Bulgaria

I went to Bulgaria last weekend! Yep, just a little last minute trip to Sofia, the capital city of Greece’s neighbor to the north. The trip was success and it was fun to see a different country, despite the fact that it happened to be freezing cold this weekend. It snowed! When we arrived, there was already a good amount of snow on the ground, and so our feet were very cold and wet by the middle of the day. We saw a couple churches that were pretty incredible inside. The hostel we stayed at was nice and cozy and included both dinner and breakfast in the $10 cost of staying there. So it was pretty cheap. We enjoyed our little weekend away despite our frozen toes. :)
One of the churches...the really big one didn't allow photos though.

This weekend: Meteora monasteries. They are up in these amazing rocks/mountains. Should be pretty spectacular views, I've heard.

Olympia and Delphi

OK, so a couple of weekends ago, I went to Olympia and Delphi. Olympia is the site of the first Olympics and so you can go and see the ruins of where they were held which includes Zeus’ temple, which I heard was supposedly one of the wonders of the world? I’m not sure, but it was pretty cool to see. Delphi had a bunch of old rocks, er, ancient monuments, but it was also up in the mountains, so the views were SWEET. The little town was also very much what I think of as “Greek”…all cutesy with very steep hills and such. We also had very good sunny weather, so it was a lovely weekend with a lovely group of people. Before checking out the cool ancient stuff of the oracle and Apollo and such, we got up and watched the sunrise from the top of a hill on the mountain we had found the night before. Gorgeous place. And the bus rides included lots of pretty, pretty coastlines and mountains.

At the (what we think looks like) starting line at the very place the ancient Olympic events were held.

Delphi-ness.

in the kitchen...

I was quite the...uh, domestic woman this weekend…cooked, cleaned…went to church. (And a pretty sweet Greek praise and worship event Saturday night...so great) But it was really refreshing and I enjoyed it, also because of the absolutely gorgeous weather. So I am kind of proud of my cooking the past few days. Yep. All that fresh food from the market and cleaning the kitchen made me create some masterpieces. Well, not quite masterpieces, but I felt pretty resourceful and…like a cook? Anyway, what I am most impressed with are my chicken strips breaded in corn flakes. They were quite delish, so I would consider them a success. I also made chicken and rice soup with mushrooms, but I had to substitute and/or leave out some stuff, so not quite as delish as usual, but still a success, because I had some after school today, and it was perfect and there is a lot of it, which was my goal, to have some leftovers for the week. I didn’t measure anything and improvised a lot, so that is what made me feel like a cook the most. Not because it turned out perfectly. :) hehe I have also been really enjoying my basil-less bruschetta recently and potatoes with olive oil and salt and pepper, or even just tomato and feta pitas or rice and avocados. So that is what I have been eating recently, cooking a lot more than I did at first and more “real” stuff than I usually do at home, like chicken from the market that you have to…do something to (not like the whole chicken or anything, just not already ready chicken).
My clean and organized kitchen!

Some of the delish corn flake chicken strip experiment pieces.

lovely morning

Oh my goodness! It's such gorgeous day outside today! So nice and so clear! I just discovered this morning that if it is a super clear day, like today, I am allowed a lovely view of the snow capped Mt. Olympus from my balcony! So, I can see a bit of the sea, background mountains, and the majestic Olympus, all right outside my door. Lovely. I just got back from the market again too. I am always overwhelmed at the market, but a very joyful overwhelmed. SO much stuff. So much pretty food. And nice vendors. And the gorgeous weather today helped too. Last time I was a bit frozen after awhile. We found some new great finds today, like homemade cheese tortellini and about everything else you could imagine. Love the market. It is so great. :)

This is the next day...not quite as clear, but still visible!

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Today was fun. Just a somewhat typical day, a tad bit rainy/windy, but good. Got up, went to Greek language class, took the bus towards the center to Aristotle University, got a little lost trying to find the university cafeteria (in which ANYONE can eat for free!), ate [free] lunch with some new Greek friends, and played "μπλόφα"(BLO-fa, like bluff, the Greek version of the card game BS) with them afterwards over coffee. It was pretty hot in the sun today, but later in the afternoon it became slightly rainy again. From the bus the pre-sunset sky looked gorgeous upon the choppy waters of the Aegean, and despite (or perhaps due to) the rainy overcast-ness, there was a fresh spring-y feeling in the air. I took a slightly different way home from the bus, walked by a newly-discovered park, and stopped in one of the numerous cute bakeries to pick up some fresh bread. I spoke in all Greek, and the lady working threw in a couple extras for free! So nice! Lots of simple things which make me happy. Sorry, no pictures this time, but soon Delphi pictures will be up on Flickr, of which there will be PLENTY.