Today’s goal: Head into Plaka and take some photos / video in Anafiotika.
I had grabbed us lunch so we were maybe making a late start of it, but we’re still both a little under the weather and an easy day in the cold air would do us both good. We walked past Hadrian’s Kitten Ranch and into the tail end of Plaka, and right at the end of Lysiou Street there’s an alley with a taverna in it, under lights and pennant banners, that always has musicians playing and looks very picturesque, so we decided since it seemed unlikely that we’d be having dinner in our new favorite Aerides (it’s only outside seating), we’d have some wine NOW rather than LATER.
The wine was good. Evidently there’s some grape that’s grown mostly only in Northern Greece and it makes up something like 40% of the red wine consumed in Greece? I always just ask for the house wine, so it’s probably that. We got a little thing of bread to snack on that came with a tomato dip that was very good, if maybe a little too summery for this weather, and then I had seen a table with a piece of what was clearly portokalopita so I ordered some of that as a treat. It came with mango sorbet and was, finally, EXACTLY what I want whenever I order it. It was obviously made the same way that the one H had made in Lefkada was — crumpled up phyllo dough, some batter, then baked and soaked and fridged until it was super cold. It had the right texture, the flavor was great, the slice was big enough for two even though I think I ate most of it. We didn’t have a full meal there but everything smelled amazing so I think we might at some time.
But the light was running on us so we picked ourselves up and wandered back into Anafiotika. It’s a small sub-neighborhood of Plaka built by carpenters who had been brought from the southern islands to work on some castle refurbishment project, and had tried to replicate their island homes. Lots of whitewash with bright blue accents, lots of higgeldy-piggeldy alleys and staircases, very photogenic. The neighborhood kinda goes up a small section of the side of the Acropolis, and once you get up to the top, there’s a little ledge where you can see the whole town. (That’s also where I tweaked my knee last year so I have a healthy grudge against it, but it’s very charming, and I think I saw Video Cat sleeping on a roof, which I like.)
We found our way back down before it got too dark, and wanted some food, and I’m not gonna lie, eating in Plaka is hit and miss. Some of the places can be quality but more likely they’re going to be touristy and overpriced for just OK food — you go for the spectacle and you just are OK with whatever it is. We skipped over it and decided to stop at Aerides after all, figuring it would be the best food option and they’d have their heaters turned on, so it couldn’t be too bad.
We got the same thing we got last weekend — bekri meze which is some stewed pork with crispy potatoes, some meatballs in a tomato sauce, some bread, some wine. We limited ourselves to just one carafe of wine tonight, though, and opted for an early night back in bed.
We stopped at the kiosk near the apartment to stock up on some snacks and then curled up in bed and watched The Traitors.