eating food and visiting the central markets

Due to covid, my hostel has decided to close the kitchen and the the laundry room. Because of that, I have needed to either order food via Volt for delivery, order from the menu at my rooftop, or go out and eat. But since it's only for a limited period of time, and the beginning of my journey, I have enjoyed it to the fullest. 

On Thursday I woke up starving, and I had written with some students on the day before and decided that we would meet up for brunch. So once again I woke up, got dressed, and started walking. 29 minutes later I was there, but unfortunately the restaurant we planned to visit (Queen Bee) was full, so we went across the street to the next place. And I do not mean in any way that it was a bad place, but neither would I recommend it. It didn't even satisfy my hunger...

After brunch we walked in to the city center, went to some stores, walked down the Monastiraki Flea Market, and then we went to a place I had passed with Mia earlier that week called Ellyz. The other students were from Portugal, Finland and Germany and we had so much to talk about and to learn from each other. 

Before going home, we also visited the Central Municipal Athens food market which is only a few hundred meters from my hostel, and which has been there since 1884 from Monday to Saturday 8-18. In the centre of the building you have the fish market which is actually the largest fresh fish market in Europe with about five to ten tons of fresh fish arriving daily from the Greek islands. Inside, but in a separate building, you have the meat market and surrounding the market there are stalls and speciality food shops with a variety of nuts, dried fruit, spices and more. On the road next to the market you will find the vegetable and fruit market. As you may have guessed by now: I have a great interest in food.

*A good advice: If you are buying nuts or similar, only buy from the places that has covers over their products. I've seen a lot of places with pigeons walking around...

I barely had time to shower and change my clothes before I met up with some of the students for dinner. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had had dinner in the neighborhood Anafiotika the night before and fell in love with the area, so I suggested the area and together we walked around until we found a nice restaurant with a rooftop. The food wasn't the best, but the view was breathtaking. 

After the dinner we walked around in the small streets as most of the shops were still open, stopped for ice cream along the way and sat down at a bar with live music for a drink before going home. As a girl (and according to me) it's too unsafe as a girl to walk around alone in Athens as soon as it gets dark. But so far I had never been alone as we always followed each other home to the door. 

*A good advice: In Athens people use the app "Beat" in order to get around in the city with taxi. Most of all, it is a safe way to get home and the taxidrivers are extremely friendly and trustworthy (and does not try to flirt...). But also it is super cheap! A ride across the city costs around 4-6€. A price that's definitely worth paying to get home safely. 

The day ended with a total of 19,000 steps (which I've come to realize will be a normal day for me in Athens). And just like that, I had already been in Athens for three days. And even though the introduction week had not even begun yet, I had already met so many students.

With love, Elsa ♡