FISIKA - organic olive oil soap products (FISIKA - Σαπούνι από βιολογικό ελαιόλαδο)

Doing business these days is getting increasingly difficult due to competition from large companies that kill off their smaller competitors. Multi-nationals have moved in for good, and they can't be smashed. Small businesses are on the ruin, and they can't be saved. To survive in the business world today, you need to be selling a product or service that is unique and cheap, as well as sustainable. You've got to come up with an idea that no one else has thought of, and the idea needs to be worked over in great detail both in theory and in practice, so that the end result is a high quality product that people will prefer over cheaper alternatives.

FISIKA: producers of organic olive oil soap products and personal care products like creams and balms. They use natural products to scent their soaps, including lavender, grown on the only lavender farm in Crete.

For this to happen, you obviously have to put in a lot of work, devoting your time selflessly to the task. Hence, it's best if you love what you're doing, because you will be occupying a lot of your time doing the same thing. There's no point in the early stages of a small business in hiring third parties to do the work for you - not only will they not be able to grasp your original idea and sense your vision (because they don't really understand it), their contribution will purely be of a functional nature and they will need to be paid from your profits, which will be small because your product is competing in a very tight business world.

Organically produced olive oil soap for the home, to be given as presents, and as a aromatising agent in rooms and cars, cupboards and wardrobes, all at reasonable and affordable prices.

Once you've worked out a really good new product/service, you've then got to market it in such a way that it reaches not just the mass audience, but also an appropriate potential audience. If you don't target your product to the right people, your super-product will fail to bring in that small profit that will keep you and your business going. Even if we love doing something, and our hands are hard-working, we cannot do it without a way to pay the expenses involved in doing it.

All the products are hand-crafted; the whole procedure uses natural processes.

After visiting the oldest olive tree in the world, I got back onto the coastal road instead of the highway to get back home. The highway is great for getting from A to B very fast, but it's not as well sigh-posted for sightseeing as the old national road, which in this case is the coastal road from Kissamos to Hania. Apart from historical and archaeological sites of interest, it hides many delights for olive devotees - organic olive oil producers, olive wood carpenters and olive oil soap makers, to name a few. These people are dedicated to producing wholly local natural products from wholly local resources. There is great interest all over the world in high quality natural products. Coupled with the move against multi-nationals constantly being in control over our pockets and our minds, these kinds of businesses have now made a great impact on the market.

Maria's hand-crafted soap carvings are the first thing you see before entering the FISIKA store.

The workshop of FISIKA, a producer of natural soap products, is located just a few metres past the old German bridge in Maleme*. It is run by Voula, Filio and Maria, three women who have been involved in soap making for many years of their life. Sisters Voula and Filio used to help their grandmother and aunt to make soap when they were young, while Maria now decorates and carves the soap made by her mother and aunt. As Voula explains:

I've been involved in village activities all my life, even though I have lived in a variety of places like Germany, Alexandroupolis, and Samothraki, before coming to Crete, which I now feel is my home. Before I got involved in the soap business, I used to work in various places: restaurants, olive farms, olive processing units, the tourist trade, you name it. Before we even put it into our minds to open the business, we used to make the same soap we sell here in our own home. Eventually we began to experiment with herbs and essential oils for their properties and natural scents and different soap textures for different skin types. Gradually we realised we could be making these products on a larger scale. But we also knew that none of us could actually afford not to continue to work in other paid employment while we are building up the business. We have been open for about 18 months till now. And although we work many hours, every single day of the year, and we've had hardly any time off since we decided to open the shop, we enjoy what we do, and my tiredness is relieved from being involved in what I really like doing.

We use the standard Haniotiko olive oil soap in our home, so we are quite familiar with this natural product. But FISIKA's olive oil soaps have that added dimension which is lacking from ABEA's products: they are made using purely organic olive oil, they are scented with organically produced substances, and they are all hand-crafted and designed in such a way that you are attracted to the product. My children also got the chance to watch part of the process involved in making soap, while I reminded them that this is what their grandmother used to do too, and this is what their father used for many years, which was made using their own olive oil supplies from the village fields. I wonder if yiayia is up to making soap one more time, to pass on the trade to me...

Organic olive oil soap for all skin types and scent preferences: palin, coffee-vanilla, laurel,  ash-sandalwood, myrtle-aloe vera, nettle-rosemary, chocolate-jasmine, milk-honey and orange. These natural products, suitable for all skin types, feel beautiful to touch, they are lightly scented and of course, they are environmentally friendly to the greatest degree.

The Sika family's business is just another of the many that have come out as an answer to the crisis. Opening up a new business these days will not make you a rich person. It will not pay off immediately. But if you enjoy what you are doing, and you are devoted to perfecting your craft, it will be appreciated by those who seek your product.

*The German bridge was originally built in 1901, using steel imported from Germany, but it was designed and built by Greeks. It was partly destroyed during the Nazi occupation, and was roughly rebuilt by the Germans. It has been renovated twice since then.

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Zaanse Schans (Ζάνσε Σχανς)

During our recent travels in Holland, we visited Zaanse Schans, a small village a few kilometres out of Amsterdam. A lot has been written about Zaanse Schans, and all of it good. Zaanse Schans is considered to be an open-air museum, but I also found it to be a functional permanent residential area. Given its proximity to the capital of the Netherlands, it's easy to access. Most of the jobs there are concerned with tourism, but even most of those jobs are connected with a trade that is still important today in Holland, making Zaanse Schans a sustainable tourism site. It's really easy to spend the whole day at Zaanse Schans, because there is so much to see and do, and most of it is free. You won't get tired either - Dutch countryside is, generally speaking, as flat as a pancake, so you'll forget that you have been walking all day.

If you're a foodie, Zaanse Schans has a lot of food experiences to offer. But there was also something else about Zaanse Schans that made it so endearing: Zaanse Schans is the epitome of Dutch imagery. Windmills, clogs, canals, dykes and fluffy clouds - Zaanse Schans introduces you to the best of Holland in fairy-tale style. And if you are lucky to visit Zaanse Schans on a fine sunny day (like we were), you will never forget the colours and the clarity of those images.

 

 Windmills, water and fluffy clouds - typical Dutch scenery under a blue sky.

A train line takes you directly to the village. On exiting the station, the first thing that strikes your senses is the aroma of chocolate wafting through the air, coming from the chocolate-processing factory built by the river. The road towards the windmills (some of which were eventually transported to the 'museum' area from other parts of Holland) is full of old workers' homes, which  have been renovated by the local residents and remain true to their original style, as they were built in the 17th-18th centuries.The brightly coloured ones in traditional green and brick orange colours made a striking contrast under the fluffy white clouds and blue sky on the day we visited.

The Albert Heijn museum in Zaanse Schans

One of the first museum houses you'll come across is directly related to food. The oldest supermarket chain in Holland (Albert Heijn) has its origins here. It started off as a typical grocery store, selling bulk goods behind a counter. Further along the river, you come across renovated barns and farm houses, which now serve as sustainable tourist enterprises. My favorite was the clog makers: a brief history of the clog is provided, together with a demonstration of how to make clogs and a range of clogs to choose from if you wish to buy some. Don't think that Dutch clogs are a thing of the past - I saw a (somewhat older) gent wearing a bright yellow pair near Alkmaar as he was riding his bicycle through the town, and I'm guessing there must be more of his type too!

The clog factory

The cheese factory wasn't giving a demonstration that day, but it was one of the most popular attractions. Dutch cheese is very famous all over the world (especially Gouda cheese). It's quite different from the sharp grainy graviera made in Crete, but we found it tasty enough to buy some and take it home with us: one round of mustard-grained cheese and a roll of smoked cheese.

 The cheese factory - these are all replicas, as far as I know...

The windmills are a spectacular sight at Zaanse Schans. Not all the windmills originated in the area; some were transported there once the area was turned into a tourist site. Each one continues to be in use today, powering or grinding various things. Since they all work on natural wind energy, you need to come to Zaanse Schans on a windy day (plenty of those in Holland). Whether you will be as lucky as we were in coming on both a sunny and a windy day with no rain is not so certain. We really were very lucky!

 The spice mill was grinding cinnamon when we visited - really strong stuff!

Holland's reputation for trading spices is accentuated by the 'De Huisman' mill, which grinds all sort of spices, and enjoys fame for the mustard it produces. The famous speculoos biscuits wouldn't be anything special if it weren't for the spices that go into the them. It is ironic when something so typically Dutch as speculoos busicuits and mustard-flavoured cheese need Asian ingredients to give them their distinct taste.

 Coloured flavoured sugar snow, called muisjes, is a specialty of Dutch cuisine. 

Feeling honored by the good weather, we took in the breathtaking scenery of Zaanse Schans, which encompassed all good things Dutch. It was easy to walk such a long time without getting tired - as I said before, Holland is as flat as a pancake...

Apart from the quaint environment, I also got a glimpse of what it means to live below sea level. It's quite obvious in the photo below that the level of the sea is above the ground, and the position I took the photo from is below sea level. The dykes where the people are standing are artificial.

... Speaking of which, there aren't many restaurants within the museum area; there are more in the general village but they aren't all open all the time, quite unlike the Greek tradition of encircling a tourist site with cafes or tavernas, which is why the food is beeter (more competition). We came across a quirky (and over-priced) pancake restaurant: after placing your order via self-service, you are then given a buzzer which will beep when your pancake order is ready.

Farmer's pancake with cheese and bacon, and kiddies' delight with chocolate and cream. The restaurant also served soup and drinks. 

After waiting patiently for what seemed like a long time and hearing no beep, we simply asked for the pancakes, which were waiting for us, getting cold - system breakdown!

Zaanse Schans is a good example for Greece to base her future tourism on: organised tourist sites that offer people a look into Greece's past could include coastal areas that have been associated some time int heir past with ancient civilisation. It pays to note that the windmills in Zaanse Schans weren't all there originally - some were moved there form other parts of Holland, which allowed the area to become an open-air museum in modern times, a kind of 'little Holland' that encompassed all the images that tourists assoicate with Holland. The biggest problem I envisage in such a project would be to change the traditional mindset of the Greek people. Maybe they all need to go to Zaanse Schans to see how it could also work for them. 

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Ginger (Πιπερόριζα)

Gingernuts hold special memories for me. They are one of the few recipes I am prepared to buy special ingredients for which I never use to make anything else, only gingernuts. Honey and cinnamon don't have quite the same effect as golden syrup and powdered ginger. Both ingredients are difficult to find in Hania; neither are stocked on a regular basis in the supermarket, not even the top-end ones.

I still use Delia Smith's recipe, with a couple of adjustments: olive oil (of course), and the last time I made them was in our wood-fired oven, which is why some of them got a bit 'over-browned'. To ensure that they didn't burn on the bottom of the very hot oven, I placed an old baking tin with some water in it and then placed the baking sheet with the biscuits on top of that.

Ginger isn't part of the Greek cuisine taste spectrum, although fresh ginger is now widely available in all supermarkets in fresh form. I keep it as a pantry staple in my kitchen, but I never use it in my Greek dishes. It's always used in my Asian cooking. Ginger's first appearance in Greece came in the form of ginger beer made in Corfu, following British influence (they still play cricket there too), but it is a heavily regionalised taste in Greece: ginger beer is not available in Crete.

While holidaying in London last month with my family, I got a chance to taste a variety of ginger-chocolate treats that no one in my family likes, which meant that I was able to eat the whole packet all by myself, like chocolate-coated ginger-flavoured Border Biscuits and chocolate-coated crystallised ginger sticks. The concept of a ginger-flavoured sweet treat combined with chocolate is definitely an acquired taste: either you are taken to it, or you don't want to go near it. Crystallised ginger is quite beyond the taste acceptability levels of the average Greek. The only time I've seen it here is in the possession of US Army officers: it is shipped into the Cretan US naval base which is stationed in Souda Bay in Hania along with all sorts of other items which I've never seen in the supermarkets (like vanilla essence, ribs, maple syrup and all sorts of other US staples that I'm not really familiar with).

If only these sweets were easy for me to reproduce, as they are definitely my kind of sweets. Maybe it's better that they aren't that easy to reproduce because I can imagine eating them all too regularly.

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Cheap 'n' Greek 'n' frugal: Vegan soutzoukakia (Nηστίσιμα σουτζουκάκια)

Prices are in euro (valid in Hania). All ingredients are Greek or locally sourced; those marked with * are considered frugal here because they are cheap and/or people have their own supplies.  

Soutzoukakia are a long-standing favorite Greek meal. They are a fiddly dish to make, requiring at least two cooking techniques: one for frying (or grilling) the meatballs, and another to make the sauce. At the end of the process, the two are combined. They certainly aren't vegan. But once you make these vegan ones, I believe you might be convinced never to make meat-based ones again.



I came across some black beans (imported from Thailand) at a small Athens supermarket a while ago when I last visited.  I've never come across this kind of legume before, so I decided to buy a packet just to try them out. But If your culinary repertoire doesnt include something, then it's hard to fit it in with your regular cooking schedule. The beans were kept in a dark corner of my pantry until I recently unearthed them and remembered a suggestion by a reader for vegan burgers using black beans. Their colour gives them a natural meaty appearance when mashed. When combined with the appropriate mix of spices, they easily pass off as fake meat. I've used beans to make fake mince before, but this time, with the black beans, it was much tastier.

For the meatballs, you need:
100g dried black soya beans (or any other bean you prefer: to keep it Greek, I would use a mixture of black-eyed beans and lentils, at a cost of mot much more than 50 cents)
a small cup of dry breadcrumbs (10 cents)
a large onion*
2 cloves of garlic*
a few sprigs of parsley*
a few sprigs on mint*
half a cup of thick tomato sauce* (I use my own home-made stuff)
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil*
cumin, paprika, salt and pepper*
some oil for shallow frying*

For the sauce, you need:
half a cup of tomato sauce (bottled or home-made)*
salt and pepper*

Soak the black beans overnight. Boil for half an hour; you don't want them too tender, so that they keep their nutty taste. Drain and rinse the beans. Place them in a strainer to dry off. Then place them in a blender, together with the peeled onion and garlic, breadcrumbs, herbs and seasonings. Pulse until the mixture resemblesfine grains. 

Pour the contents of the blender into a bowl and add the tomato sauce and oil. Mix together; you will get a firm dough. Shape it into short fat sausages (the usual shape of soutzoukakia). Heat some oil in a pan and shallow-fry the soutzoukakia, making sure to brown them all over. They don't need much cooking time, just enough to brown and heat. Remove them from the pan onto a serving plate and set aside (no need to drain them on paper towels: the olive oil is the only fat in the recipe).

If you don't mind the burnt bean crumbs in your oil, add the tomato sauce to the same pan that you fried the soutzoukakia in. Otherwise, try to remove as many of them as you can. (You can drain the same oil to clear it into another pan, but you will have to do more cleaning - I don't call that fun.) Add the tomato sauce and seasonings, and cook on moderate heat for 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce. Pour the sauce over the soutzoukakia.

 I served my vegan soutzoukakia with my home-made tangy apricot chutney. It's not really a very Greek combinaiton, but it turned out well.

Voila - your soutzoukakia are ready: no fuss, no bother. Imagine eating such a meal during lent. Serve the soutzoukakia with crsuty bread to mop up the sauces, a green salad and some wine. So good, so cheap: it's can't get better than this.

Total cost as a main meal (serves 4): about 1-2 euro, depending on the cost of the tomato sauce.

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Fanouropita (Φανουρόπιτα)

Lost something? Want to discover something? There is still time...

Tomorrow is dedicated to Άγιος Φανούριος, St Fanourios, in the Greek Orthodox church, whose icon was found in the Byzantine period on the island of Rodos (Rhodes). The attribute associated with St Fanourios in popular tradition is that he is the finder of lost objects, as his name suggests: in the Greek language, φανερώνω (fanerono) means reveal. Breads and cakes are baked in his name and offered at the church in the vespers (the night before the feast day) or the morning service (on the feast day), which are then blessed by the priest and shared among the congregation. In this way, the maker of the cake has hope that their lost object may be found. For the same reason, unmarried women may bake a cake in his name, in the hope of discovering the name of their husband (there is no account of the vice versa happening!), and sick people may do the same in the hope that a cure will be found to treat them of their ailment; the 'lost object' takes on a metaphorical meaning: luck, fate, destiny. St Fanourios is often depicted carrying a candle like a torch, looking for something. 

Although St Fanourios was a saint, his mother apparently did no good during her time on earth, according to one version of the story of his life:

"Η μάνα του Αγίου δεν ηκαμε καλό ποτέ τζη. Μόνο ένα κρομμυδύφυλλο ήδωσε μια βολά σ'ένα διακονιάρη. Σαν απόθανε ήβραζε σ'ένα καζάνι με πίσσα και ο Άγιος αρώτησε: α-Γιάντα η μάνα μου είναι εκειά μέσα;

Ο Μιχαήλ Αρχάγγελος τ'απηλοήθηκε: -Γιατί δεν ήκαμε ποτέ καλό. Να ρίξομε το κρομμυδόφυλλο που ήδωσε κι ανέ τηνέ σηκώσει να βγει επάνω, να σωθεί...

Ερίξανε το κρομμυδόφυλλο και η μάνα ντου βγήκε στα χείλια του καζανιού μαζί με τρεις άλλες γυναίκες που πιαστήκανε κι αυτές από το κρομμύδι. Μα η μάνα ντου τώσε δίνει μια σπρωξιά και πέφτουνε πάλι μέσα. Τοτεσάς λέει ο Αρχάγγελος: Θωρείς πως κι επαέ είναι ακόμη κακή.

Τοτεσάς ο Άγιος Φανούριος ζήτησε μια χάρη: Να μην πηγαίνουνε πράμα γι'αυτόν, μόνο για τη μάνα ντου για να λένε να τση συγχωρέσει ο Θεός..." (quotes found in http://firiki.pblogs.gr/tags/fanoyropita-gr.html)

The above text about the mother of St Fanourios has been written in the Cretan dialect. This is not surprising, since the saint is more highly revered on the island than in other parts of Greece. The churches that are named after St Fanourios take on a more celebratory nature during this time: racks are brought in, tables are laid out, people arrive with their cakes and breads, and the priest blesses them during the service.

St Fanourios church, Kalamaki, Hania 
 "man asks, gods give, man gets and shows gratitude, gods are pleased"

The vegan cake baked in St Fanourios' honour (called φανουρόπιτα, fanouropita) is the Greek version of gingerbread, resembling a sweet bread rather than a cake. Although it doesn't contain ginger, this spice could easily replace the traditional ground cloves and cinnamon. It also has special properties: it must be made with seven or nine ingredients. Apparently, this is not up to chance, as the power of  7 or 9 is well known in prophetic or magical practices! In keeping with the tradition of 'finding things', the cake batter always contains spices and dry fruits; as you eat it, your teeth will 'find things' in it! The cake also uses typical Greek-inspired ingredients like olive oil and orange juice, two products my island has a plenty of. 

St Fanourios parish in New Jersey provides a simple recipe in English, which is the one I used to bake a small fanouropita yesterday. Most fanouropita recipes are based on this one. To maintain the idea of the 7 or 9 ingredients, use self-raising flour and a spice mixture to give yourself more leeway!

As Allison says, the cake is a forgiving one, because it is very easy to make; Allison also makes fanouropites for charity in New York. Recipes abound on the web for fanouropita, so you can easily make one of your own. Mixing olive oil and flour is a tricky business - if there is too much flour, the batter will thicken too quickly and won't be able to be poured into the baking tin easily. As you add the flour to the oil mixture (containing spices, orange juice, brandy or water and raisins and/or walnuts), keep stirring the mixture without stopping, until you are ready to pour it into the baking tin to cook. Some people dust the cake with cinammon-scented icing sugar once it's cooked after it has cooled down a little.

The timing of the feast is an appropriate one: the summer heat is waning and the weather is slightly cooler on the saint's feast day, just when a spicy cake will go down well with a cup of tea in the evening.

UPDATE 26/8/2012 - The link that I used to make my fanouropita doesnt seem to be working. Here is a similar recipe:
1 ποτήρι λάδι (1 cup olive oil)
1 ποτήρι ζάχαρη (1 cup sugar)
1 ποτήρι χυμό πορτοκάλι (1 cup orange juice)
1 κουταλιά κουταλιά ξύσμα πορτοκαλιού (1 tablespoon orange zest)
3 ποτήρια αλεύρι που φουσκώνει μόνο του (3 cups self-raising flour)
1 κουταλάκι σόδα (1 teaspoon baking soda)
1 κουταλιά κανελογαρύφαλα (1 tablespoon cinammon and clove spice mixture)
1/2 ποτήρι καρύδια χοντροκομμένα (1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts)
1/2 ποτήρι μαύρες σταφίδες (1/2 cup raisins)

Χτυπάμε το λάδι με τη ζάχαρη, προσθέτουμε το ξύσμα και το χυμό του πορτοκαλιού και τέλος το αλεύρι ανακατεμένο με τα υπόλοιπα υλικά. Αδειάζουμε το χυλό σε ταψί Νο 28 και ψήνουμε σε μέτριο φούρνο για 45-50 λεπτά. Όταν κρυώσει λίγο, πασπαλίζουμε με ζάχαρη άχνη." (Νίκος & Μαρία Ψιλάκη, "Το ψωμί των Ελλήνων και τα γλυκίσματα της λαϊκής μας παράδοσης").

Beat the oil with sugar (REALLY WELL), add the zest and orange juice, and beat again (REALLY WELL), then add the remaining ingredients. Pour the batter into a 28cm diameter baking tin. Cook 40-50 minutes in a moderate oven (180C). When cold, you can also 'ice' it with a dusting of icing sugar. (From Psillakis N and M "The bread of the Greeks, and the sweets of our traditions").

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Za'atar (Ζατάρ)

The students at MAICh are usually young people of Mediterranean origin (with a sprinkling of Northern Europeans). Most nationalities are well-represented numerically, so each country can form a group within the larger context and organise an ethnic night during the year, in which traditional food from their country is served, along with a presentation of their country's customs, music and dance.

Recently, it was Lebanese night at MAICh. The students prepared the meals themselves, with a bit of help from their mothers, who sent them some food parcels. I wasn't able to attend the soiree, but I was lucky to get some of the leftovers.

Left: Greek oregano being grown as a potted plant; right: home-made za'atar

Zaatar is a spice mixture made with Origanum syriacum, a very fragrant aromatic herb growing wild in Lebanon, similar (but not quite!) to the Greek oregano; it has a different growth structure, and a slightly different aroma. Great importance is attached to it among the local crops in the Lebanese market due to its regular use in daily cooking. It is grown and harvested, then roasted in a special way with some sumac and sesame seeds. The dry mixture keeps a long time in an airtight container. It is combined with oil and spread over Lebanese flatbread, and then eaten as is, or slightly grilled for a nuttier taste. Apparently, everyone in Lebanon has this at some point every day.

This was given to me by one of my students, prepared by her own mother in Lebanon. We tried it with our regular bread from the local baker's. It made an interesting alternative to our psomi me ladi. If you want to make some za'atar yourself, try Laurie's recipe.

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The spice route (Οδός Μπαχαρικών)

You guessed it, PART 5 of my family's adventures in Athens.

Besides handling it in the garden, I'm so used to buying unpackaged food items, that I feel put off when I see food of any kind being sold in a packet, jar or can. This is because of the way food is treated in Crete: we touch, we see, we smell, we sometimes even taste (for example, cheese, olives); we buy according to how it feels for us, not how it's packaged or what the labelling says. But that's not the case for spices: the variety in the spice shops of Hania is limited to the ones regularly used in local cooking. They are sold in the supermarkets and the Agora (mainly for tourists), as well as a small number of small stores in the town. Supermarkets stock all the common spices used in Greek cooking (pre-packed). Curry mixes and the like are also available, as are most internationally widespread ingredients, but if you're after something out of the ordinary, like sumac (called 'soumahi' in Greek) or spirulina, you need to buy it in a specialised shop, and always packaged in small amounts.

Spice shops in the Agora at Hania; click on each photo for notes.

The town is too small to support the wholesale trade of spices in baskets and roadside hangings; in any case, most of the locals forage their own needs annually in the appropriate season. I've been given as much malotira tea as I need to last me at least another year, and I've got enough bay leaves to use for the next five years, as well as receiving precious gifts of oregano, sea salt and diktamo tea from time to time. Mint, parsley, fennel, dill and arugula are always available fresh; many people grow their own. Woody spices such as cinammon, carnation, mahleb, masticha and bahari are always available, especially during festive periods, for the purposes of baking or to spice up a special meat dish.

Bulk supplies of spices available at the supermarket over Easter for tsoureki and koulourakia; not the most enticing picture, as the fragrances lie in their plastic packages in uniform standard boxes. For the range of spices, click on the photo to see the notes.

It is difficult not to be mesmerised by the variety of colours, aromas and textures of spices, especially when they are piled high in sacks placed on the roadside, or hanging from the top of shop windows. It's impossible to pass by without stopping to admire them. As you check out the whole range offered, you discover a spice that you hadn't heard of before, or maybe something you'd read about in a cookbook or recipe; you think that it is now your chance to try it out. By the time you leave the shop, your hands are loaded with plastic shopping bags exuding exotic aromas. Your senses are exploding and you can't wait to get home and open up the packets.

Here are my recent purchases as I went in search of new tastes.
Click on the photos for notes.

Although I don't often indulge in shopping sprees, I found myself in exactly this situation on my recent trip to Athens. High fashion doesn't interest me; label clothing doesn't come in my proportions or wallet-size. When it's variety I seek, I go where my eyes can feast on food in its most basic form. It's not everyone's idea of shopping therapy, but if you're looking for real life action on the street, combined with the bright natural colours of Mediterranean food and the sights and scents that pair with it, you should head for the central Athens food market, before you enter The Spice Route.

Δημοτική Αγορά Αθηνών - the central food market of Athens: not much to look at from the outside, like most other functional buildings in Greece; the truth is in the pudding. At every holiday season in Greece, the television cameras stand outside this very spot and report the prices of the festive table and the rate of trade taking place in the Agora.

If you've never taken this journey before, then I recommend that you put your faith in the gods; let them guide you through the streets of central Athens in search of ambrosia. Don't know your way around this buzzing city full of nook-and-cranny like streets, hiding in amongst the faceless apartment blocks which all sport the same blackened paint work, dirty-brown aluminium shutters and tiny balconies used to store a multitude of household items in full view of the passing pedestrians below them? Then let's meet up at a central point: let's start our walk at the well-known Syntagma Square, where the 300 modern gods of Greece convene in the Parliament buildings, directing the country into an orchestrated state of chaos.

Sintagma Square with the Parliament building in the background, taken from Ermou St.

From there, let Hermes fly you across the road onto Ermou Street (Hermes, Hermou, Ermou - geddit?); join the throngs of people you will find here, but here's a warning: not everything that shines is gold. Watch out for the seductive Sirens (in the likes of BSB, Folli Follie, Raxevsky, Marks and Spencer, Sprider, et al., ad nauseam); shade your eyes and hide your purse if you fall easy prey to their dazzle and shine.

It was hard to snap the church in a moment alone; there was a lot of action on the street that day - on one side, the bag sellers; on the other, the string musicians.

Just beyond the beautiful Byzantine monument that has been left basically intact (Kapnikarea Church), except to find the surreptitious Aeolus lurking on Aiolou Street and whipping up a storm; winds coming from all over the place will try to confuse your sense of direction. Don't be fooled by the gentle West Wind when an African bag seller entices you to buy fake Dolce Gabbanas; pretend you didn't feel the East Wind when you hear the gypsy musicians playing beautiful melodies with their string instruments. As Johnnie Walker says, just keep walking.

If you managed to do that without detouring, you will eventually meet up with the goddess of wisdom, Athena, on Athinas Street. Congratulations - you're half way there! Give yourself a well-deserved break at one of the myriads of eateries on the corner at Monastiraki; even the fast food outlets were serving lenten food the day I was there, since it was during the Great Lent before Easter.

I paid a mere 4.50 euro for a coffee and this delicious lenten (read: vegan) roll with courgette fritters and salad; the view I had from where I sat was worth much more.

Once you're fed and watered, look to your left and wave to Athena in her temple rising on the rock of the Acropolis. Few people these days can get very close to the Parthenon; the Greek government only gave Nia Vardalos the right to do so just recently to film "My Life in Ruins". The Guardian - yes, it's a British newspaper - questions why the Greek government gave permission to the producers to use the Acropolis as a backdrop to the movie:

"Despite persistent requests from some of the world's most acclaimed directors, Greek officials had always rejected the idea of the site, dating from 500BC, being filmed - on grounds it would degrade a monument regarded as sacred."

This will mark the first time that an American film studio will be allowed to film on location at the Acropolis. Sounds like sour grapes to me...

Come see the Acropolis another day, because now you're turning right; walk along the road and any moment now, you will bump into the market. Your nose will guide you adequately from here on; the fish market will make an impression on it before you even see it.

The sights and sounds of Varvakeios Agora in Athens.

The fruit and vegetable market is located across the road from Varvakeios, near the Town Hall. Walk down each side of this busy multi-cultural plateia (piazza) and see if anything takes your fancy (but you won't find the quantity or quality I get in Crete; we are more spoilt for choice down there). Stop and listen to the buskers - they are usually from Eastern Europe and they're quite good. People may even stop and talk to you here, about the music, the people, or even yourself.

Bought new trousers, but forgot to buy a belt? The Greek sun too hot for you? Robbed of your wallet? Bought too much and can't carry everything in your hands? The Greek kiosk (περίπτερο - periptero) has a solution for all your problems.

Once you've done the rounds there, turn back onto Athena's street and walk towards her temple. If you didn't bring a backpack with you, now is the chance to buy yourself The Big Bag (they're even available in S, M and L sizes!) at one of the kiosks you find here; you will almost certainly need it when you enter the spice route.

At the next intersection, you will encounter one of the greatest playwrights of Ancient Greece. Eureka! Euripides is waiting to lead you through his abode (Evripidou Street) where the spice route begins.

See what I mean? The grass always looks greener on the other side. The truth is you don't know how long this stuff's been hanging out in the open, but it still whets the appetite.

Walk up and down both sides of the street to see what's on offer. Watch out for the bumper to bumper traffic on the road and the wares on display on the footpath: what caught my eyes were the huge baskets of spices, rice and beans; there were even plantlets ready for potting, and crates of fresh snails popping out of their shells. Apart from the food, Evripidou is also full of specialty stores selling corks in all sizes, paper food packaging, glass jars and plastic containers, and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

I couldn't resist the temptation of making my own pot pourri with these herbs from Evripidou. Click on the photo to see the notes.

Something doesn't feel good? The decor (or probably the lack of it)? These stores are all found in one of the most run-down neighbourhoods in central Athens. They look the same now as they did 40 years ago. Don't let that put you off; walking down Evripidou St on a busy market day is probably safer than weekends and holidays when immigrants and junkies are found loitering on the otherwise empty streets off Evripidou. I find the over-abundance of 'kinezika' (Chinese-operated clothing stores selling polyester fashion) much more off-putting than the economic migrants and derelict buildings (it's probably not the best place to be during an earthquake). As each small specialist store closes down on Evripidou St, it is re-vitalised by enterprising Chinese clothing emporium entrepreneurs (to phrase it euphemistically).

The roads neighbouring Evripidou St form one of the poorest areas of central Athens. The road itself leads to the infamous Plateia Koumoundourou (also called Plateia Eleftherias - "Freedom Square"), where the buses leave for the suburbs that make up the Western Athens district. But these same streets neighbor some of the most popular tourist sights in Athens: Psiri is a popular place to go for lunch or dinner, while Abyssinia Square (we call it Plateia Avissinias) is where the flea market takes place with an emphasis on antiques (or just plain old stuff).

A view of Plateia Avissinias; anybody who'd visited our home in New Zealand will remember Mambo (my parents bought him in Singapore after our 1974 trip to Greece) sitting on the white crochet doily on the smallest of a set of nesting tables - here he is in Abyssinia Square.

The rock of the Acropolis is visible wherever you might find yourself in this area. It's a shame that it has had its reputation tarnished simply because economic migrants have moved into the area, and no wonder: it is situated to the west - the western districts of Athens have never been given a fair go.

These buildings on Evripidou St were once owned by rich merchants; now they're practically lifeless, save the rats and birds that inhabit them. The lower stories are still used as shops.

On the Greek news these days, this area is under constant discussion. It is never regarded in a positive light; the issue of the immigrants is always mentioned, who are usually characterised as trouble makers. This is probably true - fights break out, trouble erupts, but usually amongst the immigrants themselves. I was not perturbed by the sight of the Pakistanis crowding inside and outside of a shop (clearly marked 'Pakistani Information Centre'), as I walked with my purse crossed over my chest, carrying three huge shopping bags down Zinonos and Bulgari Streets just before coming out onto Pireos St (which is also known as P. Tsladari, to confuse matters), where Plateia Koumoundourou is located; no one troubled me, no one talked to me, and if they looked at me, it was only so as not to bump into me while they walked on the same side of the road. The derelict buildings that have been left in a shambolic state (broken windows, the interior strewn with rubbish) on the main roads here are often those which formerly housed government offices; in other words, they are state-owned and have been left to their own fate. People can hardly be blamed if they are using these buildings as rent-free accomodation or for drug-dealing - the empty buildings were never sealed or secured in the first place. It's not a solution to have more policemen patrolling a derelict area; these buildings need to be pulled down or renovated. Desolation attracts desolates.

Central Athens streets near Plateia Koumoundourou, below the Acropolis; if you don't walk with confidence, you are bound to find trouble, no matter where you are.

When you've finally walked both lengths of Evripidou St, you'll find yourself back on Athinas St. It's time for another pit-stop. Walk with the Acropolis behind you, and you will eventually find yourself at Omonoia Square where there is a metro station. Take the escalator down to the underground and look at the photos depicting the square at the turn of the century. Despite the shiny stainless steel look of one of the newest underground systems in Europe, as you carry your shopping bag full of spices, you will feel (especially if you're Greek and you used to watch those old black and white Greek movies) that you had just experienced old-time Athens only a few minutes ago when you were walking along Evripidou St.

A sign from home on Evripidou St: a Cretan expat selling products from the Big Island.

A couple more purchases from Evripidou St and the Agora in Athens: cured meat (pastrouma) and dried sugared fruit.

Come back out of the train station from the exit marked 3 September (that's the name of a road). You'll find yourself outside the Hondos Centre, a department store with a good value self-service cafe on the 10th floor with marvellous views of the Acropolis and the whole city, serving good Greek cuisine alongside international dishes. Apart from the nutritious food and the relaxing environment, it's a great place to observe the variety of people that form the citizens of Athens.

The Spice Route

This one is for you, Leonard.

Just for the record, everything I bought in Athens was also available in Hania (albeit at much higher prices), but the grass always looks greener on the other side, and I felt myself succumb to the temptation of too much variety and choice...

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