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  • Athens – Hadrian’s Arch

    It’s a slight mystery to me that this hasn’t fallen down. It was constructed in 131AD as a monumental gateway with some people thinking it marked the entrance to the new part of the city, others disagreeing. But such is history…

    I’d add though that a lot of buildings and structures which have been constructed in recent times have already either fallen down or been pulled down, so I have to credit the Roman civil engineers. Although I expect they had a lot of philosophers to help them.

    Anyway, when the Romans left Athens it sort of got abandoned and was left to the elements. There’s some evidence that it was later used as a wall of a church, which might explain why it was protected for so long. The bottom portion of it also became buried down the centuries, which helped to ensure that it didn’t erode away at the base.

    The base was uncovered following an archaeological dig, the entire arch is now visible once again. The downside of this is that the gate has been left open to the pollution of the city, and the stonework and inscriptions have suffered over the last few decades. But, nonetheless, it is remarkable that this structure has survived.

  • Athens – Coffee Joint

    This is Coffee Joint, a corner coffee shop and cafe pretty near to the Acropolis Museum. It’s not perhaps particularly exciting from the exterior, although it’s clean and well maintained.

    The interior of the cafe was functional and clean. I was also welcomed promptly and there was a friendly vibe in the cafe which made it feel a comfortable place to be.

    But the service was impeccable, with two staff members (who I would guess are the owners) who were not just kind and helpful, but were clearly genuinely nice people. The latte was served at the appropriate hot temperature, but without being scalding hot, and had a rich and agreeable flavour. The pastry was offered free of charge by the cafe, which was another positive touch.

    The staff members were conversational, engaging and warm, so I felt that my €3 spent for the coffee was very well spent. I’m very pleased that places like this exist and that owners care so much for their premises, so it’s no surprise to see just how highly this is rated in reviews.

    Quite marvellous and a contender for my most friendly location of the year….

  • Athens – The Greco’s Project

    Centrally located, this restaurant is well reviewed and serves a range of traditional and innovative Greek dishes. I was welcomed immediately on entering the restaurant and offered a choice of tables, so it all felt seamless.

    The interior of the restaurant was clean and comfortable and there are apparently two floors, although I was seated downstairs. The service was attentive and helpful throughout the dine and the two staff members who served me spoke English perfectly. There was quite a difficult customer nearby who asked an inordinate number of questions about the vegetables in the dishes, but the staff member remained calm and understanding throughout.

    This was one of the specials of the day, chicken and pork gyros in pita bread, with tomatoes, onions and sauce inside them, and potato chips on top. It seemed to be more pork than chicken, but the taste of the meat was rich and succulent, with a real flavour. The tomato was perhaps slightly bland, but the meal all worked well together. It was also much more filling than I had expected, a generous portion size.

    The ALFA beer, which is a Greek lager, was served at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature. It’s perhaps not a great product, quite bland in terms of its taste and lacking any distinct flavours or after notes. However, it was inexpensive and was a refreshing drink.

    These two small portions of cake were brought over at the end of the meal with the compliments of the house. A nice way to end the meal which cost around £10 for the food and drink, which I thought was reasonable given the central location of the restaurant.

  • Athens – Views Over the City

    Extensive views, although it’s a bit overcast….

  • Athens – Acropolis (photos from afar)

    I’m visiting, or at least I’m hopefully visiting, the Acropolis tomorrow. Nonetheless it’s quite exciting to see it in advance from afar, although it hadn’t occurred to me just how high a hill I’ll have to climb up to get up there….

  • Athens – Gourmet Burger Kitchen

    I’ve been to many GBK outlets in the UK and this wasn’t really a chain that I had expected to see in Greece. Actually, most people in Greece will probably be surprised to find GBK as there appears to be only one in the country. It is though an official outlet and has the same branding as the UK restaurant.

    I find the whole concept of this just a little strange as looking at photos of the food, they appear to be operating with effectively a different menu. Or at least, there are so many changes to the UK menu that it might as well be a different menu. I’m not sure I see the point of bringing over one restaurant as a franchise to then change it, perhaps it’d have just been easier to start a new restaurant…. And then they could use the delightful food that it is feta cheese which I couldn’t see on the menu. And I’m not sure they’re looking for UK visitors, as it’s located in an area of Athens which doesn’t get that many tourists compared to the city centre.

    But, perhaps it’s the start of great new things and soon there will be hundreds of GBKs across Greece. Although since the official GBK Greece Twitter account had its last post in March 2018 and the one before that was in July 2017, I’m not entirely convinced of that.

  • Athens – Kindness of Strangers

    A five-day public transport in Athens costs €9 to use the metro, bus, trolleybuses and tram in the city. Which is excellent value. So I wanted one.

    This morning, I walked to the nearest metro station and excitedly got ready to buy my first public transport pass in the city. Perhaps excited is an exaggeration, but I was pleased to see a ticket machine. I queued up to use a machine and was again pleased to discover that it was available in numerous languages, including English. Not wishing to practice my Greek, which to be fair isn’t substantial, I opted for the English instructions.

    I went for the five-day pass and opt to pay by card, as I don’t have many euros with me and want to save the ones that I have. Other than the card just doesn’t register and the ticket machine produces an error before I’ve tried to insert the card. So, I swear inwardly and decide to abandon this project.

    However, a Greek man (I assume he was Greek) asked me something in a foreign language (I guess it was Greek). I tell him I’m English, at which point he seemed sympathetic. He assumes I’m an idiot and helpfully takes me back to the machine to show me how to use it. It wasn’t an entirely useful lesson for me to be able to repeat as he used the machine in Greek, but it was a very nice thought. He managed to produce the same error as me, so he tries another machine instead and the other people in the growing queue behind me seemed remarkably tolerant of this situation. This second machine doesn’t even pretend to take cards, the option is greyed out.

    At this point he asks another local person why the machine isn’t working. This was a slightly pay it forwards scenario as before long we have four local people on the case. At which point they collectively decide that the machines are broken, which I had actually established earlier. But, it’s the thought that counts and it was very kind of everyone to help.

    The kind man then asks me if I’m stuck and offers to buy me a ticket to get to the city centre to go to a station with a ticket desk. I’m very glad that he did this, not because I accepted or because it gave me something to write about, but because it was just a generous gesture. In reality I just walked the ten minutes to another metro station, and the machines there were working, but as this was one of the my first experiences of Greece it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling towards the country.

    And so I felt very welcome in Greece  🙂

  • Athens – Street Oranges

    I’ve been to many places where there have been orange trees growing, but never to a city where they grow freely along some streets.

  • Athens – Guinness Crisps

    Irritatingly (in the sense that I’m jealous), Guinness crisps seem to be easily obtainable in Athens, but rarely available in the UK….

  • Ireland – Kinvara – Merriman Restaurant

    We were staying in the Merriman hotel in Kinvara and so we thought that it would be convenient to eat our evening meal there. We weren’t entirely sure how good the food would be, but the reviews were reassuringly content and the restaurant was relatively busy which seemed a positive sign.

    I opted for the special main course of chicken kiev and it was better than I had anticipated. It was served at the appropriate hot temperature and the chicken was tender and moist, with plenty of flavour. The chips were fluffy inside and the salad added some texture and extra taste.

    The French style lemon tart was also on the specials menu and I deliberately avoided the desserts selection that were on the main menu. I think that I made the right decision, as those ordering the blueberry cheesecake seemed a little disappointed with their choice. The lemon had a refreshing and sharp flavour and the pastry was slightly firm and had a pleasant taste.

    I noticed this when paying and it reminded me that I haven’t seen blue Aftershock on a pub’s back bar for some time. I must have been going to the wrong pubs and I suppose it’s not really very compatible with craft beer.

    The service during the meal was efficient and engaging, although the staff member made a bit of a mess of explaining to Susanna what the Irish stew was like. He ended up saying it was watery and putting her off to the extent that she ordered something else. I think some people enjoyed their meals more than others, but I was suitably impressed and it all exceeded my initial slightly limited expectations for the restaurant.