some other sort of local salami, but I’m not entirely sure. It was delicious and a fun way to start our journey.

When we got to the island, we didn’t have a plan for where to eat lunch, though we knew we wanted seafood. We just walked around and read menu after menu until something caught our eye. Initially, we sat at a small restaurant and Adam was really looking forward to the swordfish. Two servers kept telling him not to order it and instead encouraged him to order a local fish called Tsironaki. We realized later that they were doing this probably because it was frozen. Why order frozen when you can have fresh and local, right? We also ordered octopus, which we generally avoid eating because they’re such special creatures.

Photos, left to right: Greek salad (of course); grilled fish; grilled octopus

When we ordered, our server told us that this was enough food for two people. I’m not sure in what world our server is living in, but we were still hungry after eating everything. We might have stayed and ordered more, but the owner kept yelling at the server and the service was pretty terrible. So we left and looked for another place to eat. That’s how we found Maridaki. I would fly back to Athens and take the ferry to Aegina Island just to eat at Maridaki again. We wanted to order pretty much everything on the menu but settled on three items.

Photos, left to right: octopus carpaccio with pickled fennel and pink grapefruit vinaigrette; sea bream ceviche with leche de tigre, tangy passionfruit, and grilled corn; grilled butterflied sardines that had a beautiful char on them

After we finished eating, we asked our server where we should buy pistachios to take home. He directed us to a nearby store off the main street. Of course it was reasonably priced and had plenty of goodies for us to try. Unlike California pistachios that most United Statesians are aware of, Greek pistachios have a more subtle flavor. They’re also not as oily as New Mexican pistachios.

On our day trip to Delphi with Ido and Shay, we stopped in Arachova for lunch. Rather than get the three-course meal offered with the guided tour, we wanted to pick our own place. Ido spotted a tavern that had more than just gyros and souvlaki. We started out with an Arachova salad, that included bread and a local cheese, a local grilled cheese, and beans with Greek sausage (top row). I can’t speak for the rest of those starters, but the beans were incredible. For mains, Adam ordered roasted boar with rice and I ordered the lamb shank in lemon sauce with fries. I was surprised by how subtle boar tasted. Shay and Ido also shared an order of the boar and rooster in tomato sauce with pasta (bottom row). Adam said the rooster tasted a little gamey, which he enjoyed.

Of course, we didn’t just eat Greek food. Adam was really excited to eat pizza in Israel, especially since he had so many disappointing pizza experiences in Latin America. Since Ido and Shay are pizza lovers, they had plenty of recommendations for him. First was Mozzart Pizza (as in, mozzarella art, not the composer). Adam ordered a whole pie: half Neapolitan pizza and half vegan. Shay and Ido shared the cheesy and meaty pie in the photo on the left. I ate some gyros (not pictured). Don’t worry. I never go hungry.

On Adam’s birthday, we visited Granello, another highly-acclaimed Italian restaurant. This time, he ordered the mushroom and prosciutto pizza. I really appreciated that the placemats in Granello all say, “Please at least try to eat the damn pizza with your hands.” I ordered a very boring salad (not pictured) which confused the server. I explained to her that it was Adam’s birthday and the point was that he has a good pizza experience. She laughed and said she hopes Adam remembers this for my birthday.

Adam’s review: both were great, but Granello was better.

For Adam’s birthday dinner, we all went to Ceci Hong Kong Hot Pot, a Chinese hot pot and dim sum restaurant. I had my own Szechuan hotpot with vegetables, rice noodles, and chicken since I couldn’t really eat anything else. I’m not complaining: I was so cold in Athens and craving spicy soup. It wasn’t the best hot pot I ever had, but it scratched an itch. The guys (Adam, Shay, and Ido) ordered a bunch of other stuff: wontons in chili oil, seafood dumplings, fried squid, egg rolls, sweet-and-sour chicken, sizzling beef, and a tomato hot pot with seafood, veggies, and noodles. Adam went back the next day on his own and ordered more dim sum, which he said was really the restaurant’s strength.

Lastly, we noticed that Athens has lots of Indian restaurants and couldn’t quite resist the opportunity. We eventually settled on Namaste, a restaurant that featured a slimmer menu with unique and classic items. When I saw spice level options listed as mild, medium, hot, or Desi hot, I had a feeling we were in for some good food. For those who don’t know: Desi is how diasporic South Asians refer to themselves. We started the meal with a fried plate: samosas (Adam ate them), and chicken pakora and onion bhaji, both of which are made with chickpea flour. For mains, we ordered the lamb madras (South Indian curry with coconut), tawa ghost lamb (tomatoes, garlic, and ginger), and okra in tomato sauce. Adam also ordered a Peshwari naan, which is stuffed with dried fruit and nuts. (This used to be my favorite type of naan.) The tawa ghost lamb and okra were the best, but everything was very good. We ordered everything at a medium level and it was just hot enough to feel the burn without it feeling like too much. Considering how little spicy food we’ve eaten the past few months, I was so glad our hot tolerance hadn’t disappeared altogether.

Top row, left to right: fried plate appetizer; lamb madras

Bottom row, left to right: tawa ghost lamb; okra

Greece was a fun and delicious detour, no question, and we would gladly return someday. Now that we’re back in Latin America, be sure to stay tuned for more posts about our adventures, culinary and otherwise. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to Traveling While Introverted so you don’t miss it!