Ich liebe Griechenland

I love Greece.


Ok.. who knows anything about Greek food? Clearly I did not. It is more amazing than I could have ever imagined. And this is why Greece is officially my favourite of all the places I have been. (Not just because of the food I guess.. but yea thats mostly why.)

Moussaka!

Unfortunately, I did not always have my camera on me at meal time due to its massiveness. So my photos of this fabulousness that is Greek food are limited. But, take my word for it.. I have never eaten so much delicious food in such a short period of time in my life. After being back for a week, I still feel full, and find myself eating crackers for dinner.


So what does Greek food consist of, you might ask? Well to start, there's a LOT more to it than just souvlaki, yogurt and feta cheese. With a culinary tradition of over 4000 years, I have learned the the Greeks don't fool around when it comes to food. Although I wish I could (in my opinion) say the same for the wine, beer and coffee.. eww. NOT high on the list of priorities, clearly. 

A frappe (cold coffee with sugar, not horrible) and insanely thick yogurt.

Olives, a variety of cheese, tomatoes, fresh fish and thyme honey are only a few of the historically significant foods we tried in Greece. In the islands, where we spent most of our holiday, fish is whats most available. I had the opportunity to sample an AWESOME plate of salmon, in a white wine and dill cream sauce, served with a side of cooked carrots and zucchini. Can't say this is a famous Greek dish by any means, but at least it was seafood!


You can also tell that some dishes are from deeper origins, or influences, like Turkish or Arabic, just from the names. Things like tzatziki, gyros and moussaka and so on and so forth.. I had to google this, clearly.


So if you haven't caught on yet, I love Greece and its food. We should all just be a little more Greek when it comes to food, starting with yogurt and honey.

Other than eating here, we didn't do much else. As we were told upon our arrival in Mykonos, there is nothing cultural to do, so go to the beach. We did just that! In both Mykonos and Santorini, we rented ATV's for a day and adventured through the rural side of the islands, ending up at great beaches and incredible views. 


In Santorini, we also had the opportunity of taking an all-day tour around the islands that make up what is now Santorini. 
A huge sailboat, The Albatross, was our ride for the day, a volcano was our exercise, the hot springs were our lunch break, a deserted island was our nap-time, and the sunset numbed our butts. 

Explanation: A wonderfully huge sailboat took us from one island to the other, stopping at each for a different sight to see. The first being a volcano, where we hiked 30 min to the top to get a handful of information about volcano's, and how they work.. cool. From here we took our descent back to the boat, where we hitched a ride to the 'hot springs'... which really means warm springs. It was then I put on my sweater and took pictures of the suckers swimming in the freezing cold sea. (Good job girls! :P)

Next on the itinerary was a small island, which I am sure would be hoppin' in the summer, but as of now was pretty quiet. All 6 of us took a nap on a concrete dock, and got a bit burned. Serves us right. 
To end the day, we were dropped of at the bottom of a cliff looking up at the town of Oia, where the famous sunset is seen every evening by a ridiculous number of tourists. To get up the cliff? Ride a donkey!! Yeaaa, won't do that again. 

Sunset was beautiful, but took too long to be brutally honest. We were WAY to early, resulting in a numb butt and jelly legs from sitting on a slab of concrete. 

The remainder of the trip consisted of us laying on a black beach, building black sandcastles, and taking old school all night ferries back to Athens. It was truly a memorable vacation, and there are SO many more things that I could talk about in here. But to keep it short with facts, so I don't lose you.. I will keep it here :)
What should you take from this post, if no other? Greek food, think about it. 


Back to Mozart balls and schnitzel, shannon xx