3 Kilograms and Counting...

Having a glorious time so far. My cousin John, his wife Iro, and their son Dmitri have been such gracious hosts, they have made everything so enjoyable and easy. In their fantastic home and neighborhood in Voula (southern suburb of Athens), I feel as if I've been at an exclusive and pampering resort. Spent most of the day Monday on Voula Beach, enjoying the perfect weather and the local beer.

Yesterday, my friend Rex (former rugby teammate who is on vacation here during summer break from his doctorate program at American University in DC) and I left Athens to drive over the canal to spend the day in the Peloponese. The Peloponese is the southern region of Greece, known for its beautiful seaside towns and sprawling hillsides covered in olive groves. We snapped some great pics of the canal (which I'll include, as soon as I figure out how to add them to this blog) before driving south to Archaeio Korinthos (ancient Corinth).

Archaeio Korinthos was beautiful; ruins of the Temple of Apollo surrounded by what's left of an old odeon, amphitheatre, and market place. Rex and I found ourselves picking and eating almonds out of tree next to 9,000-year-old ruins. Only in Greece.

We left Corinth and stopped at a roadside stand near Argos, where we bought some wine and talked with the owner. He asked which one of us was driving. When I told him that I was, he pulled out a bottle of homemade raki and did a shot with Rex. Rex pressed his fingers into his sinuses, began to cry, and described it as grappa on steroids. The owner sliced open a peponi (a very sweet Greek melon), shared it with us, and, of course, charged us nothing for all of the food and drink.

Speaking of eating and drinking, so far the trip has really been all about rekindling my love affair with Greek food. After Corinth, we drove down to Nafplio, a beautiful town sandwhiched between the Aegean Sea and some ancient military forts built on the overlooking hills. There we had lunch at Taverna o Vasilis (fittingly, Bill's Bar). We started with psomi (bread), feta psiti (grilled feta cheese) and dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice). Rex then had kouneli stifado (braised rabbit in a tomato, onion and clove sauce) while I scarfed down some arnaki fournou kai patates (roasted lamb and potatoes). Of course, we washed that all down with two carafes of rose krasi barelizia. Jim Paugh, that food description was for your vicarious eating pleasure...hope you enjoyed it.

We left Nafplio and drove back to Athens to meet my cousin John at a professional soccer game in Peristadi (a northern suburb of Athens), Atrometro vs. Iraklis FC. John worked for Iraklis a few years ago as a VP of Team Marketing, so we had the best seats in VIP section and John knew everybody there. Imagine attending a Redskins game with John Riggins...we sat right behind the mayor of Peristradi...

John then took us to his local watering hole where he ordered pork, chicken, beef, lamb and kokoretsi (lamb and pig kidneys and livers wrapped in bacon and grilled). We ate like vikings for an hour and then stopped at a bakery to take home some galaktobouriko (cake soaked in vanilla custard and wrapped in filo dough), which we ate while sipping some single barrel bourbon that Rex brought over from Schneider's on Capitol Hill.

Today, I'm going to start taking fiber.

OK, I'm off to the beach again, and then to the airport to pick up Amanda. Next blog entry will come from her.

Antio sas!

Bill