Greece

I changed my mind, I’m keeping this page here because it’s been really popular! And hopefully I’ll be making another trip to Greece in 2015 and can add more.

Here is everything I posted on my trip last summer:

Tinos

The Holy Island of Tinos! Read more about it HERE, and read about Evangelistria Church here. We stayed in the village of Triandaros.

Chapel Dedicated to the Deposition of the Sash of the Theotokos
The Peach House Our home away from home
Alcoves & Shelf Space in the Peach House It’s all in the details
Eleni’s Restaurant
Getting Lost on Tinos!
Cruising Around Tinos Short video
Our Cooking Lesson
Homemade dinner in the Peach House One of the only meals I cooked for myself in Greece

For more information about renting one of Chrysanthi’s gorgeous houses, CLICK HERE.

Crete
Glass Bottom Boat Tour

Thessaloniki
Our First Day in Thessaloniki, includes a market in the park, 15th century church, and our first visit to Ta Koumparakia.
Ta Koumparakia, our favorite restaurant in Thessaloniki. This post contains a link to their facebook page with the address of the restaurant. Say Hello to Vicki and Christos for me!
City Walls, Cool Cemetery, & Eptapyrgia Pro tip: Pick up a few empty bottles or vials from the gift shops – it is generally acceptable to collect water from fonts in the churches & shrines, it’s holy water and most probably wonderworking!
Graffiti in Thessaloniki There’s tons of cool graffiti EVERYWHERE

For a point of reference, most of these things were near our hotel, Hotel ABC.

There are tons of museums in Thessaloniki, HERE’S a list. We visited the first two and they are very cool.

Random
Churches, Chapels, and Shrines from all around Greece. Mostly Tinos.
Pretty Much All the Food We Ate in Greece Includes George’s ice cream shop!

All-Vegan in Athens
My dear friend, Athanasia, from 2BrokeVegans.com very kindly shared some info with me about finding vegan food in Athens. For restaurants, check out:

Rosebud, located in downtown Athens. A bit pricey, but good (I’m told). If I’m reading the menu correctly, it looks like they serve vegan hotdogs, burgers, pizza, and slouvaki ranging from EU7 – EU9.50 for small portions and EU12.00 – EU13.00 for larger portions.

Avocado, their menu is HUGE and ranges from veggie burgers to salads to pizza to macrobiotic! And a few things in between. Prices vary.

And This Place which I don’t even know the name of, a raw vegan restaurant on the south coast of Athens near Glyfada, rumored to be very expensive. They don’t have a website, but you can find out a little about them by reading through the comments on the above-linked facebook album.

There is also Bamboo Vegan, an all-vegan grocery store (with vegan pet food!).

And I’m told you can easily find vegan food at any of the large super markets that sell Bio food – I found that to be true at the places I shopped in other cities, too.

Here are just a few photos from Thessaloniki. If we’re facebook friends, you can see a ton more in my facebook albums!

Myrrh-streaming relics of St. Dimitrios

Arch of Galerius

The shrine for the martyred baker is next to this church

Entrance to the church

The shrine for the martyred baker. Facing the shrine, across the side street to the left is the site of his bakery!

Church of Panagia, near Hotel ABC

Dogs are cute, but NOT friendly. They’re strays, and the people are mean to them :(

Lydia’s Bookstore, Vicki can give you directions. The clerks didn’t speak English.

Miniature Agia Sophia, you can’t take pictures inside.

There are two or three huge outdoor markets where you can buy all kinds of sweets, and produce by the pound. Great for grabbing a snack.

The Roman Forum, you pay a few bucks to wander around and a little extra to go inside to the museum

Ruins in the park, on our way to the City Walls

The Rotunda

The White Tower – from this road, there’s a gift shop that sells stickers of saints and monastics

Cooking Greek
As long as we’re at it, I might as well add a few recipes. I’ve tried to recreate some of the dishes I had during the trip, not always totally successfully, but it’s still fun to try. One day I’ll get it all down!

Learning Greek, an experiment in Greek cooking
Greek Artichoke Hearts & Spanakorizo I bought the artichoke hearts at the outdoor market in the park in Thesaloniki. Spanakorizo is spinach rice, and it’s wonderful!
Fasolakia, Greek Green Beans I cheated and used canned beans, but there’s a link to the original recipe which uses fresh.

MOAR Greek Food!
From my participation in Week of Greek, 2015:
Tahini Soup (Tahinosoupa)
White Cabbage Salad (Lahanosalata)
Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)
Fasolakia (Stewed Green Beans)
Halva (Semolina Sweet)

Shopping Greek
Where to Find Made-in-Greece Stuff