Saturday 17th September

It was decreed that the LLW should properly test her new Fitbit fitness tracker, so Ray, very helpfully, suggested a visit to Lycobetus hill. This involved a fairly lengthy walk most of which was steeply uphill and crucially avoided all shoe shops. The LLW was not amused on both accounts!

Eventually we reached the funicular which ascends the last part of the hill and peace was restored with a coffee and cake overlooking all of Athens and Attica. I as reminded of the story from when we lived in Vouliagmeni about the Greek ship owner (whose name has long left my memory) who was an ICL customer and owned a very plush apartment just below Lycobetus in the Kolonaki area. Said ship owner (second tier and not quite in the Onassis category) was clearly very wealthy and proudly showed us an original Greek statue and announced that there was a copy of this statue in the Louvre! Several years later we did indeed see this copy whilst visiting the Louvre and a small note was attached stating that the original was in an apartment in Athens.

We then returned to the Plaka area and enjoyed what we thought would be a light fish lunch but it does seem impossible to have a light meal in Greece now.

After a rest we started off for our evening rendezvous with Tiki & Noly Hadjiouanou in Aghias Stephanos to the north of Athens. I worked with Tiki in 1980/81 when I was working with ICL in Greece.

The direct line to Kifissia where Tiki was meeting us left from Monistiraki metro station so we set off for the 20 minute walk there. Big mistake! After walking a few yards down Monistirou, the LLW decided that the shops there were not up to standard and set off in determined fashion for the parallel street Ermou where disaster struck - wall to wall shoe shops for as far as the eye could see. Ray was amazed that we reached the end of shoe shop alley without a single brandishment of the plastic but it did seem to take an age to walk down the relatively short street.

The metro to Kifissia was efficient and we were reminded of how plush the Athens metro stations are, wall to wall marble in many of them.

Tiki was waiting for us when we arrived at Kifissia and we were greeted with the incredible warmth that we have come to expect from the Greeks and Tiki in particular.

First stop was not the restaurant but at Tiki's house not only to pick up Noly, but to have a tour of the now comprehensive wine making factory in the basement. This years harvest has been picked over the last couple of weekends and the fermenting grapes were duly inspected in gleaming stainless steel thermostatically controlled vats. A new innovation this year is an oak barrel for ageing some of the best red wine. We left with several bottles including one each of the oaked and unoaked red to compare when we get home.

The restaurant was very local to Tiki's house and it was soon clear that this was not to be a small meal. Plate after plate arrived with sausages, lamb cutlets, pork chops, salad, cheese, greens and the best Okra we have ever tasted. All washed down with Tiki's excellent wines.

We had a great time and in spite of the long time since living in Greece, it always seems like yesterday when we meet with Tiki & Noly.

It was not surprising that midnight had passed by the time we left but judging by the crowds on the metro heading in to central Athens, it was clear that the evening was only just beginning for many.

One of the points that Tiki made about the political situation in Greece, was that in his opinion, Syriza promise the people great things and simply don't deliver. There also seems to be an insidious situation developing where as Tiki put it "poorer people don't want to have a goat, they just don't want you to have a goat".

Back at our apartment at 1 am and lights out immediately!