"Lady, Greece is not big country."

This was the travel agent’s response to Tina’s question about the weather on the island of Santorini versus Athens; he confirmed that it had also snowed on the islands. We had finally found a travel agency that was open, and our pal Marios hooked us up with a nice little trip for following 4 days. He booked us ferry tickets to go to Santorini on Tuesday morning, then to the island of Paros on Thursday, and back to Athens on Friday night to catch our Saturday flight to France. It ended up being a very reasonable package deal with beach-view hotel rooms, breakfast, transportation, etc. This was our first experience with a Greek essentially telling us we had no options (but in a nice way) but to follow their advice & suggestions. Essentially, we walked in and said “Well, we know the weather isn’t great, but we’d still like to go to the islands if possible.” To which he replied “Ok, you go tomorrow to Santorini … it’s very beautiful. You stay in this hotel … it’s very nice. You are two ladies, so you take two beds. You stay two nights there, and then you go to Paros for one night. Two ladies, two beds. Paros is nice but one night is enough. Then you come back to Athens on Friday. Tomorrow you wake up and leave your hotel by 6:15am, you take the metro, and you get on the boat at 7:20. It’s very easy … you see the port, then the big boat.” He organized our whole trip while we basically stood there and nodded, grateful that we could leave Athens. But we had similar experiences with a lot of Greeks wherever we went … whether in a restaurant, a car rental agency, a bar, etc … it seemed to me that they loved walking you through everything and giving you step by step instructions on the best way to experience and enjoy their culture. I love it!

The rest of the afternoon we walked around the area of Plaka in Athens – saw the National Gardens, Hadrian’s Arch, and the Temple of Zeus. It’s crazy how these ancient ruins are naturally integrated with the modern buildings, main streets, residential neighborhoods, etc … well-preserved but still very authentic. And the whole afternoon, regardless of where we were walking, we’d look up to see the Acropolis looming over us … can’t beat that. Here are some snowy and sunny Athens pictures.

After solidifying our travel plans for the islands and walking around Athens, we had the intention of cooking dinner in our studio but ended up getting a late lunch – which turned out to be a feast! We found a fabulous little neighborhood place serving tapas-style entrées. The owner came over with a huge tray of about 12 different dishes on it and explained that the fixed menu consisted of 7 plates, bread, a carafe of wine, and dessert. Basically before we could say yet, he started selecting plates and putting them on our table. It was amazing:
- Beef and rice wrapped in grape leaves with a cream sauce
- Grilled, seasoned eggplant (amazing!)
- Beef meatballs
- Pork with spicy tomato sauce
- Spread of fava beans, chopped onions, and lemon juice
- Seasoned potato wedges
- Cabbage and carrot salad

The food was great, and the ambiance was perfect for a snowy afternoon – complete with the owner’s family gathered around the fireplace. That night we just had a chill night at the hostel bar. No real highlights here except the random drunk Chilean who gave us a rundown in Spanish of the 4-P’s he remembered from his marketing class. Apparently “Producto” always through him off, haha :)