Greece: Karakoy Gulluoglu
Despite being on vacation abroad, my family spent NYE as we usually do...in bed. My parents were asleep well before the clock struck midnight, while my sister and I were watching sports fights on Youtube (Chinese basketball teams need to calm down, yo) when we heard the fireworks. We caught a bit of the show from our Airbnb balcony, but quickly lost interest and turned in for the night.
Most everything was closed in Athens on New Year's Day, which made it the perfect day to do a quick hike up Mount Lycabettus. Or so we thought. Halfway up, I lost track of the main trail. Spotting what seemed like a path, we started a steep ascent through the shrubbery. Then out of nowhere, a deafening explosion-like sound ripped through the air above our heads. We all froze.
My first thought was that the city was under attack. I strained my ears to listen for sirens. My mother later told me she initially thought it was a warning shot telling us to get back on the trail.
When the explosion-sound happened again, we squatted. (Apparently that's our survival instincts kicking in. In times of potential danger, we Asian squat and cover our ears.) A few minutes later, the blast came again. And again.
By the third time, we were no longer scared. At least not for our lives. Scared of going deaf, maybe. My father continued up the path to investigate while my sister whipped out her cell phone. A quick Google search later (after filming a video for her Snapchat first, of course), she reported that it's a New Year's Day tradition in Athens to fire multiple cannon salutes from Mount Lycabettus.
With our ears still covered, we caught up with my father. We made it to the cannon location right as they were preparing to leave. My father was very disappointed to have missed the show. The rest of us were glad to enjoy the views in peace:
The rest of the day was much less exciting. With most restaurants closed, my father made us steaks for lunch and my mother made ramen and pan fried fish for dinner. The ramen we packed from the States (we're so Asian). The fish and steaks my father bought days in advance at Varvakeios Market. He does so love to plan ahead.
The next day, it was back to hitting the streets in search of food. Hoping for a light gyros lunch, we were bummed to discover both Kostas and O Kostas to be closed. We did, however, stumble across Karakoy Gulluoglu:
It seems like whenever we're struggling to locate lunch, we somehow always end up finding dessert first:
We had no idea what was what and the store clerk didn't speak much English, so we ended up just pointing at things.
This was a mystery to us:
It turned out to be some kind of poached nectarine. I did not enjoy it as I didn't like the wine-based syrup. Blech.
The various kinds of baklava were much more up my alley:
Super sweet, but delicious in small bites, the baklava came in different shapes and were filled with either walnuts or pistachios. Apparently there was also chocolate baklava, but we didn't get any because we were afraid it might be too sweet for us. All the prices were written in Greek, so I have no idea how much we spent on each item. I only know that they were sold by the kilo.
If you're looking for a place to get baklava, look no further. Karakoy Gulluoglu has baklava as far as the eye can see. Buy a couple. Buy a box. Buy all the boxes.
Just be prepared to need a gyro to help offset the sweetness.
Karakoy Gulluoglu
10 Nikis, Athens 105 63, Greece
+30 21 0321 3959
Most everything was closed in Athens on New Year's Day, which made it the perfect day to do a quick hike up Mount Lycabettus. Or so we thought. Halfway up, I lost track of the main trail. Spotting what seemed like a path, we started a steep ascent through the shrubbery. Then out of nowhere, a deafening explosion-like sound ripped through the air above our heads. We all froze.
My first thought was that the city was under attack. I strained my ears to listen for sirens. My mother later told me she initially thought it was a warning shot telling us to get back on the trail.
When the explosion-sound happened again, we squatted. (Apparently that's our survival instincts kicking in. In times of potential danger, we Asian squat and cover our ears.) A few minutes later, the blast came again. And again.
By the third time, we were no longer scared. At least not for our lives. Scared of going deaf, maybe. My father continued up the path to investigate while my sister whipped out her cell phone. A quick Google search later (after filming a video for her Snapchat first, of course), she reported that it's a New Year's Day tradition in Athens to fire multiple cannon salutes from Mount Lycabettus.
With our ears still covered, we caught up with my father. We made it to the cannon location right as they were preparing to leave. My father was very disappointed to have missed the show. The rest of us were glad to enjoy the views in peace:
The rest of the day was much less exciting. With most restaurants closed, my father made us steaks for lunch and my mother made ramen and pan fried fish for dinner. The ramen we packed from the States (we're so Asian). The fish and steaks my father bought days in advance at Varvakeios Market. He does so love to plan ahead.
The next day, it was back to hitting the streets in search of food. Hoping for a light gyros lunch, we were bummed to discover both Kostas and O Kostas to be closed. We did, however, stumble across Karakoy Gulluoglu:
It seems like whenever we're struggling to locate lunch, we somehow always end up finding dessert first:
We had no idea what was what and the store clerk didn't speak much English, so we ended up just pointing at things.
This was a mystery to us:
It turned out to be some kind of poached nectarine. I did not enjoy it as I didn't like the wine-based syrup. Blech.
The various kinds of baklava were much more up my alley:
Super sweet, but delicious in small bites, the baklava came in different shapes and were filled with either walnuts or pistachios. Apparently there was also chocolate baklava, but we didn't get any because we were afraid it might be too sweet for us. All the prices were written in Greek, so I have no idea how much we spent on each item. I only know that they were sold by the kilo.
If you're looking for a place to get baklava, look no further. Karakoy Gulluoglu has baklava as far as the eye can see. Buy a couple. Buy a box. Buy all the boxes.
Just be prepared to need a gyro to help offset the sweetness.
Karakoy Gulluoglu
10 Nikis, Athens 105 63, Greece
+30 21 0321 3959
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