Good morning, friends!
I'm writing to you from Athens, up on the rooftop of my building on this sunny Sunday morning. Yep, that's the Acropolis in the photo! Now, I can't see it from my basement apartment - I have to go up 5 flights to see it, but you can't beat that view.
It's kind of interesting. The higher up you are in a building, at least in my neighborhood of Mets, the more expensive your apartment is. I have a basement apartment and the price is less than half of what I paid in the US. PLUS I have a large (for the city)
walled garden with an olive tree for shade, a sunny patch, and a patio. (I have big plans for that garden!) I use it for drying my laundry (they don't do electric dryers here - everyone hangs stuff outdoors) and will be growing some veggies.
Everywhere you go in Mets there are orange trees bursting with fruit. I tried one - the oranges are pretty good.
There are a lot of things that are different about life in Greece from life in America. There are stray cats everywhere but they're extremely plump. That's because people leave out food for them and they control the urban rodent population. You have to walk to take your trash to open dumpsters every block or so around the city.
There aren't any "food deserts" in the city. Each week, all the neighborhoods have a laiki. That's an open market with orange tents that pops up, closing down a street for the day. Each neighborhood has its own day for the laiki. There, you can purchase food directly from farmers, bakers, and butchers. There isn't any processed grocery store stuff - just good, wholesome food. And it's a fraction of the cost of buying it in the store. Every neighborhood has its own laiki day. Mine is on Friday.
I really wanted to go this past week, but my ankle is not healed yet and walking up and down the hills to get there wasn't a good idea. I've been able to take short walks to take out my trash and took one
longer one to the bank to get some euros out. That longer walk convinced me I need to rest a bit more before any other on-foot excursions. Pardon me while I scream. (AAAARRRGGGHHH.) The injury is so frustrating!
I've felt so much more creative getting out of my comfort zone. Since I can't get out, I've been writing, writing, writing and I got so much done I was able to launch a book this weekend. (See details below.) It felt so good writing it - I think it's a fun read about a serious topic, and so far, the feedback is really nice.
I'll catch you next week and hopefully have photos of the laiki to share!
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