Say no more!
| Well I said lobster, but actually they are crayfish - and in most cases waterside tavernas have them available. To keep them fresh they are in a cage attached to a chain, sitting in the harbour. One asks for Lobster and lo! The cage is hoisted up, the contents inspected and the one of your choice is served up freshly cooked, with a simple accompaniment! | |
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This is a typical example of the Taverna at Sivota's food - fresh fish, grilled and served with lemon and a fresh white wine - hic, burp! |
| Of course the above are actually quite expensive, so one can't readily have them at every meal, so a nice simple lunch of bean & meat stew, Moussaka, bread, and of course Retsina to wash it down with. The retsina is Kourtaki one of the best of all, served in crown-corked 1/2 litre bottles, costing about 40 pence a time! A few bottles of that stuff and one is ready for the favourite afternoon activity - snoozing gently somewhere! But not on the beach in the sun - that's a recipe for disaster! | |
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Of course - Retsina, Ouzo, Raki (for the very brave) and Metaxa are not to everyone's liking - so hie yourself to Zeus' bar on the waterfront for a bewildering array of spirits, lagers (they keep the GLASSES in the deep freeze) and some of the most amazing cocktails ever seen. My favourite was the Carve Gybe - Creme De Cacao, Batida De Coco, Ice & Milk. By craftily waiting until the correct barman was free, one assured good value, as he was easily distracted, and at such times his elbow seemed to lock in position with the bottles above the glasses, and as they never ever used measures, cheers - hic! Perhaps the greatest coup of distraction occurred when I asked for a Carve Gybe and he set off making a Beach Bum, and when I pointed this out, he just added the ingredients for the Carve Gybe on top! Definitely hic! Wobble etc! |
This of course misses out the Kafenion where all the old Greeks would hang out playing backgammon, reading the papers, playing cards and generally sounding like war was about to break out! And also The Tunnel - for he best ever non-alcoholic cocktails with more fruit than Covent Garden and non-stop surfing and windsurfing videos. For sweets there was a specialist patisserie (or whatever the Greek term is) where one could buy the most amazing concoctions of honey, nuts and pastry, together with excellent Greek Coffee and of course a Metaxa to wash it all down with.
There was also a place selling everything in the ice-cream line (makes Ben & Jerry look unimaginative), a pizza place with the hugest pizzas you've ever seen and a strange restaurant run by English people offering things like Rabbit Stew (excellent if somewhat dangerous due to the lead shot!).
We found that Vangelis was the worlds expert on the noble art of Grilled Small Fishes (large sardines) and when our party of four turned up he rapidly produced a plate with 9 fish on it, each about 6 to 7 inches long and sizzling hot! Not bad for 90p per person we thought but how do we split the 9th one? And then the second plate appeared with again 9 large small fish, and away we went at those - really good value - and of course along came the third plate, shortly followed by the fourth! 10p EACH! And boy did the cats enjoy the heads, to the extent that one small kitten finally was stuck - and just sat there burping gently to itself. We would have smuggled the kitten away with it's periwinkle blue eyes, but as Vangelis was so proud of his cats we thought that would be cruel. Cats? Go See the Cat Page!
Getting There! - Around the Island - What to do - Wildlife - Locals - Food & Drink - Cats - Tavernas - Shopping