Hellaphagaphillia July 3, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Travel , trackbackn. the enjoyment of eating in Greece.
The first Greek phrase I learned was ‘ιμε ορτοφαγος‘, and although I’m no longer a vegetarian, most of my vocab still relates to eating. Greece hasn’t given us one of the world’s great cuisines, but the food itself is simple and good. The real joy of eating in Greece is the way its done. Slowly, late in the cool of the evening, with a carafe of wine and another of water, courses coming out randomly, a cat or two wandering past, trying its luck.
On my recent trip to Nafplio, I had dinner a couple of times in the Taverna Markezines, just down the road from my hotel. Its not always true that the ‘barrel wine’ should be allowed out of the barrel and into the glass, but in this place, it was perfectly drinkable. Green salads of lettuce and rocket were very fresh, covered in olive oil, vinegar and lemon. The chicken kebab was well cooked but moist. They didn’t even mind when the nice American chap at the next table went and got gelati from across the road for dessert (and one for me too).
And here’s the compulsory Greek Cat picture, from a lunch at the village of Mykines, a kilometer or so down the hill from the ancient site of Mycenae. You’ll never eat alone at an outside table in a Greek taverna.
Comments»
I’m delighted to read you had such good dinner companions in Greece. Gelati-buying Americans and black cats indeed. You’ll see that your blog is once again accessible to me. However, your last two photo’s partly obscure the words beside them. Enjoy the weekend!
By ‘ιμε’, I think you mean ‘ειμαι’. The Greeks have about a dozen ways of spelling the ‘ee’ sound. Not that it matters if you’re just pronouncing it.