Drink with me in Greece
A mixologist's take on this Mediterranean gem
I am on hour 6 of my time at the Athens airport as I wait for my flight back to New York. I disembarked from the cruise ship at 7:30 this morning and went straight to the airport for my late afternoon flight back. While my dad wants a slide show presentation of my trip projected on the television and not my phone, I won’t go into the details of the archeological digs and guided tours. However, I will discuss what I drank, what plants I saw, and my thoughts on the whole trip.
First of all, olive trees can live for thousands of years- they’ve seen some shit, and they grow everywhere. The island of Crete has 35 million. In my opinion, Greece makes the best olive oil, although Italy’s is a close second. Our tour guide gave us a straggering statistic that Greeks consume 28 liters of olive oil a year, while Americans only consume .8 L. I am closer to the 28 L than .8! I dip my bread in it almost every night!
I bought some Vatos Liquor Mastic and Vatos Liquor Bitter which I am excited to experiment with. I plan on making my family a Greek dinner with cocktails and presenting my slide show from Greece- will update on cocktail I make. I don’t even know what these liquors are!
And of course there was ouzo. I’m not a licorice fan, but if someone was giving ouzo away for free, I was drinking it. Ouzo is a clear- colored liquer made from grape must. It has a strong anise/licorice flavor, which I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. Would I drink it at home? Probably not, but when in Greece….I will say, I could not finish this whole glass. It is STRONG.
Wine is…..interesting. So interesting that they just give it to you for free. I lost count of how much free wine I was offered. It’s very low alcohol and not good. I mostly drank mineral water, the best of which was on the cruise ship. They had water stations throughout the ship that provided regular and mineral.
We made a short stop in Turkey, which was one of the highlights of the trip. We saw rugs being made by hand and shopped at a bazaar where I went a little crazy buying Turkish ceramics. I scored a pair of Birkenstocks for 42 Euro! I tried Turkish coffee as well. It is unfiltered and will wake you right up!
I want to take a hot minute to discuss Santorini. Everyone goes there because of this view:
Yes, it is spectacular, but the only reason I got this shot is that my tour guide showed me how to skip the line by saying you are going to your hotel, and then once you are past the crowd, you can take your time and get the money shot. It was SO CROWDED.
The cost to build a house there is $25,000 per square meter, which I guess if you have the money…… But how is it worth it? It gets earthquakes, it is right next to two active volcanoes, and get this- it has no water source! As in, there are no pipes underground. Residents have their water delivered. If I am paying $25,000 per square meter, that water better be coming from the fountain of youth. Because of its lack of water, it can only grow pistachios, cherry tomatoes, and small grapes for a robust wine. (I regret not trying the wine.) This island cannot sustain itself, and people are shelling out BIG bucks to live there. It is also very hard to get to. Your options are a tender boat from a ship to a bus or car that goes up a terrifying road with constant hairpin turns, a stairway of 600 steps, a cable car or a donkey. Oh, and the prices are the most outrageous I have ever seen. I inquired about a small oreo keychain for a gift- 25 euros. Regardless, it is quite the sight.
I’m home for a few days and then off to Colorado to visit family. My garden is in desperate need of a good weeding. My edible flowers should be thriving by the time I get back!