Spices, Beans, and Butchers, Oh my!: Exploring the Central Market

(Due to heavy rains and tons of reading, I haven't been blogging at a usual pace. These next posts are make up ones for the weekend)

Saturday, I finally made it out to the street market on Xenokratous where I purchased some of the freshest strawberries I've ever tasted (they were very red and pretty...some still had flower petals!), some onions, and some tomatoes. I was able to get a kilo (1 Kilogram = 2.2 Pounds) of rice for about 1.20 Euros ($1.50 in USD). Believe it or not, it was the better than any price of rice in the store (which is usu. more than 1.50 Euros for half a kilo).

Still excited from the market experience (you pick out fruit/veg/whatever, venders weight it, then you pay), I decided to go to the Central Market with my roommate. Before we made it to the market, I wanted to find a little shop called Elixir that I had read about online. Check out the panorama view of the place even though it does not do it justice. The place looks like what I imagined an old apothecary in Medieval times would look like: spices hanging from the ceilings, colorful powdered mixes in drawers, incense smoking up the place, and herbs of every shape, size, and smell crammed in a overall small shop.

I can't even describe the smell because it was a mix of so many different herbs and spices, but it wasn't overpowering or sneeze-inducing. It was just such an interesting place that I will have to go back to before I leave Athens. Plus, my roommate and I couldn't decide whether or not to get a jar of the 20+ different types of infused honey they had like lavender honey or mandarin orange honey! They are pretty pricey, but the jars are big and I'm sure they are all very classy considering the overall quality of the materials. Did I mention the cinnamon sticks? There were some that came up to my knee and upper thigh, bundled together in twine. It was quite a (dare I say it) magical place, even though the worker was pretty greasily looking and stared us down while we were looking around.

The Central Market! What a loud, busy, funny place. Just imagine people and food everywhere. Some good finds: a pack of homemade, fresh pita bread for .80 Euro cents, kilos of black beans (YES! Finally!) and pinto beans for under 4.00 Euros, and tons of mental notes for where I need to come shopping for A LOT of stuff. It was cool because I got to use a little Greek, but then confusing because sellers assumed I was Greek, so I had to admit I didn't understand what they were saying. The interesting aspect of visiting the central market was the multiculturalism throughout all the seller. Most of them were not Greek, but Turkish, Indian, etc. What does this mean? I got asked constantly where I was from (see the paragraph below for further details). Apparently I can pass as a member of A LOT of different countries (thanks ancestors!). It was a little sad though because many people were disappointed when they learned I was from America and not their home country...like they missed that cultural connection. I can see how they feel since there aren't too many Mexicans-Americans roaming around Athens (BUT see the last paragraph!)

ANYWAY, overall the experience was pretty amazing because I have never really shopped for food that way in America. I won't even mention in detail the mountains of fresh sausage (easily 10+ different kinds) that tempted me. For an appropriate visual, just look at the following picture to your right.

Needless to say, I'll be going back there again...except maybe for the fresh meat area. There is this huge section of the Central Market indoors in a warehouse-type building with tons of meat vendors (chicken, beef, pork, lamb, everything) that have precut meat OR will cut the meat right there for you. I'm sure if I had looked behind the vendors' curtains, I'd have found some cows just waiting...pretty bad, but upside (if you like meat), you get it incredibly fresh and at very good prices. BUT, back to the butcher problem. I must have stepped in some butcher catnip or something, because right as soon as I entered the meat market, I was swarmed by butchers. At first, they were just trying to sell the random cuts of meat (in Gk. "Miss, fresh chicken!", then it got awkward. I've never been asked "Where are you from?" (Gk. transliterated "Apo pou iste?") so many time in my life in such a short amount of time.

Some "ooo baby" and "Miss, your name! Your name!" later, I was looking for an escape route. You would think that they had not seen a woman in years (vendors were abandoning their selling posts for gosh sakes), but there were other women in there too! My roommate was really surprised and perplexed because she said that has never happened any of the times she has been there (with other people as well as alone). Again, butcher catnip + the unidentifiableness of my features = Love Potion No. 9 effect. Honestly, it wouldn't have been so bad (I was ignoring it) except a group started following us and touching our arms/shoulders with their meat hands! I know it's fresh, but still! Long story short (too late!), we escaped and I still think it was strange and funny. If I ever feel down, I know I can take a stroll through the meat market and replace depression with nervousness and fight or flight response!

An end note to the whole escapade of the Central Market wanderings: I decided to seek out a Mexican restaurant that I had read about online because the address was rather close to the Central Market. After getting lost and having to wander down some more sketchy street, my roomie and I found Meson de Mirador, an "authentic Mexican restaurant." I have yet to discover their definition of "authentic" because it was closed when we found it and we were too tired to wait around till it opened. However, it makes me excited to think I might enjoy some Mexican cuisine!

Reminder: pictures will follow...promise! I just haven't loaded them on my roommate's computer yet. The computers at the school won't recognize my camera, so I am going to have to put them online through my roommate's computer, which can only happen while at the Academic Center. Confusing and complicated- Check!