Elefsina revisited

Today we revisited Elefsina after 9 years.

Actually I wanted to visit Ramnous for the first time but my prudent phone discovered that the site is closed on Saturdays and Sundays because of the labour controversy of the guardians. I had heard that an agreement was reached with the state, but evidently it was not for all he sites.

Anyway the man on the phone told me I should protest to the Eforia (I am not sure how to translate it, but it is the office that manages the sites and museums), which you bet I will not.

In Eleusis, the archaeological site and museum were as I remembered from 9 years ago, but the town of Elefsina was more beautiful than in my memory. There are now many nice restaurants and cafeterias. I guess there are many shops as well, but it is difficult to perceive that on Sundays.

The nostalgic Greeks might say that in the drachma era it was easier to live than now, but to my eyes it is difficult to deny that the Greece has gotten richer from the material point of view since the introduction of Euro. Of course the life is more complex than it wants to be and the more money did not make the life easier, because it brought new expectations and by consequence also disappointments.

Anyway, we will be visiting Elefsina if it manages to be beautiful as it is now.

Midnight Dinner @ Ouzou Melathron

[UPDATE 17 Nov. 2012] The place closed for the summer 2012 promising to come back in autumn, but has never reopened at least until now.

After a concert at Filologikos Syllogos Parnassos, we ended up in searching for a restaurant at 11 in the night at the central Athens last Saturday.

Many shops of central Athens are catered for office/after office population that they close early Saturday afternoon. We could not find anything attractive east side of Monastiraki and, after a half-an-hour search, we settled on Ouzou Melathron in Thissio side of Monastiraki.

We visited this mezedopoleio in March last year.

While many restaurants are empty, Ouzou Melathron was doing pretty well, 70-80% of the tables being occupied. (In this area, besides Ouzou Melathron, also Diodos, Dia Tafta, and Meandros were doing better than the rest and probably it was not casual).

It was too cold to eat outside, so only the indoor tables were available.

The interior was "retro" style.



The menu was printed on a very long and large piece of paper and the handling was awkward. Moreover, most of the dishes are the restaurant's original and the description is humoristic, which makes the consultation frustrating for a hungry customer. But, if you are not that hungry, it would be a fun to read it through.

We ordered 4 dishes.

A salad.



Rocket, manouri cheese, sun-dried tomato, balsamic vinegar dressing, and sliced kourouri (dry-ish bread that the Greeks eat for breakfast or morning snack)! The kourouri was used as a variation of courtons or paksimadia (Greek dried bread) and I found it a good idea.

Tzatziki.



Although most of the dishes here were with some twist, this was a classic tzatziki. Good.

Then main dishes.

Seeing this you would expect that there is meat sauce inside the aubergine, but no. There was stew of small cubed veal and baked with cheese on top. Very nice, though a bit expensive (10.89 Euro).



In the photo, the aubergine looks small, but actually very large. It is this slice of big tomato which plays trick on our eyes.

As I wanted something starchy, I chose something called "Magiko (Magical)".



From the description in the menu, I was not totally sure what to expect but was very satisfied with what was offered. It is a sort of crepe-pie with cheese (feta, yellow cheese, blue cheese and maybe others) and mushroom filling. It was plated on a cash iron pan so that it did not get cold easily.

At the end, we were treated with yogurt with sour cherry compote (glyko tou koutaliou).



With a bottle of water and a bottle of coke, the bill came to 35 Euro circa. Not cheap, but for what we ate, we were happy to pay it.

Will go back with pleasure.

Ouzou Melathron
Agiou Filippou 10 & Astiggos
Monastiraki-Thissio
Athens
Tel. 210 3241 716

2 Musical Weekends

I am not a musical person and a less-than-average music listener, while GH likes to go to concerts. He is not much of a music listener, but he seems to like the musical environment.

So, last Saturday we went to Dipla Sto Potami (here) to hear Glykeria.



Greek concerts start VERY late, this one at 10:30 (the actual start was about 11:00). Not wanting to spend much, we just bought 2 tickets at bar (15 Euro incl. 1 drink). If you wanted a table, you would have paid at least 65 Euro for 2 with a bottle of wine. A bottle of whisky was, if I remember well, 90 Euro or 95, but I don't know how many people could share it.

Anyway, we were on foot all the way through, as the bar ticket did not entitle us to any chair.

This is my drink "Cuba Libre" which looked unusually light-coloured. As I do not drink much, I gave most of it to GH.

I like the songs of Glykeria, but the concert did not enthuse me much. I can enjoy as much with her CD.

It finished earlier than I expected, at 2:00 o'clock. The last one I went, one of Portokaloglou, finished at 3:30 and the other one GH went, of Mitropanos, finished at 4:00. So Glykeria's was relatively "short".

And I was annoyed very much by cigarette smoke. Next day, I had to leave outdoor my coat so that the smell went away, without total success.

*********************

And next.

Yesterday, we went to a concert of Luisa Rocha, a fado singer, at Filologikos Syllogos Parnasos.

This is much more normal concert. A ticket was 10 or 15 Euro (for 15, you get a seat closer to the stage) and you get a chair for that. It started at 8:30 and finished 10:00.

It was quite enjoyable for me, while GH, who likes "Glenti" (a Greek word I cannot really translate), enjoyed it to a certain degree. I mean, he enjoyed the music, but was missing something.

Anyway, it was great experience both of them.

New York Cheese Cake @ Cake

Last Saturday we stopped at a new cake shop called Cake in central Piraeus. As it is a small chain/franchise, you might have seen it somewhere else.

Many of the cakes are sold by kilo and not by piece. Although there were some other interesting ones, my ever conservative husband chose a cheese cake. And, as always, we shared one cake between two.



It was called New York Cheese Cake with Sour-Cherry Sauce. I do not know what is this "New York" about, although I see this qualificative often before cheese cake. Anyway, it was a non-baked type cheese cake.



It was very cream-cheesy and fatty. The cream part was nice, but personally I did not like the biscuit part as it had a strange aroma (from a spice?).



It was so fatty that, although we were sharing it, we started to feel "oh, that is enough" at the end.

The price for the cake was whipping 6.50 Euro. Restaurant dessert price.



But to compensate it, the cappuccino was only 2.50 Euro. By consequence, the total bill was reasonable 11.50 Euro.

I find often disappointing these "Western" cakes in Greece, but this cheese cake gave me a hope. I would return to try other offers.

Cake
Karaiskou 98, Piraeus
Tel. 210 4225 707

And other places like...
Kolonaki: Irodotou 15
Ermou: Fokionos 2-4
Halandri: Likourgou 2 & L. Kifisias
Nea Smyrni: 2as Maiou 22, Pl. Smyrnis
Glyfada: Lazaraki 20
Voula: Vas. Pavlou 67
http://www.cake.gr/

Flocafe @ Marina Zeas

I am at Flocafe in Marina Zeas, Piraeus for coffee with family and friend.

Coffees at Marina Zeas are of the most expensive in Athens/ Piraeus. A cappuccino is 4.40 euro, filter coffee the same (but bigger portion).

Really I should stop coming to expensive cafeterias.