Our last few days in Greece we’re a little slower pace than how we began out time here. Maybe we should be better about pacing ourselves as we travel, but we wouldn’t change anything about our experiences here. The benefit of finishing things this way though is that we have been able to enjoy the company of Merkuris, Sophia and their children: Eva and Anestis. We are deeply indebted to them for putting us up during our time in Athens and for taking such great care of us. We wouldn’t have been able to experience as much as we did if it had not been for their wise counsel. A big “THANK YOU” for all your help from navigating the metro to teaching us home to make some authentic Greek dishes.
On Wednesday(July 15th) evening Sophia (with Merk’s help) demonstrated their culinary skill and prepared us the Greek interpretation of Chinese food for dinner. Of course, it was very good and Eva was able to join us for the evening as well. It was nice to connect with her and get the perspective of someone from the younger generation. During our time here we’ve become more accustomed to eating dinner at 9 or 10 pm and then sitting on the patio talking until 1 am or so.
On Thursday night (our last evening in Athens) Merkuris and Sophia took us to the center of the city for dinner. It was a great treat and we enjoyed some traditional dishes as well as a big mixed plated of meat (lamb, sausage, seasoned hamburger called “beef steak” and a few others). We returned “home” and had a pastry type dessert (kind of like baklava but filled with fresh cream) and enjoyed some time talking with Anestis.
We both felt like our time In Greece has ended much too quickly but as we look towards home in the next couple days we are excited to re-connect with friends and family. We’ve learned a lot about Greek culture and are excited to try our hand at preparing some of Sophia’s culinary delights in the months ahead.