Athens..Syntagma Square NYE and the Modern City & the Ancients
in production
Crete, museums, Plalace @ Knossos, a wedding and hospitality that almost kills Margie
Our First night in Crete
the view from Hotel window
Our Big Greek Wedding (anniversary)
Choosing a hotel in an unknown city can sometimes be a bit hit and miss even in this time of internet travel advisers. I tend to like the smaller eclectic places and when we were booking in Heraklion , Crete, the Lato Boutique seemed to fit the bill..
Still until we experience the hotel I am always a little apprehensive. Reality and marketing hype do not always co-incide.
The flight from Athens is uneventful. Soon we are taxiing to our Hotel. Booking in is a pleasure in Greece. People here are friendly and you get a feeling that you are arriving at a friends place for the weekend rather than engaging in a commercial transaction. The receptionist asks us about dinner and points out that the hotel has a good restaurant, Brillant, and they have live music tonight and very few places left. Well this could be marketing but we take the chance and ask her to make us a booking for 8.30pm.It is our wedding anniversary tomorrow so maybe it is fate.
We use the afternoon to check out the Archaeological Museum. The Museum is under renovation and the exhibits are scattered in two locations and some are not available at all. However there are some magnificent statues and the fresco of the bull vaulting that Margie has travelled 23,000 miles to see.
Back in the hotel we have a bit of a rest and prepare for dinner. We are shown to a seat by the door which is the only seat left in a packed house. Tonight there is a wedding.There are long tables wth families from Granny to young children. Reminiscent of such affairs in Australia the teenagers and young adults are on their own table .
We peruse the menu. It is modern Greek inspired food and looks great. We have loved the Greek food after being in France for the last couple of months. There are flavours here that we feel at home with. Garlic, olive oil, lemon. Rosemary and (to our surprise) dill. The food is fresh and not over worked. Salads are fresh vegetables with oil and lemon juice. Meat done simply, marinated and then on the grill .
Margie has an interesting entrée of cooked beetroot slices around a beetroot mousse. I have a shrimp risotto, more like paella, but very good. Our main course is (Margie)grilled swordfish and (Don) bonito (a close relative of tuna). This is a seaside city and they know how to do fish. Limited cooking on the grill with lemon, oil and spices. Margie’s swordfish is cooked perfectly. A little charred on the outside and juicy in the middle. My bonito has a light sauce that seems to feature verjuice juice and pomegranate. This is a satisfying mix of sweet and sour done with a light touch.
The meal is excellent but by the time we have finished the main course there is no room for dessert. We reluctantly decline the offer of further treats. This seems to be a great disappointment to our hosts. Not for the normal reason , ie, they wish to liberate a few more Euros from your wallet but rather because we are denying them the opportunity to offer further evidence of their hospitality.
Not to worry. Our complimentary dessert soon arrives. A delicious chocolate mousse with a dark chocolate top in a delightful sauce that again features the pomegranate. Only the most disciplined self deniers could turn this up. In any event if we had not eaten every last bit I am sure our hosts would have been reduced to tears.
I order a local port (also very good) as I have discovered I can drink more than I can eat. Anyway the band is warming up and we are in no hurry to leave.
This restaurant is a delight. The food terrific and the ambience modern and very tasteful. More importantly it is very professional. They immediately recognised that not being a part of the wedding party we could provide a logistics problem with the timing of the arrival of our food. They promoted out order and assigned a young waitress to make sure we were always looked after despite the potential turmoil of looking after 100+ wedding guests.
The entertainment is two middle aged men who have the appearance of wedding singers. One on keyboards and the other on guitar. They warm up with a couple of recognisable songs. Santana’s Black Magic Women gets a run. Soon however they are into the traditional Greek Music. A balalaika player joins in and a couple of more vocalists appear. It is not exactly clear whether they are entertainers, wedding guests or perhaps both.
There seems to be a protocol with the Greek dancing as one after another the dancers take to the floor. The bride and groom, the wedding party, the bride’s father and perhaps the grooms parents all have a go at centre stage. The others, or at least those that can easily get up and walk crouch around the outside of the dance floor and provide the rhythmic clapping to encourage the dancer. Then everyone joins in. The older girls teach the young ones the dances and even the 4 and 5 year olds are hitting the floor. The bride’s father gets the microphone and makes a pretty good fist of a couple of traditional songs. One of the singers, who we presumed was a guest, but is perhaps a professional entertainer and resembles Jose Cararras and has a wonderful voice. He is well assisted by a tall dark haired woman who could be Nana Maoskouri except much younger.
No one seems to mind us being here and we have a front row seat. We stumble off to our room after midnight. When we left the 2 original band members had been playing for 2 &1/2 hours without a break. We are later told that the party wrapped up at 7.30 am Saturday morning.
We watch from our window the old Venetian Port light’s tinkling reflections in the water and bless our luck. I’m going to take up dancing.
Choosing a hotel in an unknown city can sometimes be a bit hit and miss even in this time of internet travel advisers. I tend to like the smaller eclectic places and when we were booking in Heraklion , Crete, the Lato Boutique seemed to fit the bill..
Still until we experience the hotel I am always a little apprehensive. Reality and marketing hype do not always co-incide.
The flight from Athens is uneventful. Soon we are taxiing to our Hotel. Booking in is a pleasure in Greece. People here are friendly and you get a feeling that you are arriving at a friends place for the weekend rather than engaging in a commercial transaction. The receptionist asks us about dinner and points out that the hotel has a good restaurant, Brillant, and they have live music tonight and very few places left. Well this could be marketing but we take the chance and ask her to make us a booking for 8.30pm.It is our wedding anniversary tomorrow so maybe it is fate.
We use the afternoon to check out the Archaeological Museum. The Museum is under renovation and the exhibits are scattered in two locations and some are not available at all. However there are some magnificent statues and the fresco of the bull vaulting that Margie has travelled 23,000 miles to see.
Back in the hotel we have a bit of a rest and prepare for dinner. We are shown to a seat by the door which is the only seat left in a packed house. Tonight there is a wedding.There are long tables wth families from Granny to young children. Reminiscent of such affairs in Australia the teenagers and young adults are on their own table .
We peruse the menu. It is modern Greek inspired food and looks great. We have loved the Greek food after being in France for the last couple of months. There are flavours here that we feel at home with. Garlic, olive oil, lemon. Rosemary and (to our surprise) dill. The food is fresh and not over worked. Salads are fresh vegetables with oil and lemon juice. Meat done simply, marinated and then on the grill .
Margie has an interesting entrée of cooked beetroot slices around a beetroot mousse. I have a shrimp risotto, more like paella, but very good. Our main course is (Margie)grilled swordfish and (Don) bonito (a close relative of tuna). This is a seaside city and they know how to do fish. Limited cooking on the grill with lemon, oil and spices. Margie’s swordfish is cooked perfectly. A little charred on the outside and juicy in the middle. My bonito has a light sauce that seems to feature verjuice juice and pomegranate. This is a satisfying mix of sweet and sour done with a light touch.
The meal is excellent but by the time we have finished the main course there is no room for dessert. We reluctantly decline the offer of further treats. This seems to be a great disappointment to our hosts. Not for the normal reason , ie, they wish to liberate a few more Euros from your wallet but rather because we are denying them the opportunity to offer further evidence of their hospitality.
Not to worry. Our complimentary dessert soon arrives. A delicious chocolate mousse with a dark chocolate top in a delightful sauce that again features the pomegranate. Only the most disciplined self deniers could turn this up. In any event if we had not eaten every last bit I am sure our hosts would have been reduced to tears.
I order a local port (also very good) as I have discovered I can drink more than I can eat. Anyway the band is warming up and we are in no hurry to leave.
This restaurant is a delight. The food terrific and the ambience modern and very tasteful. More importantly it is very professional. They immediately recognised that not being a part of the wedding party we could provide a logistics problem with the timing of the arrival of our food. They promoted out order and assigned a young waitress to make sure we were always looked after despite the potential turmoil of looking after 100+ wedding guests.
The entertainment is two middle aged men who have the appearance of wedding singers. One on keyboards and the other on guitar. They warm up with a couple of recognisable songs. Santana’s Black Magic Women gets a run. Soon however they are into the traditional Greek Music. A balalaika player joins in and a couple of more vocalists appear. It is not exactly clear whether they are entertainers, wedding guests or perhaps both.
There seems to be a protocol with the Greek dancing as one after another the dancers take to the floor. The bride and groom, the wedding party, the bride’s father and perhaps the grooms parents all have a go at centre stage. The others, or at least those that can easily get up and walk crouch around the outside of the dance floor and provide the rhythmic clapping to encourage the dancer. Then everyone joins in. The older girls teach the young ones the dances and even the 4 and 5 year olds are hitting the floor. The bride’s father gets the microphone and makes a pretty good fist of a couple of traditional songs. One of the singers, who we presumed was a guest, but is perhaps a professional entertainer and resembles Jose Cararras and has a wonderful voice. He is well assisted by a tall dark haired woman who could be Nana Maoskouri except much younger.
No one seems to mind us being here and we have a front row seat. We stumble off to our room after midnight. When we left the 2 original band members had been playing for 2 &1/2 hours without a break. We are later told that the party wrapped up at 7.30 am Saturday morning.
We watch from our window the old Venetian Port light’s tinkling reflections in the water and bless our luck. I’m going to take up dancing.
The World is One at Orient House
 Blue Mosque @ night
On our last night in Istanbul we decide on a dinner show rather than spending the money on an expensive restaurant. We have seen shows in London, Dublin and Venice and have always enjoyed them. There are several on offer but only one with food and entertainment. The place is called Orient House and is nearby. We ask the concierge to make a booking and are pleasantly surprised by the news that they will send a car to pick us up at 8.30 and return us at midnight. As it is still snowing outside so even a short walk on steep slippery cobbled roads can be a hazard. No-one really wants to fall over and go sliding down a frozen back street at midnight in Istanbul..
We are ready to go when the driver arrives. The other passengers are speaking English so I ask where they are from. Australia they reply. Where in Australia? Canberra. We travel 20,000 kilometres to end up in a car on a cold night in Istanbul with a family from just up the Hume Highway. At the restaurant we are shown to table right in front of the stage. The very sweet girl at the door confirms that we are Australian and an Australian flag is placed on our table. Already musicians are seated on the stage playing traditional Turkish music. A drum, a tamborine, a long woodwind instrument much like a clarinet, a small balalaika, a zither and a violin made up the band. Some food arrives, the obligatory free nibbles, and our orders are taken. The food menu has limited choice but we are getting used to the Turkish menus now. Margie has a meze plate, lamb kebabs and Turkish pastries and I go for the cold meat plate, grilled chicken and a fruit platter. The will be no Michelin Stars awarded for this offering but it is consistent with what one would expect from a Theatre Restaurant anywhere. |
Village life
Traditional dancing
The youngest dancer
Thats all folks
|
The compere takes the stage and works his way around the various tables introducing each of the nationalities present. There are groups from Portugal, Croatia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Azerbyjan, Bella Russia, a few locals and 5 of us from Australia. The compere addresses each group greeting them in there own language and even engaging in some repartee. I thought this was pretty impressive and it certainly worked to get everyone onside and engaged in the show.
Then there is some singing and dancing in traditional Turkish costumes. There is a demonstration of village life. The running commentary is given by the compare in various languages but in addition there is a special taped segment in Korean for this group.
Then more traditional dancing that includes 3 performances of belly dancing. The novice first and she is pretty good but she is followed by a spectacular dark haired beauty who gives an amazing performance. Scant yet tasteful costumes are covered with hundreds of glittering gold discs which shimmer and sparkle in the stage lights as they are shaken by the frantic rhythmic undulations of the wearer. This girl can manage a head toss, boob shake and hip thrust in perfect time in the space of 3 drumbeats. The abdominal undulations are also very impressive.
The third belly dancer is obviously the older stateswoman of the profession. She is a fine fit looking woman but a certain hardness of the face gives up her 45 plus years. She is lithe and obviously an expert practitioner. She is also able to have a bit of fun with a shy 12 year old boy who is volunteered by the Croatian group for some on stage dancing lessons.
The compare takes the stage again and there is a sing around the world where he invites each group to sing along with him one of their national songs. We get Waltzing Matilda. Again his linguistic virtuosity is impressive. He then gets some women from each group on stage for a dance off. Luckily for Margie the mother/daughter pair from Canberra are keen to represent Australia. The shy Koreans take a lot of coaxing before they nominate one timid fawn to participate. On the other hand the 2 Croatian girls were on the stage in a flash. After a bit if fun and some audience judging 4 participants are declared joint winners. The mother from Canberra is among them
Then it is time to close the show and the compare invites everyone to join in singing One World. This has been very much the theme of the evening.
We have enjoyed the night. Maybe I enjoyed it a little more than Margie but well I did trudge though all those art galleries.
The compare closes with a Turkish proverb that, on a night where people from all over the world have joined in a common endeavour to have a good time, seems particularly apposite.
“When there is peace in the home there will be peace in the World”.
Goodnight and goodbye Istanbul.
Then there is some singing and dancing in traditional Turkish costumes. There is a demonstration of village life. The running commentary is given by the compare in various languages but in addition there is a special taped segment in Korean for this group.
Then more traditional dancing that includes 3 performances of belly dancing. The novice first and she is pretty good but she is followed by a spectacular dark haired beauty who gives an amazing performance. Scant yet tasteful costumes are covered with hundreds of glittering gold discs which shimmer and sparkle in the stage lights as they are shaken by the frantic rhythmic undulations of the wearer. This girl can manage a head toss, boob shake and hip thrust in perfect time in the space of 3 drumbeats. The abdominal undulations are also very impressive.
The third belly dancer is obviously the older stateswoman of the profession. She is a fine fit looking woman but a certain hardness of the face gives up her 45 plus years. She is lithe and obviously an expert practitioner. She is also able to have a bit of fun with a shy 12 year old boy who is volunteered by the Croatian group for some on stage dancing lessons.
The compare takes the stage again and there is a sing around the world where he invites each group to sing along with him one of their national songs. We get Waltzing Matilda. Again his linguistic virtuosity is impressive. He then gets some women from each group on stage for a dance off. Luckily for Margie the mother/daughter pair from Canberra are keen to represent Australia. The shy Koreans take a lot of coaxing before they nominate one timid fawn to participate. On the other hand the 2 Croatian girls were on the stage in a flash. After a bit if fun and some audience judging 4 participants are declared joint winners. The mother from Canberra is among them
Then it is time to close the show and the compare invites everyone to join in singing One World. This has been very much the theme of the evening.
We have enjoyed the night. Maybe I enjoyed it a little more than Margie but well I did trudge though all those art galleries.
The compare closes with a Turkish proverb that, on a night where people from all over the world have joined in a common endeavour to have a good time, seems particularly apposite.
“When there is peace in the home there will be peace in the World”.
Goodnight and goodbye Istanbul.
Snow at the Palace
