3 Reasons to Visit Athens & Why I Disliked It

When a good friend recently asked me for traveling advice to Athens, I cringed.

Well, I told her, Athens was not my favorite city. I found it dirty, rundown and bloody hot during our August visit nearly five years ago. Compared to Istanbul, Athens disappointed me – BIG TIME!

However, always trying to see the glass-half-full kinda thing, I decided to look back through my hundreds of photos and come up with good reasons to visit Athens.

1. Ancient Ruins

Of course, wandering through the Acropolis and seeing the ancient columns of the Parthenon lit up at night on the hilltop was AMAZING! What’s also cool is the numerous restaurants in the Monastiraki neighborhood that featured rooftop dining. Here you could enjoy a Greek salad, freshly caught fish and the fine views of said historical ruins.

The Parthenon, the largest Doric temple to be completed in Greece, truly captures ancient Greece’s glory. The temple featured eight Doric columns in the façade and 17 columns lined each side.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a stone theater, built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus, who constructed it in memory of his wife, Regilla. During the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, when it’s open to the public, you can see performances of music, dance and drama here.

We were fortunate to see the newly opened Acropolis Museum, which houses Acropolis artifacts and preserved marble carvings, at night. Check to see when nighttime visits are allowed.

The Parthenon lit up at night as seen from the Acropolis Museum.

2. Pork, Pork and More Pork

Since we were living in Turkey, we rarely got to eat pork. Sure, we could find expensive pork at some places and maybe bacon for breakfast, but generally we would stuff our suitcases full of pork on our European travels! However, in Athens, we were in pork heaven and ate it nearly every meal on our 3-day trip!

If you love pork like we do, don’t miss out trying the pork souvlaki skewers or shaved pork for döner kebabs. Add a Greek salad on the side to make your meal a bit healthier.

3. Greek Iced Coffee

August must be the worst month to visit Athens! We found half the city’s shops and restaurants shut down because people were on vacation, and the temperatures were unrelenting at mid 30s C/90s F. The blazing hot, dry weather made us thirsty! My go-to drink was a Greek Frappe, an iced coffee drink made with instant coffee granules and slightly sweetened. A frothy frappe is the perfect pick-me-up in Greece!

(NOTE: we never would have chosen to travel in August, but we were traveling with US friends who were on vacation.)

Why Athens Disappointed Me

While standing atop the Acropolis was a fantastic experience, wading through hordes of pushy tourists was not.

I also was disappointed to see the Parthenon and other ancient structures covered in metal scaffolding and nearby construction cranes. I understand that the Greek ruins are old, but I had gotten so used to seeing historic Greek, Roman and Hittite ruins in Turkey in their more natural states. To this day, my favorite ruins we’ve seen are located in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, with a massive stadium dating back to 1^st century AD!

During the summer, Athens becomes a sweltering, dusty, landlocked city. There’s no relief from the constant sunshine until nightfall. In Istanbul, even though temperatures do get just as hot, the city is located along the Bosphorus and the Black Sea so you have the cooling sea breezes to provide relief. In Athens, you have to drive about 30 minutes to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

It’s difficult not to have expectations of a place that you’ve heard and read so much about over the years. Athens was like that for me. I’ve read a few other bloggers, such as Dangerous Business, express similar feelings as me. I just expected Athens to impress me.

So is Athens worth seeing? Yes!

Would I visit again? Maybe. I still haven’t done the Greek islands properly, so that’s always a possibility.

Maybe it’s better NOT to have expectations. What do you think?

This post is linked up with #WeekendWanderlust by travel bloggers A Southern Gypsy, A Brit and a Southerner, Justin Plus Lauren and One Modern Couple. Hop on over to their blogs to see more travel stories or link up yourself!

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5 Foodie Finds in Berlin

Not surprisingly, our trip to Berlin revolved around food – mouthwatering, bigger-than-our-eyes sandwiches; oddly curry-flavored, ketchup doused currywurst and creamy, cheesy pastas.

And I have to say Berlin truly surprised me with its vibrant food scene! We ate our fair share of currywurst, local cheeses, Turkish snacks at this Turkish Markt as well as modern hipster dishes and drank enough German beer and unknown liquors during our long weekend visit. 

Here’s a roundup of my Top 5 Foodie Finds in Berlin:

1. Beer & Currywurst Tour

Generally, we aren’t huge fans of organized tours as we prefer to do our own thing. However, once I read about the Original Berlin Food Tour featuring tasty beers and currywurst, I knew we had to sign up. We met up with the tour’s friendly founder Bastian Schwithal and four British couples. We started off with locally made currywurst from a small stall in the Alexa Shopping Centre. As the night progressed, I honestly couldn’t see what the fuss is all about currywurst – German-made sausages doused in ketchup and curry powder. But we had a good crew, Bastian told us funny tales and the food and beer kept coming.

Beer and sausages - definitely a fun combination!

The main brewery I remember is Brauhaus Mitte located near Alexanderplatz where we sampled 4 different beers, including a wheat, pilsner and a dark one. The night may have gotten fuzzier after this tasting especially after we tried some strange, green-colored shot.

This is one organized tour that I can definitely recommend!

2. To-Die-For Truffled Pasta!

I love Italian truffles, so once two of my expat friends here in Warsaw told me about this fabulous truffled pasta they had in Berlin, we had to go too. Ristorante Via Condotti, Fasanenstr. 73, in the Wilmersdorf neighborhood was a 20-minute metro ride from our hotel. As soon as I saw the pasta being prepared in a giant Parmesan cheese wheel, I knew we had to order this dish as our entrée.

The waiter rolls up with the cheese cart, adds some hot cream into the well, scrapes some cheese into the mixture, pours in brandy, lights the whole concoction on fire and then tosses the tagliolini with the creamy cheese sauce. Then, he slices the truffles extravagantly all over your plate of pasta!

This dish was a bit on the expensive side at €25 (about $35) per person, but I think it was worth every penny.

3. Hipster Farmers’ Market

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I love visiting markets when we travel! We popped into Markthalle Neun, Eisenbahnstraße 42, to check out its Saturday’s farmer’s market, which features a variety of stalls selling fresh fruits and veggies, American BBQ, locally-made cheeses, German wines, colorful flowers, forest-harvested mushrooms and more.

Originally built in 1891, Markhalle Neun is one of only two historic market halls being used as a public food market in Berlin and one that miraculously survived two World Wars. The local producers display their wares on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., at the time of this writing.

If we hadn’t just eaten breakfast, I would have loved to have tried Kantine 9 at Markthalle 9, which serves a rustic two-course menu sourced from local farmers for only €8 (about $11).  

You can read more about Markhalle Neun from my French blogging friend, at Cuisine de Provence, with her blog post, entitled: Another Berlin Foodie Hotspot.

4. Locally-Sourced Breakfast

Before we visited the above-mentioned farmer’s market, we popped into Welt Restaurant Markthalle, Pückler Street 34, for breakfast. This rustic restaurant, located next to the historic market hall, opens at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The menu changes weekly and features nouvelle takes on German and Austrian staples as well as a fantastic selection of breakfast choices. We both ordered the German breakfast that included local Black Forest Ham, eggs and delicious dark German bread.

I would have loved to come back here and have a drink at the lovely, Mahogany-stained, wooden bar.

5. Bigger-Than-Your-Head Pastrami Sandwiches

Oddly enough, I ate THE best pastrami on rye sandwich I’ve had ever outside of NYC during our weekend in Berlin. I had read about the chic café called Mogg & Melzer, Auguststraße 11-13, in an article in Food & Wine last year, and marked it on my foodie to-do list. This crowded café is located inside the newly revived Jewish Girls’ School in the hipster Mitte neighborhood. Hubby and I waited for a table and then both ordered a large, handmade, loaded pastrami sandwich and savored every single bite.

If you’re a displaced New Yorker like us, these pastrami sandwiches will make you feel like you’ve landed back in a Jewish deli in NY. In fact, I’m still salivating over these sandwiches as I write this blog post!

(Funny enough, we ran into Bastian as we were leaving this café, which made us feel like we definitely were on the up and up of our foodie finds in Berlin.)

Even though fellow travel-savvy friends had raved about the food and art scene in Berlin, I didn’t believe them until I experienced it all first-hand. We will definitely return to Berlin and hopefully soon!

Smacznego!

There are many pre-WWII buildings like this one in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin.

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Sampling the Polish Vodka & Food Scene in Warsaw

There’s a whole lot more to Polish cuisine than pierogies and very cheap vodka shots.

If you want to go beyond those staples in Poland, you might want to try - chleb ze smalcem (bread with rendered bacon fat – one of my favs), schabowy  (fried pork cutlets), barszcz (beetroot soup) as well śledź z jabłkami (salted herring with apples) and herbal or potato vodkas.

And the best way to sample these Polish specialties is on a food tour with a local! This past year, while living as an expat in Warsaw, I’ve done two separate Food and Vodka Tours with the friendly folks at Eat Warsaw. I was introduced to one of our guides, Michał, through Eastern Station Warsaw, which organizes cultural tours for our local expat group. These 3-to-4-hour tours are a fantastic introduction to Warsaw – whether you are a tourist or an expat like myself!

During the summer, I joined two other Americans with our energetic guide, Magda, a local food blogger at Crust and Dust, for the Eat Warsaw Food Tour. Even though I’d been living in Warsaw for a couple months by then, Magda introduced me to Polish food I hadn’t tried yet like all kinds of varieties of śledź (herring), which is not my favorite.

Sadly, I simply dislike smoked, cured, salted and pickled fishes – from any country.

The herring dish served in a tangy mustard sauce was the best for me!

But I do enjoy anything with pork, and the Poles do a superb job with that! On the tour, we sampled traditional cured meats, bacon-wrapped prunes, fried pork cutlets with Polish coleslaw and mashed potatoes and smalec, which I affectionately refer to as bacon butter! Mmm! To me, smalec is the perfect bar snack washed down either with cold beer or vodka.

We ended our food tour on a sweet note with a slice of “Wuzetka Cake” – a rich, layered chocolate cake with whipped cream and ganache at Shabby Chic in Old Town. This tasty cake is named after the Trasa W-Z – one of the arterial roads in Warsaw built in the city after World War II. So you can have a piece of history and still eat cake!

On our recent Vodka Tour with a large group of expats, Michał and his partner took us round to some of their favorite haunts from Old Town to Centrum. They filled us in on a lot of Polish history and information about vodka, which I sadly failed to remember. But I do remember how much fun we had as we sampled our Polish vodkas on our pub crawl!

Michał kindly explaining some Polish history to us outside the Presidential Palace.

The tour included six shots of very different types of Polish vodkas – rye, potato, bison grass (Zubrówka – which is one of our favorites), herbal and even hazelnut! There also were plenty of Polish nibbles on the way such as white kielbasa cooked with caramelized onions, smalec and pickles.

My favorite shot of the evening was of Zołądkowa Gorzka – an herbal infused, sweet vodka – which makes a fantastic vodka tonic! A small group of us even stayed after the tour at Gryzę i Połykam to sample some more vodka flavored with bubblegum, vanilla beans and even hot chilies! Look for the friendly Australian bartender here!

Oh, and this small pub whips up a divine steak tartare!

Don't forget to mash in the raw egg yolk which was served on the side! 

Eating and drinking around Warsaw is much more fun when you know what you’re doing!

Na zdrowie!

(Note: I paid for these two tours on my own, and I was not asked to write a blog post about the tours. However, I really enjoyed myself and want to support local businesses such as Eat Warsaw. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own.)

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A Very Merry Christmas Market in Krakow

With an imposing, 14^th-century gothic church nearby, horse-drawn carriages and a historical market square, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect place for a Christmas market.

The Main Market Square, called the Rynek Glówny, in Krakow offers an impressive backdrop for a Christmas market. On Sunday, after a 3-hour train ride from Warsaw, we arrived at the market with our visiting friends. Lucky for us, the market, which traditionally starts the last week of November, stayed open until Dec. 31. this year.

I couldn’t wait to explore the market!

St. Mary's Church, re-built in the 14th century (originally built in the early 13th century), dominates Krakow's Main Market Square.

The scent of sizzling fat Polish sausages immediately hit my senses. Several busy stalls sold all kinds of delicious pork products such grilled kielbasa, various sausages, sauerkraut cooked with porky-goodness bits and a smaller form of Poland’s national dish of golonka (roasted ham hock). And dear readers, you know how much I love pork!

While the guys ordered grilled kielbasa for us, I wandered over to a stall selling Hungarian lángos (a deep-fried flat bread made of a potato-based dough)  – the same ones I had eaten at the Great Market Hall in Budapest. Later on, we were tempted not just once, but four times by the grilled oscypek, a smoky, salty sheep’s milk cheese from the Tatra mountains. This warm cheese is particularly tasty with a dollop of tangy cranberry compote.

After our bellies were full, we continued to warm up our bodies with Poland’s mulled wine, which was sold from dozens of giant barrels with medieval lettering reading: “GRZANIEC.”

Krakow’s Christmas market also offered about 40 rustic wooden stalls selling the folk art and handicraft items that were plainly missing from the markets we recently visited in Copenhagen. We found traditional  Polish pottery, embroidered tablecloths, metalwork, hand-carved spoons, Nativity scenes and bowls, stained glass Christmas ornaments, wooden swords for children, handmade candles, woolen slippers and hats and jewelry as well as gingerbread cookies from Toruń and other sweets. If you're looking for a particular folk craft or decoration, you certainly will find it here!

 

Our friends were delighted to explore this Christmas market as well as the stalls inside the historic Cloth Hall with us.

Christmas lights inside Krakow's Cloth Hall market.

When we tired of shopping, we roamed Krakow’s cobblestone streets and visited numerous beautiful churches. Did you know that Krakow trails just behind Rome with its abundances of churches per square mile? In fact, in the Middle Ages, Krakow was known as “Small Rome” for its many churches, according to our Rick Steves’ guidebook. (I’ll try to share some of my church photos soon.) 

This was our third trip to Krakow, and I’m betting it won’t be our last. Visiting this festive Christmas market certainly cinched that deal!

Cobblestone streets decorated with Christmas lights in Krakow, Poland.

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Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms with Pork

What goes well with Chanterelle mushrooms? Why pork of course!

Here in Warsaw, Chanterelle mushrooms (kurek or kurka in Polish) still abound at the summer markets such as Hala Mirowska. Hopefully, the locals will continue to bring them in from the nearby forests especially since we are having a rainy spell.

I recently was looking for new inspiration to use up a fresh batch of kurek. I took a peak at my new Polish cookbook, From a Polish Country House Kitchen, by authors Anne Applebaum and Danielle Crittenden, published last year. (My mother-in-law kindly brought me five cookbooks in July).

Appelbaum, a Pulitzer Prize winner, lives in Poland part-time as her husband, Radoslaw Sikorski, is a Polish politician and writer. She also is a columnist for the Washington Post and Slate.com. Crittenden currently works for the online journal of the Huffington Post Canada.

This excellent cookbook features gorgeous photography as well as 90 recipes for modern takes on traditional Polish food such as pierogies, chlodnik (cold beet soup) and sernik (Polish cheesecake). And I happened to find several recipes utilizing mushrooms including one for chicken breasts with a creamy Chanterelle mushroom sauce. I didn’t have chicken on hand, but I did have thin, boneless pork chops.

Off to the kitchen I went to break in my new cookbook.

This recipe took a bit of time as the mushrooms required some extra cleaning. However, I don’t mind spending time in my kitchen as long as I have my music turned up.

The end result is a casserole dish brimming with cooked pork chops baked in a Chanterelle mushroom cream sauce flecked with loads of onions and dill. My side dishes were simple steamed green beans and boiled summer potatoes with dill.

I’m sure Applebaum’s Polish recipes will make a regular appearance on our dining table.

Smacznego! (Bon appétit in Polish)

Our Polish-American dinner enjoyed outside on our balcony in Warsaw.

Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms with Pork

Adapted from From a Polish Country House Kitchen

Ingredients:

1                      T.                                 butter

1                      T.                                 olive oil

500-600           g.         (about 1 ¼#)    thin pork chops

2                      T.                                 butter

3                      medium                       onions, diced

4-6                   ea.                                garlic cloves, chopped

350                  g.         (12 oz.)            Chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed

240                  ml.       (1 cup)             chicken stock

240                  ml.       (1 cup)             water

180                  ml.       (3/4 cup)          cream (I used 18% cream in Poland.)

To taste                                               salt and freshly ground black pepper

To taste                                               fresh dill, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C.

2. Pat the pork chops dry. In a large pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter and olive oil together. Then, fry the pork chops until golden brown on both sides. I had to do this in two batches. When done, set aside in a medium-sized baking dish (about 8x11 inches).

3. In the same pan, add the remaining butter. As it melts, scrape up any of the browned pork pieces with a spatula.

4. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions are translucent.

5. Add the mushrooms. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until the mushrooms are softened and have released some of their liquid.

6. Add the chicken stock, scraping up any more bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened a little, about 10 minutes or so.

7. Stir in the cream. Season with salt, pepper and some dill. Pour the sauce over the pork. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the sauce is bubbly and lightly browned on top.

8. Garnish more fresh dill on top of the finished dish.

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Expat Life: 4 Months Living in Warsaw

Last week, we experienced record heat waves in Poland. Temperatures across the country topped up to 40 C (104 F).

Such a strange contrast from my first week in Warsaw, and six inches of snow covered the ground in APRIL!

We’ve been living as expats in Warsaw a little over four months. Recently, several friends and readers have asked what’s Warsaw like and how we are adjusting. I’ll admit that the first two months were rough. I shed quite a few tears, and I was depressed.

But now I can see the silver lining of it all. Sure, I still have a bad day now and then just like anyone else. However, I have realized there are many reasons to love living in Warsaw too.

My husband and I recently discussed what we like about living in Warsaw. We feel like we have everything at our fingertips – public transportation, a good location, more international food options, Dr. Pepper and pork – just to name a few things. Besides our family and friends in the U.S., I can’t think of anything else I miss from America anymore.

Top 10 Reasons to Love Living in Warsaw

1. Cost of living – This is one of first factors that attracted us to living in Warsaw. Our cost of living has been cut in half compared to living in Istanbul. Rent, eating out, drinks, international groceries are all much cheaper here. For example, on average, a half liter of Polish beer costs 8-10 zl ($2.50-$3) compared to 8-10 tl ($4.50-$5.20) for an Efes in Istanbul. Doesn’t take long for this stuff to add up!

2. Green spaces – Warsaw is green! According to this study, Warsaw has almost 20,000 hectacres (50,000 American acres) of green spaces and as such has earned the nickname “green city.” In fact, 14 percent of the city’s urban area (7,258 hectacres) is covered by forests – much more than any other European city. Because of all this green space, you constantly see people running, riding bikes and relaxing in the city’s numerous parks.

3. Polish pierogies, piwo and pork – You knew food would be one of my top reasons, right? Polish food is hearty and reminds me of a grandmother’s homecooking. We’ve eaten our fair share of delicious Polish pierogies washed down with half liters of piwo (beer). Piwo was one of the first Polish words I learned. I am almost overwhelmed by the abundance of pork here.

4. Pubs in Parks – The Poles certainly got this idea down pat! As you stroll through the city’s numerous parks, you often will stumble upon a small pub. Our favorite is the Flinstone-like Pub Lolek located in the large Pole Mokotowskie Park. Just park your bike, order some beers and kielbasa and you’re set. We also like the small beer tents set up along the Vistula River.

5. History – After World War II, Warsaw was left in ruins by the Nazis. Nearly 85 percent of the city was destroyed. Then, the country was under harsh Soviet rule for 40+ years. The Poles have endured a lot (too much) and their spirit is one of total perseverance.

This photo shows what Warsaw looked like in 1945 following the war. Devastated!

I love wandering through the restored Old Town area and hanging out in the New Town section. You’ll also see many important reminders of the city’s Jewish history too.  

6. Classical music – I think you could catch a live classical concert every night if you wanted to in Warsaw. Since the city is home to the famous 19^th-century composer Frederic Chopin, classical music plays a big role in life here. I like wandering behind the University of Warsaw where you are bound to hear students practicing classical melodies. On Sundays through Sept. 29, you can catch either the noon or 4 p.m. outdoor piano concerts featuring Chopin’s music at Warsaw’s Royal Łazienki Park. A wonderful free activity! (More info: http://www.estrada.com.pl)

Just look for the large Chopin monument at Warsaw’s Royal Łazienki Park.

7. Renting bikes – In order to get to those free Sunday concerts, we often ride bikes thanks to the city’s convenient rent-a-bike system by NextBike. After paying an initial 10 zl annual fee, we can rent bikes from more than 50 stations around the city. Rentals for less than 20 minutes are free. Warsaw has numerous bike trails and wide sidewalks that are perfect for long bike rides or quick trips down to the river or the market.

Until we moved here, I hadn’t rode bikes much as an adult except for the times my husband has tried to kill me on vacations in Bali, Belize and Bozcaada. However, I have grown to really like biking. We see much more of the city on bikes; not to mention, that they often are quicker and cheaper than other modes of public transport. And when there’s a promise of a beer in the park, what’s not to like?

8. Farmer’s market – I visit my nearby farmer’s market at Hala Mirowska at least twice a week for the freshest Polish produce. I don’t know much Polish yet, so shopping at the market is pretty comical and involves a lot of pointing and smiling. I love having this market just five tram stops away from our apartment!

9. Ease of getting around – Although Warsaw is a large metropolitan city with a 2.7 million population, I find it relatively easy to get around. Much, much easier than Istanbul, thank you very much! Warsaw’s public buses, trams and subways are just easy to use and inexpensive. For 250 zl ($80), I use a 3-month unlimited, refillable transportation pass. 

Also with smart phone apps such as itaxi.pl and jakdojade.pl, with just a click, I can order a taxi or figure out the fastest way to get somewhere via public transportation.

10. International foods – Lastly, we have been impressed with the city’s selection of American burgers and steaks, Vietnamese food and pizza. International food isn’t “Turkified” like it was when we lived in Istanbul, so I actually can eat a decent bowl of pho or bánh mì  sandwich. Now, if only, I could find some authentic Mexican food somewhere.

While it’s taken more time to grow to love Warsaw, with a bit of insatiable curiosity and some patience, I have come to realize it’s a great place to live!

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