Sunday, September 30, 2012

Between a rock and a hard place...we now know the definition

This old adage has had many a usage over the years but we feel we have finally found the 'correct' definition and a have a picture of it! The definition is 'that space which comprises the layer of air between the pillow and the bed mattress' at our current hotel!


Needless to say we did not sleep well. I never knew that pillows could be made of rock! Nor did I know that beds could hurt that much! After sleeping on the ground in Africa I thought that we had mastered sleeping 'situations'. But, I will take the ground in Africa any day or should I say night!
I must say that the Hotel did do a 'nice' breakfast which may be its only saving grace (and only by a small margin).
 

In Meteora the mountains are impressive...the food is not!

The mountains here in Meteora are fantastic looking...looming above everything in the town like giant pinacles.









The food unfortunately (at the recommended restaurant) is less than memorable. Don had moussaka (again! of course) and rated it a 0...yes that is correct... let me spell it... zero! He said he could not rate something with no taste! I sampled it and totally agreed.


The To Centro restaurant did not impress us with the flavor (or lack thereof). The dolmathes were marginal, the salad was ok, the meatballs were covered in a sauce that was good. We were told that pita is only fast food and not served there!
Well we will not be here for another meal!

 

Roads and signs of Greece...and tunnels!

We traveled from Glyfada Beach today to Meteora.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora in the north central mountains. We found some winding roads and some tunnels...ok well a lot of tunnels. Don's arm got tired from putting his sun glasses off and on ...

we also did some pretty fast stuff and here's proof! Good thing our car has sticky tires! because these roads are not straight...wheeeeee!




 
We are staying at the Tsikeli Hotel http://meteora-hoteltsikeli.clickhere.gr/kalambaka.htm and our room over looks the mountain http://www.meteora-greece.com/
It is quite imposing to be 'under' such a monolithic pediment!
 
 

Retraction...

I no sooner got the words out of my mouth and written on the page when all of a sudden there it was on a menu... pita!!? and rice!!?
Well now I have to print a retraction... and this is it. Offered only at the Glyfada Beach Taverna!


The fnal sunset dinner at Glyfada Beach
 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Moussaka another 7

Don is back to the moussaka again! And mind you he never was very far from it...just decided to try a couple of other things (with a lot of coaxing from me).
http://www.greeka.com/ionian/corfu/hotels/corfu-glyfada-all.htm

This is the moussaka from the Glyfada Beach Taverna which he rates a 7.  He says it had good taste, good teeth (lots of meat), good texture (although he is not overly fond of the potato), and good tone. There was a little too much cinnamon for his taste but over all a good moussaka.
It is actually the first time moussaka has come with french fried potatoes. We asked about Greek potatoes and the server did not really know what we were talking about! Ohhh what a shame!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taverna-Glyfada-Beach/414080748627530
 

Sun, Sand and Sea water

We are lazing around the Glyfada Beach Hotel http://www.hotelglyfadabeach.com/ for three days...oh the luxury! not having to pack and go each morning...

It is a beautiful hotel with great breakfast every day...and seconds away from the beautiful sandy beach with warm water to swim!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu
The rooms are lovely and large and there are three dinings areas to choose from...we eat outside on the terrace facing the beach!

The food is good and plentiful and the company is wonderful!
 

Whats missing from this picture?

We have known Greek friends for over 35 years, we have eaten and cooked with them.... in Canada!
Now we are realizing that there are some foods that we have come to know and love in Canada  that we just can't find here in Greece. Can you guess what they are?



We have tried grocery stores and markets, bakeries and small shops... no Pita!!!
Nor have we found any spanikopita on any menu at any restaurant or hotel or cafe!
Lemon Greek potatoes and rice are almost non-existant.... it almost makes me want to come home to eat!! You notice I said 'almost'....
 

Friday, September 28, 2012

3 minutes on the dashboard... a driver's drive

Don enjoyed the drive today with all the up and down mountains and round hairpin turns and all the cut backs in the roads! Any one who loves to drive would appreciate the open air in a top down convertable. It was truely a driver's drive and one that would make most people's skin crawl.
I know, I know you thought you would never get it...well here it is resized and uploaded to YouTube...
http://youtu.be/RgURngdHYWw



 

Dionysus Hotel in Mytikas

The Dionysus Hotel in Mytikas really lived up to its name. Dionysus is the ancient god of food, drink, and hospitality who always makes sure everyone has a good time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus



Our hosts were wunderbar! They spoke fluent German (daughter lives in Germany). I didn't realize how much German I understand before staying with them!! They did not speak much English but were adept at hand language and sounds that exemplify meaning! They were so very helpful and friendly I would have to rate the service a 10 (only because the scale doe s not go any higher).
This husband and wife team made us feel right at home. He even drove us to a nearby village when the market we wanted to go to was closed at that time of day. They gave us a map and a tour book of the area with local archaeological sites and even drove us to one nearby.
Our hotel room was spotless, large, and well appointed. The hotel was modern and well kept.

There was a beautiful sandy beach within a few steps of the hotel in a secluded little cove with warm water and a few bathers. Our host mentioned that this was a wild beach (clothing optional)).
 
 
Breakfast at the Dionysus could be classified as an event which Dionysus himself would be envious of and would definitely approve. It consisted of fresh coffee, fresh squeezed juice, a tray of cold meats and cheeses, boiled eggs, fresh bread with creamy butter, breakfast cakes with jam, and jellies and to make sure we didn't leave hungry ....watermelon!

Oh my goodness...there was so much care and attention put into this breakfast preparation and presentation that we felt like long time friends visiting again! The hotel, hosts, and food well exceeded our expectations and I would highly recommend it to anyone who comes this way.

Hotel Hercules and To Steki

Our stay in Olympia was made all the nicer by having a great host at our hotel. The Hotel Hercules
 http://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/hercules.en.html?aid=311088;label=hotel-96706-gr-_fINLvplXUzeBS5CETLoFgS2580930723:pl:ta:p1:p2:ac:ap1t1:neg;ws=&gclid=CJiYoO2u2LICFUPHtAodwx8ArQ
is a family run hotel in the center of town. Nicolas was very helpful and recommended a restrauant for us for dinner.
 


 

We had the all important Greek salad,
 calamari, and some lovely lemon sauce drenched Dolathes.
Our host made sure our room was ready and provided a great breakfast the next morning. 
 

Every Tour bus in Greece!


 We stopped at Olympia and visited the archeological site there where the temple of Zeus is located.




It was a great experience to be at the site of the very first Olympic games and learn about the athletes, the housing, the games (the mens and womens games were held on separate occasions on different years every four years).

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the site and really got a feeling for what it might have felt like in ancient times.




We loved that each area was well marked with plaques telling the story and giving pictures of an artists rendition of what the buildings may have looked like way back then...


The next day we wanted to go to the Olympia Museum until we saw the number of tour busses and cars at the site, and blocking every side street and alley in the whole town! There were about 500 cars and busses lined up and people everywhere!! Ok ahhhhhh...pass on the museum... next time! Off to Pyrgos, Patra, and Diakopto.

To Olympia and beyond

We saw a sign for an Archeological Site at Lepreon and decided on a whim to take the 'road' up the mountain... well ok it was more like a goat path... but, not to worry we made it ok. Nearly went over the edge one time but Don's driving skills saved the day!







It was an ancient site and we were glad we stopped as we would not have had the experience if we didn't.


The air at the top of the mountian smells like a combination of lavendar and jasmine...how wonerful is that!

Some times whims work out well!!
 

A drive through town

A lovely little video driving through a small town in Greece. It is amazing how everyone cooperates while driving and how it all works so seemlessly. This would be impossible in North America...
It took a few days to determine how to best resize the video and keep the quality, get it uploaded to YouTube with sporadic internet connections, and get it onto the blog page without a great deal of trouble.
Here it is my first video upload!!

http://youtu.be/iSXFX_X6UEw

Hope you enjoy the ride...

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Ambrosia ...food of the gods!

Ambrosia was supposedly the food of the gods in ancient times...and now we know where it originated! We received a special treat from our host at the Mythos restaurant in Mytikas tonight. Grapes soaked in honey...Don says it was ambrosia! I could not believe the taste...better than baklava...like butter tarts with out the crust, raisin pie without the crust or grape nectar! Wow it was good!

 
The rest of our meal was wonderful too! The Slouvakia (both chicken and pork) was cooked to perfection

and the cheese filled grilled peppers were a taste sensation!
 

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Don't Paint the Quaint!

The lovely quaint villages of Greece are worthy of mention! The food, festivals and people are all very...wonderful. But the little houses tucked into the hillside with veggie patches and a few sheep grazing is very (pre-modern) and quaint. And according to my sister you can't 'paint the quaint'... mostly because it ruins the ageless character of the feeling of... timelessness!
These stone houses need no paint and little adornment!

 

King Nestor famous for his hospilatity

Ancient King Nestor was famous for his hospitality! So, when he had a few hundred friends over for dinner he really put on a spread! Here are a few of the eating and drinking implements from his store room and pantry!
 
It seems that there may have been a few feasts going on in Nester's time as he had store houses of fine pottery made for dining and drinking! Here are a few more of his wonderful place settings.
I will be putting on a feast in honor of King Nestor when we return home....any takers?

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Don Scale 1-10

Don has eaten moussaka just about every night trying to find one that compares to mine at home (good luck with that!) so he has developed the "Don Scale". It is a scientific measurement of a number of variants which comprise the 'perfect' moussaka. They are taste, texture, teeth, temp  and tone.Each element of the moussaka rates a 1 or 2 making the prefect moussaka a 10 (he says mine is 11!)  Below 5 would not get ordered again...!
First moussaka at Cafe Postale - 7
The taste and texture were very good but it had very little teeth. the tone was low but the temp was right.









second at Breetos - 7.5
The Breetos moussaka was good from almost all perspectives except that it had a very soft texture. The taste was very good.



third at Dionysis - 4 This moussaka was recommended from a travel guide and was disappointing at the very least. It has no taste, very little texture, no tone, and the temp was the best part.






fourth at ToSteki - 4.5 (picture to follow) Unfortunately this was also a recommended moussaka but did not live up to the rating! It disapointed on all scale ratings as well.

It seems my moussaka is safe in its standing (for now!)