Last night in Athens

View from our tenth floor hotel room in the ghetto

Grafitti approaching the acropolis

Last night in Athens

Our room is in the neighborhood of Omonia. Everytime I mentioned it to anyone, they gawked and scowled. I guess it's a neighborhood with a pretty bad reputation. Oh well. Eden and I had no problems and they have a great lounge. We also had a full bath tub and a large veranda. We'll stay there again on our last night in Athens, the 23rd which is sadly fast approaching.

On our last night in Athens, Uncle Sameeh invited Eden and I out to have a "meat" dinner at the same place I joined him and Uncle Suhail more than 2 weeks ago. It was incredible. I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of the meat platter. I guess I just got so excited when I came that I completely forgot my name, let alone the camera. The shot of Eden includes the pre-platter. Mazzay in Greek is similar to tappas in Spain or Mazza in Arabic. It included, if I can remember it all, a Greek salad, an unbelievably delicious potato salad, perfectly steamed squash, a steamed green resembling spinich and perfect with lemon and olive oil, Kalamata olives like none I've ever had, fresh veggies, babaganoush, a plate of fried zuccini came but wasn't greasy at all, unbelievable, I'm sure I've forgotten something. It was just incredible. And we washed it all down with a red wine. Oh, and the meat was all lamb, grilled chops and Kifteh. Yum. It was a feast we wouldn't have splurged on ourselves but Uncle was flattered too, to be with two lovely dates in one of his regular hang-outs.

I like my uncle very much. Family always scared me in the past because of the traditionalists in our family. But Uncle Sameeh in Athens is a regular person, very kind, generous and actually very interesting in all his political affairs. He began writing speeches for his uncle in parliment at the age of 14.