Tag Archives: food tour

Clean Monday

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see the video here

See video

 

 

 

“Clean Monday “, Kathari Deytera,  is the the beginning of the great Lent of the Greek Orthodox Easter also known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday or Shrove Monday. The common term for this day, “Clean Monday”, refers to the leaving behind of sinful attitudes and non-fasting foods.

It is a movable feast that occurs at the beginning of the 7th week before Orthodox Easter Sunday which is going to be on April 15 this year, 2012.

 

Delicious lagana bread (photo: onair24.gr)

Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece, where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting foods such as crabs, mussels, cuttlefish, pickles ,fish roe, olives, halva which is a sweet made with sesame oil, and a special kind of azyme bread, baked only on this day, named “lagana” and the widespread custom of flying kites. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally avoided by the majority of  the Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days, but shellfish and vegetables are part of the main diet.

Trying to fly the kites high, ...but no wind! (photo: tlife.gr)

People on Clean Monday usually take their picnic baskets and put inside fasting foods because it is the day that Lent begins and also take with them their kites.This year though it was cold and wet but that did not stop people from going to the market to buy all fasting goodies. Yiannis from Athens Walking Tours, came to the main food market of an area in Athens called “Nea Ionia” and made this short video to transfer you to the clean Monday atmosphere.

Athens Food Tour

 

Learn about Athens through your stomach

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Central-market

I believe you can learn a lot about a place and its culture through food. I wanted to know the stories behind the popular round-shaped bread called koulouri and the Central Market, which I had found on my own explorations of Athens. So, I signed up for the Food Tour based on other reviews for the Athens Walking Tours. I went solo and was joined by five other people who also wanted to taste the culinary delights of Athens. They purposely keep the group size small so you have a relaxed, intimate experience and don’t crowd the shops, stalls and restaurants. We were met by our guide, Angelo, outside the Panepistimiou metro station. He was energetic, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Not only did we learn about the food we were sampling, but Angelo also gave us a background in the Greek Mediterranean diet (both traditional and modern) and historical tidbits about the Athens neighborhoods we visited. Our stops included a koulouri vendor, a traditional “home-cooking” restaurant that made delicious, light and fluffy donuts served with honey and nuts; an outstanding grocery store that carries high quality Greek products, such as olive oil, wine, fruit preserves, cheese and olives (we sampled many of them and then got to shop!); a traditional meat delicatessen, a herb shop, and a couple fast food cafes, one that served freshly made bougatsa and the other was a modern place specializing in soulvaki. The tour was everything I was hoping for! It was a great way to spend a few hours eating and exploring Athens. I learned things that are only possible with the insight of a local. I highly recommend this tour if you like to walk, eat, and experience new things.

jessnagtalon

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

How Athens Walking Tours started!

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OUR HISTORY

Despina_s

It was back in 2004

when I was sitting in my husband’s office, tired after a city bus tour in German. I put my fist on the table and said “I do not want to do this any more, it is too long, too tiring, too boring”. I had completed 26 years of tour guiding in Athens and around Greece, being away from my family –kids and husband for many days or stuck in Athenian traffic, sitting behind the dark glass of a tour bus, trying to bring Greek history to life. My husband looked at me in astonishment not believing I would give up on my big passion which was guiding, so he suggested I do walking tours like the ones we had experienced in other cities.

I liked the idea; I love Athens and its history so it was a pleasure for me to sit down and work out some walking programs where at last I could show visitors the real Athens. I day dreamed how nice it would be to walk with them, show them the secret corners of this ancient city where they could feel the pulse of the city.

 

So we printed some brochures and placed them in the hotels where the response was minimal; obviously my idea for creating cultural walking tours in Athens was still quite premature for the Athenian travel scene.

 

But I did not loose faith and instead decided on creating a web site, even though I felt like I was in another universe when it came to computer skills; I had been a tour guide all my life, I hardly even knew how to use the “mouse”. With the help and encouragement of my family, and the patient hours of computer lessons they took turns offering, I soon began to get a grip on things.

 

Frank and his wife from Boston, Rellie and Patrick from Oregon, were my first on-line clientsto book a walking tour and I was overwhelmed with happiness and excitement! When I asked them how they found me they said they had seen a review on Trip Advisor which at that time I had no idea what it was.

 

I realized that a new era had begun for me. From 2005 to 2006 I personally guided every single Athens Walking Tours guest, I rejoiced when I received “thank you mails” or reading all the rave reviews on forums, papers, magazines or guide books. Thanks to these reviews our business increased and by 2007 I hired two more guides. By 2008 that number had increased to 10. Today, the Athens Walking Tours is proud to have a team of 20 excellent licensed tour guides, is ranked as the #1 activity in Athens on Trip Advisor and is a thriving company with a full time staff of 7 employees in the marketing, operations and accounting departments.

 

I am extremely proud of this accomplishmentand I still see the company as “my baby”. I still love to guide and offering our Athens Walking Tour guests a high quality cultural experience during their stay in Athens; this will always be my number one priority.

 

Despina Savvidou
Founder of the Athens Walking Tours and Licensed Tour Guide