In Montreal

Sorry for the delay and confusion. I'm in Montreal, having left Otzma early to take of things back home.

And in an amazing turn of events...

I had a souvlaki for my last meal in Greece! Even at the semi niceish restaurant, I couldn't resist. It was lamb. There was no pita, but it was very big, so I count it. There was also no tzatziki. Is this official? I would like to say it is. An even 10. You gotta give it to me.

Back in Jerusalem now at the Politics and Society seminar. I've seen interesting speakers and done cool stuff like visit a settlement, Gush Etzion in the West Bank. I'll give a full report when I'm back in Haifa.

The last Gyro

I had what was mostly likely my final gyro in Greece today. Sabbas of course, back in Athens. I had chicken for a change of pace. That tzatziki was calling my name. And the man who makes them makes them so fast. He really is a legend. A hero worthy of Achilles, Herakles, Theseus rolled into one. Indeed, from outside of Sabbas you can see the Acropolis, and it makes me think that Greek civilization has come a long way, from the glory of Ancient Athens, democracy, philosophy, theatre and art to Sabbas' gyros. If you don't think that is progress, than you haven't tasted Sabbas.

Anyhow, that makes 9 gyros/souvlaki on the trip. Historians will always wonder whether I could have had that elusive tenth souvlaki. After all, I did opt for the Greek Mac, displaying my loyalty to McDonalds as an institution, rather than having another souvlaki. That would have put me at 10. My friend Brian had 10, and I know I could have as well. But 9 is a decent total I think.

It is very unlikely I have another one, cuz we're supposed to have a nice-ish Greek meal tonight. Of course, you never know. Anyways, I just want to thank all my fans out there, all the people who were rooting for me. You mean the world to me and when I get back to Israel I vow to renew my schwarma hunt with fiery determination.

The Ruins of Greece.. and the Racism

I suppose some of you are interested in the ruins of Greece. Well they are incredible. We've seen the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus in Athens, the Hephaestion, the oracle at Delphi, Ancient Mycennae and the National Archaelogical museum. Tomorrow we head for last day trip to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. What we have seen so far we loved, especially Delphi and Mycennae. In the winter, these smaller sites are located near ghost towns. There's not much to do in the eveving but the sites are far less crowded which is nice. We climbed down an ancient cistern at Mycennae, built around 1200 BC or so I think. We had a flashlight, it was pitch dark and we were by ourselves. And we saw the tomb of Agamemnon by ourselves. Awesome stuff.

We also saw a bunch of swastikas around Mycennae, and some graffiti that said "White Europe" and "White Revolution." Not awesome. And strange. Greece is 98% ethnically Greek and 98% Greek Orthodox according to Let's Go. The only black people we've seen seem to be African immigrants selling bootlegged CDs.

What Makes A Good Souvlaki?

According to Bill, the pita makes the souvlaki. Who is Bill? Bill was born in Montreal to Greek parents. He moved back to Greece when he was an infant and now runs the little supermarket/convenience store/depanneur in the small town of Mikines, or Mycenae, really a tourist town a couple of kilometers away from the museum and sites of Ancient Mycennae. He is very nice and friendly. But why is Bill an expert? Because from the ages of 19 to 22, he returned to Montreal and lived at Parc Extension, working in at Arahova Souvlaki on Parc Avenue. You can understand the excitement I felt when I heard this. I had just eaten at Arahova Souvlaki for the first time this past summer (not the one on Parc Avenue, but still). And Bill was genuinely interested on how the restaurants were doing, and reasonably excited (for a mid-30s guy living in what is a ghost town for most of the year) to hear that I had eaten there. Anyhow, he thinks the pita in Greece is much better and he is correct. He recognizes the importance of Tzatziki though, and I must admit it is the Tzatziki that makes the gyros at Sabbas stand out. It really is incredible.

Anyways, I'm back in Athens now. I had a couple more souvlakis in Patras (at a restaurant called Chick N Chicken). One had bacon. Then I had the Greek Mac at McDonalds here in Athens (which I am not counting in the total) and washed it down with a pork Sabbas gyro. So that brings the total to 8.

Also, Happy Hannukah Jewish readers. Can't remember if I wished you that or not. As you can see, I am celebrating by eating pork souvlaki and gyros. I promise to vhave latkes and sufganiot when I get back to Israel.

Thank Goodness it's...

Yes indeed. TGI Fridays exists in Greece. We went there last night in Patras and drank pitchers of Heineken.

The Great Souvlaki Controversy

Merry Christmas to my few but loyal Christian readers (I hope that I have a few, loyal Christian readers but I cannot be certain). I am in Patras, Greece now. I must alert you all to a recent discovery. Apparently, what I thought were Souvlaki, and indeed, what the man at Savvas and elsewhere had told me were souvlaki, are in fact Gyros. Gyros are like Schwarma, the meat is sliced off the rotating upright spit. Souvlaki, as I should have realized from my experiences in Montreal, are the chunks of meat, either chicken or pork. So I had another souvlaki yesterday, and a Gyro (chicken and pork respectively). My combined total of souvlaki and gyros is now 5, though only one of those was actually souvlaki. So I think I'm going to go with the combined total, cuz they all came in a pita and had tzatziki. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter? I'm hesitant to use another asterisk.

Schwarma 31* and now the Souvlaki count

Had my 31st* schwarma at Ben Gurion airport, then flew to Greece. I'm in Athens now. We explored a bit last night and had Mythos, a Greek beer which was below average, and my first Souvlaki. It was pork, delicious, at 2.30 (Euro) a decent price. We also walked around the Acropolis (but could not enter the grounds) and saw some impressive views.

Brian, Brent and I are staying at Hostel Zeus on Sofokleus street, a short walk from the Acropolis. The man at the desk is a Liverpoolian named Dean who seems kind of lost. But a nice guy. Today, we visited the Acropolis and all the ruins. There was not a lot of "Prince of Persian" architecture but it was still amazing. Really old stuff, incredilbe friezes, unbelievable temples. We walked in the Ancient Agora where Socrates (So-Craytes according to Bill and Ted) probably pestered people with annoying questions until they executed him. We also had the most incredible Souvlaki for lunch. Souvlaki Sabbas (or Savvas). It was recommended in Let's Go. The man had our souvlakis ready in about 4 seconds, lightnig service unrivalled anywhere except Wilensky's. And the Souvlakis were incredible, better than last night, and each 1.5 Euros. I had two, one pork and one chicken. I used to say Schwarma was poor man's souvlaki, but I'm not sure anymore. So now my souvlaki count is at 3. How many can I have in Greece? I'm gunning for 10, though I think 7 would be respectable.

It's unlikely that I'll have tonight though, as we're trying to find the Chabad House. I'll try to let you know how that goes. Tomorrow, to the National Archaelogical Museum and then off to Delphi.