Be Greek for a Week!

I certainly wouldn't push the issue with them, but Greeks and Turks have more in common than they might like to admit. First of all, the food. Giant slabs of meat roasting on a stick - call it kebab or call it souvlaki, it's the same thing. Then there is spanakopita, or borek in Turkish, olives, white beans in tomato sauce (fasuliye or fasolada) and the sweets: baklava, helva, kadayif, not to mention all the yogurt....

They have many words in common, too, despite the complete difference in language. They both drive with a devil-may-care attitude, and use the already narrow sidewalks as parking lanes. Both countries are fiercely proud of their history, language and culture - if you listen to a Greek, they invented everything, if you listen to a Turk, their country is the very birthplace of civilization. And if you have problems with the evil eye, they will sell you the same charms in Athens as in Istanbul.

But how can one compare the experience of a traveler meeting strangers to being taken in by an entire family! The Dekaneas clan, cousins to Nick (my lovely brother-in-law) and his father Tony, have welcomed me in traditional Greek style, giving me a room and stuffing me full of excellent food and homemade wine. In a way that is common in Greece, and totally abnormal in the US, they all live together in one building. Stella, the matriarch of the family, does most of the cooking and babysitting, but specializes in distributing love and kindness. Her brother-in-law is upstairs, and her two daughters, one with her own family, the other with her fiancee, complete the household. More cousins and friends drop in for big Sunday meals. In the week I have been here, not one fight has broken out. It's a beautiful thing to see, but perhaps we should leave this social experiment to the Greeks and keep to our American ideas of personal space.


Athens is a large, bustling city with ancient ruins mixed right in with modern apartment buildings.


It's also more colorful and diverse than I had imagined, with immigrants from Africa and the Middle East adding spice to the mixture.


I took a side trip to Meteora, a fantastic landscape with 700-year old monasteries perched on top of high rock pinnacles. Somewhat reminiscent of Cappadocia, but with higher-quality architecture, and less of a desolate feel.




Aphrodite and little Stella

What a wonderful way to end my trip, comfortably nestled within a family that treats me like one of it's own. The perfect prelude to returning to my own loved ones - I look forward to seeing many of you very soon!

Much love,

Deborah