Did I mention we were hungry? Tired? Hungry and tired is an overwhelming sensation, add a bit scared and, well, it almost becomes intimidating. We were fearless … well sorta…
So we finally bathe for the first time in almost two days and change clothes and head out into the Athens night, rather the Amonia district night, on Voulgari Street. Taking a couple cautious steps out the hotel doors we stop and look up and down the street. A big city, at night, two inexperienced women, we spot what looks like a dive directly across the street from us with a sign in English proclaiming “Spicy Fast Food.” A couple small tables on the narrow dingy sidewalk and a few tables inside with plastic red and white gingham covers look welcoming. A small handful of male diners are all that frequent the establishment. We look at each other and the discussion goes like this; it’s close to our hotel, we might only find worse, we feel we are in familiar territory because we have crossed this street once before, the clerk saw us leave and will expect us back sometime, we are too hungry and tired to feel safe exploring. We decide this is adventurous enough for our first night!
Tentatively looking in ... the aromas were divine. And it was cleanlooking as most places were.
The street itself is filled to overflowing with a huge tour bus, only inches from the dumpster and crawling along, motorbikes shooting past it onto the sidewalk and around, throngs of mostly male pedestrians. Days later we realize it was opportune that we had covered our shoulders and weren’t advertising ourselves as something we weren’t. More on the subject later. Safely crossing the street in a few bounds while dodging the ever present scooters, we find ourselves entering the eatery. Many signs adorn the walls and outside in Ancient Greek.
Attempting to converse with the man behind the counter seems futile, his English is almost nonexistent. He finally conveys to us that we can choose from the picture menu on the wall behind him and that at this late hour all he has is “the beef” and “the rice.” So we order one of each, and two Greek salads. Extending money in an effort to pay is met with his young helper shooing the money away and ushering us up before unseen stairs. Narrow as all things are in Athens. So narrow that this thick woman can barely squeeze through sideways and make the corner. HA! A huge room with more tables, a grand view of the street below and a wide screen TV all to ourselves. The young lad next brings us polished silverware wrapped in sparkling white cloth napkins and a large glass bottle of water and two squeaky clean glasses. He smiles and nods a lot. So do we.
We drink water and intermittently try to ignore and watch the TV. More about Greek TV later. After a while the lad runs up the stairs again carrying a basket of hot freshly made bread ( pitta we realize later and freshly made), plates and the salads. The bread is heavenly. Almost burned from cooking on a very hot grill and generously coated with olive oil. Marvelous! The salads a meal in themselves. Generous amounts of chopped tomatoes, cucumber, I’ve never tasted such good produce! Paper thin red onions very mild and a handful of great olives (more about olives later), all topped with a thick slab of Feta. I swear it was 3 or 4 ounces. The whole thing drizzled with a hefty portion of olive oil. We ate. It was soon followed by a medium size dish of meat in a brown oily gravy, smelling heavenly, and another dish of yellow rice, surprise! Four good sized pieces of chicken hiding amongst the rice.
The rice was very good. Spicy! and fast! We tore into it. The meat looked mysterious and kinda fatty and suspicious … when in Rome, err I mean Greece … so we tentatively dug into that also. It was so darn good we wanted more but were too stuffed by the time all that food was gone! After some analyzing and discussion we realized we had just both eaten for the first time, oxtail. A spiral of a tender slow cooked delicacy in a spicy heavy broth. Progressively smaller pieces with a littler bone in each piece. Oxtail. Hopefully. We enjoyed this meal so much that we repeated it the next two nights we stayed in Athens.
The proprieter and his help.
We over tipped and they were embarrassed. The total cost of the meal was 5 1/2 euros. We were full as ticks. Out on the street again and feeling much better, we looked around some more and spied a tiny store that was open a couple fronts down. Looked like they had food so we crossed the street again and went in. All kinds of indecipherable things to eat, and more of that great bread we had just had, in packages … we wondered … then the proprietor from the cafe bounded across the street and took his position behind the counter of this store. A very big smile covered his face as we patronized this establishment. Our purchases included Coca Cola (made with real sugar), Retsina wine coolers ( more on Retsina… ), Greek beer, and a bottles of water.
Now eager to see more of the city and get the vacation started, we regretfully went back to our hotel, asked way too many questions of the clerk, sent quick e-mails to our loved ones and let them know we were alive. Retiring to our room we drank the first of many Retsina wine coolers then slept like we hadn’t slept in days. Listening to soft city sounds, without the scream of sirens. Amazing.
On our way out that first night, in the lobby of the Marina Athens Hotel . Can you tell how tired I am?
