AROUND ATHENS

Anna Britt and I at the To Kati Allo Taverna

JUNE 18/19, 2009

I love hanging out in Athens with my friend Anna Britt. She had come all the way from Norway to help me celebrate my birthday and when I went off to the islands with my sister and niece, she was undecided about where to go. She usually goes to Santorini but I wasn't sure. So when we ended up unexpectedly on Santorini I was thinking about her, and keeping watch in case we ran into her. She always stays at a 'monastery' there and for some reason I didn't stop to think it would be a Catholic monastary.

We were on the ferry preparing to return to Athens from Santorini, just stowing our luggage when I heard this familiar voice say "What are you doing here?" It was Anna Britt. She had been in Santorini all that time and in fact was staying only a few blocks from our hotel. What a co-incidence that we met up on the ferry!

So when we got back into town, after Jean and Debra had left for Canada, AB and I set off on some adventures of our own. We always like cruising around town, checking out various shops and tavernas...always looking for new places to hang out in preparations for our next visit. The To Kati Allo Taverna in Magkrianni is a sort of 'base camp' for all of us, but we also like venturing farther afield to the Plaka and Monastiraki areas.

Somehow I never get tired of wandering those same old streets, looking in the shops, retracing my steps from all the years I've been going to Greece since 1979, and all the years I lived there from 1983 - 1987. It's all so familiar to me. I could walk around blindfolded.

That evening we went and sat at a sidewalk taverna on Makgrianni st. and watched the hologram show that is projected on the wall of the new Acropolis Museum each night. I tried taking photos of it but they didn't turn out. It's quite a show and a great way to spend the evening being entertained.

On the weekend I'm going to stay with Dinaz and Andreas and we are going to Euboeia for the day, a trip I am very much looking forward to. I haven't been back to Lala for 4 years, not since my shepherd, Mitso, died. So it will definitely be a sentimental journey.

Here are some scenes from the Monastiraki district. (Above) nut sell- sellers.
Below, a busy street of tavernas where you can buy delicious souvlakia for real cheap!