Today was forecasted to be the warmest and sunniest day of our Athens stay, it is also Valentine’s Day. I offer the Lady a Greek Island, she accepts. Aegina is just of the coast in the Saronic Gulf, it is the closest island to Piraeus. We bought day tickets on the Metro and arrived at Piraeus just on 11.00 to discover we had missed a Boat. No matter, there are regular Boats going to Aegina my research had shown, well not in winter. A long cup of coffee passed the time until our 12.50 Hydrofoil What I also expected to be a ten minute crossing was actually forty. Trust this website, no other.
I will not tell too much of Marg’s desire to board the first Flying Dolphin she spotted in the harbour, ours was XV111, it had yet to arrive but did not hang around too long when it did.
We arrived on schedule in Aegina in time to have missed a heavy downpour. The back-streets were awash, good timing, perhaps it is just as well we were not earlier.
I was in the mood for something Greek to eat, last night’s grilled Pork was not my idea of Greek Food. We searched every open Restaurant/Café and could find nothing. We even walked out of one due to a lack of meat and an abundance of smoke. The Chap followed us out and tried to entice us back in with offers of Chicken and Pork, I want Beef! I asked for Stifado in our next conversation: ‘What is
Stifado?’ I was asked. This was getting me down, we passed a Doris bringing a healthy looking plate of Spaghetti Bolognese to a customer, this won. Marg had Carbonara, she was well well stuffed. Some of this appears also in the partner website Curry-Heute, I will tell the world how frustrating it is to find that so many Greek food outlets are simply Grill Houses – in others words, Fast Food outlets.
Now for so
me Bier
Back in Athens we took the Metro up to Ambelopiki and the Craft Brewery. Having been a couple of times before we both recognised the direction to take after surfacing from the hole-in-the-ground. We sat at the same table as we did on our first visit, in front of the Copper Tanks, we were the only customers. I had two Biers in mind but the young Bert insisted that I have the sample tray and so I bravely tasted each of the six/seven glasses set before me. My mind was not changed, the Athens Lager stands out, and the Smoked Lager would follow.
Craft have been in business since the mid 1990s, it is quite an outlet. The blurb says they are trying to replicate Bier in the authentic Bamberg style. I found the Athens Lager to be very good indeed, better than I had remembered it. Has it improved? The body was sound and felt the full 5%. The blurb described it as having a slight sweetness and minimal Hops. This is not how I would describe it at all. I would call it dry, hopped and a bit on the rough side. It was a well made Lager, the only disappointment was the 450ml glass.
The Smoked Lager is only slightly smoked. It is nothing like the genuine Rauchbier brewed in Bamberg and its environs. There is a hint of smokiness, just a hint. If one wishes to experience smoke in Greece, just walk into any Bar/Restaurant/Cafe with a No-Smoking sign.
Other customers were by now arriving for Bier and Food, we departed and took the Metro to Omonia, the Curry-Heute was calling.
Making full use of our Metro ticket we jumped back down to Monastiraki and walked around the corner to Beer Time. Our Host was happy to see us back. Hector was straight into the Augustiner (Munchen, Bayern) Edelstoff. Marg surprised me by having the Timmerman’s Strawberry for the second time. In order to keep her amused whilst I contemplated a final Bier another plate of the Chocolate and Nut delight that had been generously supplied last evening was arranged. And now for something new.
There was a Bock I had never heard of, a Weinachtsbock. At 7.1% the Mittenwald (Mittenwald, Bayern) would be a fine way to end the evening, it was also a good way to wind up Howard (& the rest of The Chaps back home) who failed to take the bait. Pleasant, but not stunning.
As with last evening, Mein Host stood us a round of Ouzo, Yamas!
After a very shaky start, Athens is becoming a fun place to visit once more.
The Microbrewery and Pub visited today:
Craft – 205 Alexandras Ave. Athens, 6462350
Beer Time – Iroon Square, Athens, 10551
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