We arrived at our Hapimag address in Plaka on Saturday evening and had a stroll through the very lively streets before turning in. The location of our apartment is perfect and we can walk everywhere!
It was now Sunday 26th April and today we are heading off for lunch at Tiki and Nolly's house. Tiki (Eftychios Hadjioannou) was CEO of Eurodata one of ICL's dealers when we lived in Greece and we became firm friends. Last time we visited we were shown Tiki's vineyard and we have been promised a tasting of his latest wines!
After a leisurely morning with breakfast at a café in Plaka we watched the world go by until it was time to head off to Tiki's.We walked to the Metro station at Monostiraki and caught the metro to Kifissia where George Koliris had kindly agreed to meet us. All was spot on time and George was there within a few minutes of us arriving. Kifissia was very busy and clearly it is a popular Sunday outing for shopping, coffee and cakes! Also invited to the lunch was George Askaroglou and his wife Anna who we also know very well. Askaroglou was Technical Director at Eurodata and Koliris was Sales Director.
George K was uncertain of the route to Tiki's house so we had agreed to go first to George A's house (do please keep up!!) and follow him. We duly arrived at Tiki's very large house complete with an enormous basement to house all of the wine making equipment and wine racks (500 bottles of red and 275 bottles of white from the last harvest).
It was beautiful day so we were delighted to find that a BBQ and eating out on the terrace was the plan. Now Tiki has always been an expert BBQ man and we have fond memories of lamb and octopus on the BBQ all those years ago. The new BBQ in his garden is quite something.
We had a wonderful afternoon, excellent food, great company and lively conversation. Tiki's winemaking has really progressed and the white was good but the red was truly excellent (and the spirit made from the grape skins, similar to Marc or Grappa was good too).
In typical Greek fashion lunch finished about 6pm and we then headed back to our apartment. During the lunch conversation, Tiki told us that his elder son Antony and his wife Christina, now lived in Ragava Street in Plaka and would love to see us if we had time. We knew Antony, and his brother Philip, well from our time in Greece when Antony was 12; he is now 46! In fact there is an excellent photo of Antony and Philip from the time we lived in Greece taken by Ray in Tiki and Nolly's house
George Koliris took us back to Kifissia station and we were soon back in our apartment; we called Antony to see if we could find a time to meet and after much debate it was decided that the best time was now!! So off we went for the 5 minute walk to Antony's house and we spent a really nice hour or so with them in their lovely house right in the centre of Plaka. The street is actually very quiet but literally just 2 mins walk from the hubbub of tourist Plaka. Their house is fascinating with some exposed walls dating from 500 BC.
The next day, Monday we had a day to ourselves and after a leisurely breakfast at a café and a visit to the osteopath for Ray to sort out a niggling spinal nerve problem, we wandered around Athens, including climbing up to the Acropolis. From the Acropolis, you can see clearly the density of the city, something which also seemed very apparent on our approach to Athens Airport when we first arrived.
As we said after our last visit to Athens two years ago the city is immeasurably wealthier than it was when we lived here in 1980/81 and we were surprised at how busy the city was and certainly no shortage of tourists. Having said that, there are quite a lot of closed businesses and our friends here are very, very concerned about what the future holds.
It was now Sunday 26th April and today we are heading off for lunch at Tiki and Nolly's house. Tiki (Eftychios Hadjioannou) was CEO of Eurodata one of ICL's dealers when we lived in Greece and we became firm friends. Last time we visited we were shown Tiki's vineyard and we have been promised a tasting of his latest wines!
After a leisurely morning with breakfast at a café in Plaka we watched the world go by until it was time to head off to Tiki's.We walked to the Metro station at Monostiraki and caught the metro to Kifissia where George Koliris had kindly agreed to meet us. All was spot on time and George was there within a few minutes of us arriving. Kifissia was very busy and clearly it is a popular Sunday outing for shopping, coffee and cakes! Also invited to the lunch was George Askaroglou and his wife Anna who we also know very well. Askaroglou was Technical Director at Eurodata and Koliris was Sales Director.
George K was uncertain of the route to Tiki's house so we had agreed to go first to George A's house (do please keep up!!) and follow him. We duly arrived at Tiki's very large house complete with an enormous basement to house all of the wine making equipment and wine racks (500 bottles of red and 275 bottles of white from the last harvest).
It was beautiful day so we were delighted to find that a BBQ and eating out on the terrace was the plan. Now Tiki has always been an expert BBQ man and we have fond memories of lamb and octopus on the BBQ all those years ago. The new BBQ in his garden is quite something.
We had a wonderful afternoon, excellent food, great company and lively conversation. Tiki's winemaking has really progressed and the white was good but the red was truly excellent (and the spirit made from the grape skins, similar to Marc or Grappa was good too).
In typical Greek fashion lunch finished about 6pm and we then headed back to our apartment. During the lunch conversation, Tiki told us that his elder son Antony and his wife Christina, now lived in Ragava Street in Plaka and would love to see us if we had time. We knew Antony, and his brother Philip, well from our time in Greece when Antony was 12; he is now 46! In fact there is an excellent photo of Antony and Philip from the time we lived in Greece taken by Ray in Tiki and Nolly's house
George Koliris took us back to Kifissia station and we were soon back in our apartment; we called Antony to see if we could find a time to meet and after much debate it was decided that the best time was now!! So off we went for the 5 minute walk to Antony's house and we spent a really nice hour or so with them in their lovely house right in the centre of Plaka. The street is actually very quiet but literally just 2 mins walk from the hubbub of tourist Plaka. Their house is fascinating with some exposed walls dating from 500 BC.
The next day, Monday we had a day to ourselves and after a leisurely breakfast at a café and a visit to the osteopath for Ray to sort out a niggling spinal nerve problem, we wandered around Athens, including climbing up to the Acropolis. From the Acropolis, you can see clearly the density of the city, something which also seemed very apparent on our approach to Athens Airport when we first arrived.
As we said after our last visit to Athens two years ago the city is immeasurably wealthier than it was when we lived here in 1980/81 and we were surprised at how busy the city was and certainly no shortage of tourists. Having said that, there are quite a lot of closed businesses and our friends here are very, very concerned about what the future holds.
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