assyrtiko, loukoumades, and spanakopita.
When my sister, Kate, graduated from college, my parents promised to take us to Greece. Fast forward nine years, and we have still yet to go as a family. So Kate and I took matters into our own hands. We planned (really, she planned) a weeklong trip around Greece with her husband, Martín. I had a week off from school, and they could either come to Bordeaux for a week, or we could have a new adventure. We chose adventure.
Martín-ism #1: it's not an adventure until something goes wrong. The trip started out as an adventure for me, when I showed up at the airport to take a flight with Alitalia and there was no Alitalia help desk. Long story short, I won't be flying Alitalia again, at least not out of Bordeaux. The good news was I got on another flight that got me to Athens earlier.
The next day, we dragged our suitcases around the Athens airport looking for the rental car desk and then again through the parking lot looking for all of the rental cars. At last, we found our trusty Polo - a bright red Polo I may add. And off we went!
We stopped at the Corinth Canal for a "coffee" and the view. Here's where rule #1 of the trip came in: don't order a greek coffee - you won't like it. It's "foamed" and unfiltered. Kate almost ordered one too, but luckily, she decided against it, which meant I snagged some of her espresso. We made our way to Ancient Nemea, where they are not big on street signs. After driving around the town and having to turn around multiple times, I called the winery, A. & G. Papaioannou Wines, where we had an appointment - the woman on the other end of the phone did not speak English and promptly hung up on me. Marvelous. Luckily, we found the winery soon thereafter but were met with blank stares and a lack of English again. An employee of the winery showed us the tasting room where there were about 20 bottles of wine set out. He pointed to the glasses (in a box) and gestured towards the wine, which we took to mean "help yourself". A stray cat joined us and kept us entertained throughout the tasting.
The owner/winemaker joined us, and luckily, he spoke English and was quite friendly. We tried most of the Greek varieties they produced, including an Assyrtiko! We bought six bottles of wine for only 25 euros! He even told us where to have lunch - the restaurant in town with a chicken on the sign. Naturally. I will say it was delicious, and there was so much food that we took the leftovers for dinner in Nafplio.
Along the drive, we could see ruins popping up out of nowhere or beautiful old structures; we saw so many that Martín stopped stopping for our photos. We'd still be in Greece if he did. By the late afternoon, we arrived in Nafplio. Our apartment looked out towards to Palamidi castle, which we would climb to the next day. All 913 stairs to the top. As we started up the stairs, a dog darted past us and then stopped and looked at us, as if to say "well come on - hurry up". That was Helena (we named her), and she hiked to the top of the hill and walked all around the castle with us. At the top, you could look down to the beach and look out a snowcapped mountains - pretty picturesque.
After a grueling hike and after Helena abandoned us, we treated ourselves to some loukoumades, or traditional Greek donuts covered in cinnamon sugar. Basically, my heaven. That night, we went to a local wine bar, where we each tried a different Greek wine. Our goal for the trip was to try as many different Greek wines as possible - we really should've kept count. The next day we hiked along the coastline and enjoyed many spanakopitas along the way. I should mention that we found a great bakery two minutes from the apartment where we picked up cappuccinos, breakfast treats, and spanakopita daily. That night, we ventured to a wine bar that Kate really wanted to try; however, the waiter was less than pleased that we were interrupting his otherwise quiet night. In addition to being a bit sullen, he mentioned he only had three of the items on the menu. Needless to say, we laughed about it while eating some hummus. After that, we wandered around the town looking for another restaurant, but nothing struck our fancy. So instead of eating out, we picked up some supplies from the grocery store and made our own dinner - it was perfect.
Nafplio, Greece
Nafplio will forever be the land of assyrtiko, loukoumades, spanakopita, Helena, poor outfit decisions (read: shorts in 50 degree weather), and where Martín learned he loved the Winter Olympics.
Nafplio, Greece
