Stranger in Greece Finale: The Greek Food Post

My Stranger in Greece series was suspended for a year because of many distractions, but after being reminded of my delightful honeymoon in Greece by various travel-related TV shows, I have been inspired to finally close the series with this long blogpost about Greek food.

A must on all Greek dining tables, olive oil and red wine vinegar

Let me make some disclaimers regarding my views on Greek food. I don't like Greek food, it is certainly not one of my favourite cuisines, and even though I have been there twice, spending a total of more than 2 weeks there so far, I can't say that I know the cuisine well. Everything I share here are just my own views about Greek food, and to remind myself of the good food I had there, and hopefully will give you some inspiration when you visit in the future.

During my first visit to Athens (it was a business trip), I loved everything about Greece, except for the food. I remember the yucky Greek Salad, with RAW onion, RAW GREEN bell pepper (!!!) and a big block of almost tasteless Feta cheese on top. It was a torture finishing a bowl of it. The Greek restaurants were not very good makers of Italian food too, as the pasta was almost always overcooked and pizza soggy. Of course, the fried cheese with lemon which tasted like my puke did not help. The best food I had that time was the ice cream, which I believe is not exactly a Greek specialty.

Yes, that's you, Mr Feta-which-looks-like-Tofu

Determined not to face the same problem during my honeymoon, I did an extensive online research before we departed for Athens. The result was an unforgettable trip to Greece and a refreshing new interpretation on Greek food. If you are from Greece, I would like to clarify again that my post is not an accurate portrayal of true spirit of Greek food, but more of a show of the aspects of Greek cuisine an Asian like me truly appreciates:

1. Wine, wine and more wine!

Greek wine is not the most famous internationally, I understand why, but it is an absolute essential to have their food with some local wine, as most parts of Greece have their own winery, especially on the beautiful Greek Islands. 

Most restaurants have barrels like these to serve their table wine

Because of the dry climate, the grapevines on the Greek Islands usually look small and shrivelled, as are the grapes, thus they have a high concentration of sugar within the fruit, which results in many wines tasting very sweet. Many red wines are very clear and lack body as well, but the whites we have tried were generally excellent, so please indulge yourselves with white wine when you are there ok? With wine costing as little as bottled water, the choice of beverage is obvious.

If you are dining in front of such a backdrop, how could you skip the wine?

Bread, wine and Fanta

However, for some reason, if you are really NOT into wine, something that I highly recommend would be the Fanta in Greece. I drank so much of it until my wife called me "Fantaboy". It tastes distinctly different from the deep orange versions we get here in Southeast Asia. It's lightly coloured and tastes extremely orange-y, not to sweet as well, perfect!

2. A total respect for seasonal produce

While at Athens, our hotel was not in the touristy old town, so we had a chance to visit a local market and a supermarket to see what the locals were buying and eating. It really did not feel too safe wandering outside the tourist area and the people were not very nice to Asians, but we did manage to get a feel of what we wanted.

Beautiful aubergines with white streaks. It's unfortunate the rare white ones were not in season

Olives from a specialty store

Would be a dream if I could find fresh cheap tomatoes like these in Singapore or  Thailand. The species we grow are really quite bland. Great peaches available too!

Cherries, strawberries, apricots were in season too, absolutely fantastic

I have always told people that the first step to making a great dish is to obtain the best ingredients. If I had affordable fresh produce like what I had shown you above, I would be the happiest cook in the world. If you have the sweetest aubergine or the freshest fish, you don't have to do much to make your diners happy.

A tail of supremely fresh grilled wild seabass served with grilled summer vegetables, served with just some salt, olive oil and lemon, simply divine (Santorini)

Simple fried battered aubergines, one of the best dishes of our entire trip, we just added salt and pepper! (Mykonos)

Chicken Souvlaki, simple grilled chicken skewers (Santorini)

The Greeks' total respect to seasonal produce really impressed me, and it's proof again that simple is the best.

3. Hearty hearty comfort food

Who doesn't like a pot of rich stew on a cold winter night? In fact, I love hearty comfort food on hot summer afternoons too. This kind of food is what Greeks are fantastic at making, and what I adore. We did not order a single plate of Greek salad during our trip, and I don't think we will if we are ever going back again because there are just so many richer and more delicious choices for us!

Baked stuffed tomato. Unspectacular, but it will do for me (Athens)

Greek slow-baked lamb with cheese and summer vege, if this doesn't warm your tummy, nothing will (Santorini)

Probably Li Li's favourite, baked stuffed aubergine (a version of Moussaka?) Comfort food at its best (Santorini)

Grilled chicken with lemon baked potatoes (Athens)

The dish above was part of our very first and very last meals during our honeymoon. Even though the chicken was a little over-done, till today, I still dream of those soft fragrant and slightly sour potatoes. I tried to cook it a few times, but tasty as they were, they fell well short of the ones I had in Athens.

So this is the Stranger in Greece's version of delicious Greek food. You will realise that I did not have any salads/desserts in my introduction, as we really tried very few of them during our trip.

If you are going to Greece and are really interested to try what I have shown above, do drop a message as I think I still have all the names of the various restaurants we visited and would gladly share them with you.

Meanwhile, this should be the very end of my Stranger in Greece series. Hopefully, I will travel extensively in another country to start another similar series on my blog soon. Before that happens, do enjoy my life story in Thailand!

Santorini Part 2: Sunsets on Honeymoon Island

We spent 2 beautiful nights on Santorini. In my previous post, my focus was on the multi-coloured beaches sprawling across the edges of the island, but there's much more to Santorini than that (WARNING: Lots of pictures in this post).

There are breath-taking views everywhere

Donkeys to help you with your luggage if you are gasping for breath up and down the hills

Interesting plants for interesting picture-taking opportunities

Animals who enjoy the best scenery in the world

Numerous spots to take the "best picture"

And of course, there are ancient ruins, wineries, shopping, food and everything you can think of for a tourist destination. However, for our 2 evenings on the Honeymoon Island, it was really all about sunsets.

The village of Oia is renowned for having the BEST sunset view in the whole of Santorini. I don't wish to argue against that, but having been there myself, I have to say that whether you get a good sunset does not completely depend on where you are, but whether you have Lady Luck (and Mother Nature, or are they the same? Hmmm...) on your side. We easily had a much better view of the sunset on the night where we were at Firostefani.

In any case, since you are probably going to Greece round about summertime, a tip from me would be to make a reservation at a restaurant with a good view preferably a day in advance, due to the hordes of tourists who will be there to provide competition. A romantic dinner with the evening sunset as a backdrop is too good to be true, so to miss it would be criminal!

Sunset 1 - At Vanilia, restaurant with a view and amazing food.

Honeymoons are made of this!

It was amazing to witness the sunset here

In the perfect ambience, we were joined by a noisy smooching couple behind us and couples on their wedding anniversaries in front of us. We were probably the only ones on our honeymoon.

The wires really spoil a good picture.

Days are long in Europe during summer, so be prepared to wait if you get hungry usually by 6pm. By the time it gets dark, it will be way past 9, and cold and windy. Prepare a coat or ask for a blanket from the restaurant. After enjoying a sunset of this quality, we were of course not expecting much better for our next one.

Sunset 2: At the famous village of Oia

As sunsets are late, you can expect a long period of waiting. The difference is, the best spot at Oia does not have a restaurant. It's just a small area which gets more and more crowded as the time nears. We got there a couple of hours early so found a place to sit and chill for a while.

I joined Hector in his search for happiness, at that moment I couldn't be happier, to be honest.

I even found time to make my way to a cafe to get some traditional Greek sweets for a simple dinner.

We were in Greece from 1-9 June, which was not the peak season yet. The number of tourists increase dramatically during the scorching months of July and August, so it was actually quite a good time for us to be there. But having said that, we still had to contend with more than a hundred people to catch a good view of the sunset. It was also impossible to get a good picture with so many people around trying to do the same thing at the same time. It didn't help that the sky was cloudy and we hardly even had a peek of the sun. It was simply a case of the sky gradually darkening till everyone gave up, so much for the best spot!

I cannot imagine the size of the crowd during July and August

The best I could do to show the Oia sunset

Our honeymoon was really great, and I've has so much to share that after 4 posts exactly 3 weeks, I still have enough material to lengthen my Stranger in Greece series by quite a bit.

I am back in Bangkok now, making all the necessary preparations to tackle the double-edged sword of moving my office and home concurrently in a few weeks' time. I need to switch off this holiday mode and approach the challenges ahead feeling enthusiastic and refreshed.

So goodbye Stranger in Greece, step aside for the return of the Stranger in Bangkok.

Santorini Part I: The red, the white and the black

Thinking of Santorini puts a smile on my face. Especially after an uninspiring couple of days at Mykonos, we were looking forward to a more delightful experience at Santorini, the so-called Honeymoon Island (who can argue against it) boasting the picturesque caldera which was formed by the Santorini volcano. It's also littered with archaeological sites, sprawling vineyards, colourful (!!) beaches and of course, a breathtaking (depending on your luck) sunset.

Its many old abandoned buildings also satisfied my photo-taking crave

As there's too much to share, I have decided to split my coverage of Santorini into 2 posts, with this first one being about the colourful beaches on the island. You might know from my previous posts that both Li Li and I are really not beach people. We do not know how to swim and absolutely detest burning ourselves under the sun. It takes a lot for beaches to impress us, and so they did......

Before I go on, I have to warn everyone that the beaches in Greece tolerate nudity, so if you have been longing for a moment of complete public liberation (or humiliation), please go ahead. But guys, if you are actually looking forward to seeing hot chicks in the buff, I wish you the best of luck, as you would probably see 3 grandmas baring their bodies before you see a decent-looking babe willing to flaunt anything of note.

See - It's really red!

Don't ask me why, but Santorini boasts white, red and black beaches (though it surely would have something to do with the volcano's lava and ash). The red beach is situated at village Acrotiri, which also has an ancient city (which was to our frustration, closed during our visit), restaurants (commonly known as Tavernas in Greece) dug into rock, and the supposed white beach (which did not leave an impression).

Logically, the beach wouldn't be blood red of course, so we did not go there with overly-high expectations, but it was really quite fascinating when we finally saw it.

Red Cliff appears in Greece

As you can see, the shallow beach is right under a dramatic red cliff and leads immediately into crystal blue waters. The sand is not fine and the beach tattered with uneven rocks, but you definitely need to add it into your itinerary, even if it's just for a few minutes to take some pictures.


An abrupt door cut unto the red cliff, I wonder who lived here?

 After witnessing a red beach, we were naturally curious to see what a black beach would look like, so we went to Kamari, one of the more popular black beaches in Santorini, and boy, it sure did not disappoint.

Happily playing with the black sand

Unlike at Acrotiri where the beach was really just a narrow strip of rocky flatland leading almost immediately into the sea, the beach at Kamari looked exactly like a standard beach resort, just BLACK. The coarse sand and gave us a challenging hot foot massage as we battled our way towards the water, where the sand became shiny smooth black pebbles.

Happy to be at Kamari

Though the colourful beaches at Santorini were not as breathtaking as the caldera or as majestic as the Acropolis, they were definitely unforgettable eye-openers which I would recommend to everyone who plans to visit Santorini.

So here's a picture which summarises what our visit to the black beach was all about:

Smooth shiny black pebbles near the water

leading up to smaller coarse grains of ash-gray sand,

leading up to my bag and our slippers

leading up to a Mediterranean lady in a black bikini

leading all the way to the Greek flag!

Mykonos: 5 windmills, long winding alleys, a big fat Greek wedding and a pelican

Our short but tiring honeymoon has just crossed the finishing line. The Greek expedition was fantastic, though not everything went to plan. My (new) laptop screwed up (thus the lack of updates), I had to work more than I expected, and 2 out of 3 of our hotels were not up to scratch to name a few, but oh well, the positives far outweighed the negatives, so consider it a very very blessed trip!

Following Athens, we made our way to the famous island of Mykonos. From our minimal research, we knew that it was a place famous for its beaches and nightlife which never ends (not our cup of tea), and after 2 days, the findings proved to be accurate.

View from the old port

Don't misunderstand, Mykonos is really pretty, with sparkling turquoise seawater and uniform white cubes(buildings) forming a unique landscape.

It is the beachboy/girl's paradise.

It's just that destroying our skin under the blazing hot sun followed by hurting our bodies further with the never-ending nightlife did not exactly appeal to us. It didn't help when public transport only brought you to 2 places (Ornos and Mykonos Town). In the end, for us at least, Mykonos became a tale of 5 windmills, long winding alleys, a big fat Greek wedding and a pelican.

4 of the 5 windmills, it's one of the postcard pictures everyone has to take

It would take no more than half a day to finish walking Mykonos Town, which is basically made up of a maze of beautiful winding alleys flanked by restaurants and shops which sold more or less the same things. However, it would be good to note that this is also where the nightlife begins and never ends, whatever that means.

How a quieter alley looks, pretty eh?

You would probably not be able to leave Mykonos without buying a souvenir with its mascot Petros the Pelican on it. Though Petros has since passed away, pelicans were still the stars of the show when we walked along the waterfront at the old port. These gigantic birds looked capable of shredding me into pieces if they wanted to, but to my surprise they were tame and friendly, some sleeping peacefully while others proudly changed poses like a supermodel for tourists to snap away.

One of the smarter poses I could catch it in

Last but not least, as much as we found Mykonos the most uninspiring stop of our trip, one of the highlights of the honeymoon happened here as well. Thanks to our otherwise "not-very-pleasant" host at the "not-very-impressive" Eva Hotel, we spent 3 of our meals at the same restaurant, including our first dinner, when we gate-crashed a big, fat Greek wedding!
 
In actual fact, the wedding was not between Greeks. The bride's South African, the groom's Polish, they both live and met in Hong Kong, and were getting married on Mykonos Island, Greece, with a wedding party mostly conducted in English! It's ok if you did not manage to follow me on the couple's background, because since there's Greek food, live Greek music, Greek alcohol and lots of Greek dancing, who cares?

They sure had a lot of Greek fun

As we were on our honeymoon, it seemed fitting that we managed to experience a Greek wedding party and a great honour to be able to share their joy. It was undoubtedly by far the most unexpected bonus of our journey!
 
How could I complete this post without a picture of Li Li and myself in Mykonos? So here goes...
 

 
Next stop: Santorini.
 
It would take at least 3 more posts before I end off this Stranger in Greece series. Stay tuned!

The Stranger in Greece explores the many faces of the Acropolis

Damn, it's difficult to find some good free internet.... We are already in Mykonos, and the wifi of my hotel which I am using now is dodgy, but at least it's free and it works...

Athens was good, as expected. The new Acropolis Museum was fantastic. Built over ancient ruins, we could see the actual dug-up archaeological sites under our feet as we walked on transparent glass panels in parts of the museum. Our guide also gave us an interesting insight on the powerful Greek empire, though the most amusing information for me (pardon my ignorance) was that Eros (aka Cupid) was actually the son of Aphrodite, Goddess of love, beauty and sensuality. Now that's where those English words came from...

It was the second time I strolled through the ancient city of Athens, but it still managed to enchant me like it did the first time.


Theatre of Dionysus

The Acropolis! I finaly brought Li Li here... =)

Our first 2 days weren't perfect though. Our hotels have been a little disappointing thus far, but well, it's our honeymoon, we have made it a point to make the best out of whatever we are given, so here goes...

The view from our Hotel in Athens, hanging underwear!! Quite arty though, don't ya think?

As I shared in my last post, one of the biggest reasons why I chose Athens as our honeymoon destination was because it was the single city that left the greatest positive impact on me during my countless business trips, so I felt the need to bring Li Li here to experience it for herself, especially the feeling of sitting right opposite the Acropolis when it's brilliantly lit-up at night.

Fortunately, after hours of searching, I finally managed to find the location of the hotel I stayed in during my previous trip (Apostolou Pavlou Street), but the hotel is not there anymore. Nonetheless, we still managed the complete the nostalgic experience at the classy Chocolat Cafe.

Remember this place, I HIGHLY recommend this cafe for all visitors in Athens

As its name suggests, this place specialises in all things Chocolate, be it drinks or dessert. It even has a chocolate salad! Most importantly, its rooftop floor presents us with a breathtaking view of the Acropolis, which was exactly what we needed.


The Acropolis watching over us.....

After our main course of Parpadele with lemon cream sauce, fresh salmon and zuchini, which was ok but a little dry for my liking, we ordered the cafe's special dessert, a platter of 3 chocolate mousses (milk, dark and white) with 2 huge scoops of chocolate ice-cream.

The fantastic dessert. It cost us 22SGD, but it's a combination of 5 elements that can each cost up to 6-8SGD easily in Singapore, so it's value for money!

While we were happily tucking into our food, the Acropolis showed its many faces.

Majestic in the day

Gloriously brilliant after nightfall

If you only have time for 1 good meal in Athens, believe me, this has to be the best way to enjoy it. The free shot of Limoncello after the meal was not our cup of tea, but we'll treat it as an added bonus anyway!


We're currently on Ornos Beach, Mykonos!


Thanks to all your well-wishes and blessings, I consider this a smooth start to our exciting journey.

Mykonos next, watch this space!