Anyways, ON TO GREECE!
This is Thessaloniki. It is the second largest city in Greece, and it was...not quite what we were expecting to see. Or smell.
Try to picture Greece in your mind. You know...white roof tops, mediterranean beaches, olive trees growing everywhere, etc. Now stop picturing that, because Thessaloniki didn't have ANY of that. We started lovingly referring to it as "ThessaloNO-NO". Which in retrospect sounds pretty rude...but it was a pretty stressful three days for us.
On the upside, we performed an amazing concert at the ISME Convention, went to an amazing beach that basically made up for the entire city of Thessaloniki, and ate some very delicious Greek food!
Two words: Greek. Salad. I ate SO MUCH Greek salad over the course of our three day stay. But you know what? I AIN'T EVEN MAD. Aside from the olives, there is nothing about Greek salad that I do not like. The feta cheese in Greece was not like the feta cheese I have eaten here. I mean...I don't doubt that feta cheese in America is not legitimate. But this stuff was like...oh man...it was creamy, and it was salty...but not TOO salty, and it was tangy. I've never felt this way about those dried out feta crumbles from the supermarket.
This was an entire chicken that was given to me to eat as an individual. I don't know what else to say about this.
Okay, yes I do. This chicken was DELICIOUS. It wasn't something I had ordered off the menu. How our means in Thessaloniki worked was that all the performers at the ISME convention were given a specific time to eat meals, which were already chosen for us.
Honestly, I didn't mind. I didn't have much of an appetite because of the heat (like...100 degrees every day), and I was trying not to fill up anyways because no one likes to sing on a stuffed stomach. I didn't finish this chicken or the potatoes, but I definitely loved what I ate.
Of course, I always save room for desert. I have no idea what this was, but I was in love with it. It was spongy...but not super soft. And it was sweet...but honey sweet, not sugar sweet. I don't think it was made of phyllo, but it was some kind of cake soaked in some kind of syrup. I'm being super specific, I know. If someone can identify what this, please let me know so I can make sure it is a part of my life. I'M LIKE A HUNGRY VERSION OF PRINCE CHARMING LOOKING FOR MY CINDERELLA CAKE.
Wow I'm so poetic.
(not pictured: more Greek salad)
This was another assigned meal, and they kept calling it hamburger but I'm still not 100% what the meat in this was. Either way, it was super meaty and I enjoyed it a lot. Especially since we were done performing for the next few days, so I could eat as much as I wanted :).
Yet another mystery desert...this one was a lot like the first. I think it might have been soaked in the same syrup? The cake was a little different in texture...almost the consistency of corn bread...very suspicious. But also very delicious!
And then we hopped on a bus and went to the beach!
Where I paid 8 euro for this pina colada!
And ate, YOU GUESSED IT, another Greek salad! Obsessed.
I also tried ouzo, which is NASTY stuff. I did not like it! But I also don't like anise. If you like anise you would probably like it. Like like like like.
This was about it for my culinary exploration of Greece. After we got back from the beach, I stayed in the hotel room (feeling sick from too much ouzo). Which is a shame, because a whole group of people went out to get some real Greek food! One of my few regrets on this entire trip was skipping out on that outing.
Although I did get to eat my one must-try for Greece! SPANAKOPITA! It was...well it was everything I expected it to be. The phyllo was tender, the spinach tasted fresh, and the feta was perfect. I would DEFINITELY do it again.
Of course, if I ever got the chance to do Greece again in general, I would definitely get more adventurous with the cuisine I try!
COMING SOON: Munich and Hungarian Hospitality (Hungary part 1).
