Sweet Shop Crawl

Just like it sounds, this past Friday I went on a "Sweet Shop Crawl". Kim, the Student Services Director of Arcadia here in Athens, took a group of us from one sweet place to another. We got to sample traditional Greek sweets throughout the city.

It started at a little shop that specializes in donuts... or Loukamades as they call them in Greek. We had these funnel cake like donuts covered in honey and cinnamon. They were absolutely delicious and something I had been meaning to try since I got to Greece. Next we walked to this wonderful little gelato place where we got "ena bala" or one "ball" of gelato each. I tried the Kinder which is named after a candybar (one that I have not tried yet, but am now on the hunt for). It was chocolate with marshmallow swirl and a cookie crunch. The marshmallow was a pleasant surprise because it is not a common flavor here and marshmallows have been impossible to find. Next we took the Metro to Kifissia (a 45 minute ride) to this well-known and well-established bakery and yogurt place. We all tried yogurt with honey and walnuts, "Crema" which is a custard, Baklava, Kataifi (similar to baklava, but with shredded phyllo dough, looking kind of like a giant shredded wheat drenched in honey), and Galaktoboureko which is a pastry made of phyllo dough and custard, my favorite that we had there. To end our day we went to a small chocolate shop in Syntagma (close to where I live) and each got to try a different kind of chocolate, all of which were made in Greece.

After 4 and 1/2 hours of this sweet shop crawl my roommates and I were in desperate need of some salty goodness (I was practically shaking from all of the sugar) so we got Gyros at the local Gyro place and then completed our "to do" lists for the day. It was a lot of fun and certainly something I think everyone should do. Really, I have yet to have anything bad to eat in this country and the category of "sweets" is no exception. Knowing me and my sweet tooth you can understand how this was right up my alley, and a very enjoyable day excursion.

The next morning we left for Hydra... read my next post to hear all about my first island experience in Greece.