I Wonder if Colonel Sanders Ever Tried Havlava?...

Today was quite the day. Lunch started off at a restaurant in Athens called "Adrianos". It was once again outside, but surprisingly there were not too many stray visitors during this meal. This place had a female hostess, the first I've seen so far. It seems that being a waiter is very much a male profession in Greece. The female hostess was really nice! She offered to buy us a shot of Ouzo if we ate lunch there (Ouzo is a traditional Geek hard liquor, absolutely delicious). However, seeing as it was very early in the morning, we declined. She then offered us a free dessert instead, which we happily accepted.

Emily, Laura and Dacia ordered Souvlaki, which is a very traditional Greek meal and mainly consists of meat on a stick wrapped in a pita. I ordered fried calamari, a dish I'm very familiar with. It was delicious, but different as the rings still had the ink (at least that's what I thought it was) on the outside. The dessert was called Havlava which was interesting to say the least. It was a cinnamon raisin bead, except the bread was not of any consistency or texture that I have ever tasted before.

So here are a few things I've learned about Greek culture and dining so far... Water and bread is NOT FREE! That's a mistake I had to learn the hard way when lunch was 75$ even though 5 of the 7 of us shared a meal. Also, tipping is included in the check (which would have been nice to know since the beginning). Sometimes the waiters won't bring you an actual check either. They just say "your total is $75.00" and walk away. American traditional "to go" is referred to as "take away" here. Incase you ever make it to Greece, be sure to remember these!

I went on a hike after lunch which was terribly exhausting but it provided that beautiful view pictured above. When we finished with the hike up to the highest hill in Greece, we went through the actual downtown in Athens which was much more westernized. We walked through an outdoor shopping center with two, double story H&Ms, a KFC, a McDonald's, a Starbucks, a Best Buy and many high-end stores I have never heard of. I ended up resisting the call of Micky Ds and instead went to a sub shop called Everest (which I am unsure if this is Greek or not).

Overall it was another good day in Athens. Were off to Delphi tomorrow at 7:15 am (kill me now). I'm still looking forward to it though. Be sure to check my facebook for more pictures!