A Taverna in Agiassos, Lesvos

I added some food photos to Agiassos page on Gate to Greece.

And these are the photos that I did not used on the site.

When we visited Agiassos in Lesvos, we had a lunch in a local taverna. They had a very long menu, but when we tried to order from it, most of the dishes did not exist at all. Only with my prompt, the waitress told us what they had on offer. It is rather odd. It is usual that family-run tavernas in Greeks serve a limited variety of dishes, but in such cases, they don't bring menu at all and list the dishes only orally (I have seen this style many times also in Italy). We were mystified.

They, I asked her if they had anything local, typical dish. She said: "no". OK.




This is gida kokinisto (she-goat cooked in tomato sauce).



And aubergine papoutsakia.



Both tasted very average, but I have to tell also that the food was very cheap. With salad, tyrokafteri and fried potato, the bill was a few euros above 20.

The tyrokafteri we ate here tasted very unusual (the photo is on the page on Agiassos). We asked the woman what cheese they used. Being unable to answer, she asked another waiter. He said that it was a blend of 5 local cheeses.

OK, tyrokafteri is a standard Greek meze, but blend of 5 LOCAL cheeses sounds quite LOCAL dish to me.

Moral of the story is that knowledgeable service staff can sometimes make our meal memorable and vice versa.


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In this taverna, I met a Greek Cypriot lady called Fanny (I guess Fanouromeni is her real name) of certain age. She was part of a pilgrim group of Greek Cypriots living in UK. She said to me that she is working in a hotel and has a great sympathy for Japanese guests. And then, on leaving, she greeted me with her palms pushed together in front of the chest. The Japanese do this gesture when they pray to god/gods, but never to greet people (I think it is the Thai people who greet people in this way). I explained it to her, but she insisted it was OK, as her Japanese guests in UK did so as well.

Message to my fellow Japanese nationals: Stop mimicking just to please her! ^_^

Souvlaki in Plomari, Lesvos

A piece of memory from this summer.

One of the places we visited in Lesvos this summer was Plomari on the southern coast. During the two days we stayed, some sort of town festival was being held and in the evening the town was full of people. It wasn't a sort of festival to attract tourists, but rather for the people living there and in vicinity: there were concerts of local amateur/professional musicians and big souvlaki catering.

I wasn't so hungry in this evening and did not want a sit-down meal. Neither was Hubby and he bought a souvlaki from a psistaria, which was packed with locals and we waited about 20 min to buy one souvlaki.

To our surprise, a souvlaki cost 2.20 euros, i.e. more expensive there than in Athens and tasted just the same. As there was no way that the rent cost more in Plomari than in central Athens, it should be due to lack of competition. So, if you are planning to open a souvlaki shop, do it in Plomari and not in Athens! You earn 10% more at least! (But of course, you must ignore me, as I am not considering the fact that in Athens you probably have costom all year around, while not necessarily in Plomari).

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This nothing to do with Plomari.

Yesterday, there was Sixth Sense on TV (Star). It is one of our favourite films and I think this was the third time to watch it. Even after the third watch, it still impresses me. This sort of supernatural stories very rarely gives a satisfactory solution/conclusion, but Sixth Sense does. And this time I realised how well represented the relationshop between the boy (main character) and his mother. It was just moving.

Apple Pie in Anaxos, Lesvos

Writing the Lesvos section in Gate to Greece, I came across this photo.



These are a chocolate croissant and an apple pie I bought from a bakery in Anaxos.

This bakery is excellent and has a lot of stuff; not only bread, but also cakes and ice creams. The price also was very good; a simple tyropita (cheese pie) cost 1 € only.

One of my pleasure during the trip is to have breakfast with freshly baked pastries. I have had many experiences of hotel breakfast, but for some reason it can never beat the breakfast in bakeries or with bread fresh from bakeries. When I am pressed by time, of course, I prefer to eat the breakfast at the hotel, but, otherwise, the hotel breakfast is better be avoided.

This bakery in Anaxos did not have eat-in tables, so one morning I went alone to buy breakfast bread, as Hubby sleep until late in the morning on his days off. There I spotted 'milopita' (apple pie). Apple pie being my favourite pie, I settled on it, but then I noticed a problem; the name plate of apple pie was put in front of bougatsa (cream pie), and the bougatsa plate was in front of apple pies.

When I asked the woman at the counter an apple pie, as I expected, she gave me bougatsa (usually, bougatsa looks quite different from milopita, but this bakery makes bougatsa with the same dough as apple pie's). I said her politely that it looked bougatsa to me. But she was quite confident that it was apple pie.

I repeated twice my doubt, but she insisted in her error. Being more confident than she was (because from the position I was standing at I could see the filling, while she couldn't), I paid the price, broke the bougatsa into two, and showed her that it was actually bougatsa.

Finally I won my apple pie.

I am sorry about the bougatsa that probably she should have to discard, but I really wanted apple pie, and I can tell you that it was worth the effort!

By the way, the chocolate croissant was for Hubby; he does not like the texture of cooked apple and always avoids apple pie.

Lunch in Anaxos, Lesvos

Some time ago I uploaded a page about Anaxos in Lesvos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/lesvos/anaxos_en.html

And the following are the photos I did not use there.

On arriving Anaxos where we booked a studio for 2 nights, we were starved. Walking toward the beach, we just entered almost the first taverna that we found. I think it was called Elafina, but not so sure. It looked quite touristic, but had a nice shadey garden, so we settled on it. I would have walked kilometers to look around other places, but Hubby is not as enthusiastic about food as I am and we usually find a way to compromise.

Strangely decorated Greek salad.

Feta cheese was surprisingly small for Greek standard. It was more like cream cheese than usual feta (not that I am saying it wasn't feta; feta cheese has wider variety than we non-Greeks think). Olives also looked like those from glass jar. Nevertheless, the veggies were fresh and more than edible.

Hubby ordered brizola of moshari, meaning veal steak.



Greeks burn the steaks to death and that is why I never order veal steak, but Hubby is Greek and did not mind it. He said it was OK and was happy that it came with chips, which were frozen ones and oily, but not bad in terms of taste. I mean, they were sweet and not burnt.

I ordered hirino tigania (pan fried pork morsels braised in white wine with onion and green pepper).

This again wasn't particularly good, but not bad either. It was fine. Generous portion and, again, with edible chips.

After the meal, they offered us a plate of water melon.

We ordered also a glass of beer and a bottle of water. The total bill was only €22.

I would have preferred to pay more to get better and more interesting food, but at the same time I admit that it was very good value. So we walked out quite happily.

New Entry: Petra (Lesvos)

Just uploaded a page on Petra, Lesvos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/lesvos/petra_en.html.

We stayed in a village called Anaxos near Petra. While Anaxos is a pourpose-made holiday village, Petra is more traditional and more living town. Nevertheless, interestingly, Petra in summer is quite touristic, while Anaxos remains more like a Greek village.



Each place of these has its own charm and advantages.

The photo above was shot in Petra.

New Entries: Lesvos and Monastery of Saint Rafael

Slowly I started to write about our recent trip to Lesvos Island.

Lesvos Island

and

Saint Rafael Monastery

Saint Rafael is a most interesting place to take a peek into the modern Greek religious mentality. What happened in late Antiquity is still happening in 21st century Greece!

Return from Lesvos

We returned from the 5-day vacation on Lesvos (Lesbos or Mitylene) island.

It was fantastic! We loved the island. It does not have UNESCO World Heritage site or any postcard-famous site, but there are so many interesting and beautiful places. We would love to return there again and again.

I will write about the island on Gate to Greece site, and here are some photos.

There are many miraculous saints and icons on the island, and here is one of them: Agios Rafail.



Rafail was a monk who was martyred by the hands of Ottoman Turks. There is a huge religious institution with many free accomodations. We kissed the holy relics (bones) and collected holy water.


This is Anaxos beach, near Petra, on the northern coast of the island.



Beaches are in general very quiet even in the middle of August, as we liked it.

Price of food is not much less than in Athens, but drinks are.



This beer cost 2.50euros, frappé 2 to 2.50 euros, Greek coffee from 1 to 1.70 euros.


We spent 5 days on the island and went around with a rent car, but we don't feel at all we saw it sufficiently. Cannot wait to go back.