I promised in my final publish that I’d inform you extra about journeys I did within the spring, so although it’s summer time, I’ll honor my promise. As a result of how may I not inform you about my first ever journey to Greece?
I believed it very acceptable to accompany this publish with the recipe for besugo al horno, baked sea bream, a Spanish dish that’s so Mediterranean that it’s greater than becoming for a publish a few neighboring Mediterranean nation.
The charming Panaghia Kapnikarea Church in central Athens
I’m fortunate sufficient to have the ability to now discover entire fish at my native Costco retailer, so I hope you could find it in your space as properly and make this wholesome, scrumptious and very simple to make dish, even if you happen to don’t dwell on the coast. To not point out how spectacular it seems to be on a platter! A terrific choice for a particular celebration, that’s completely appropriate for an on a regular basis meal.
Baked over a mattress of potatoes and onions, with a fragile taste from bay leaves and generously drizzled with superb extra-virgin olive oil, baked sea bream is as stunning as it’s satisfying. I used sea bream, however you should use any entire fish you discover at your fishmonger or grocery store.
The Parthenon at evening, the view from our lodge
About Athens
Final March, my sisters, my mother and I traveled to Greece to have a good time a really particular birthday, my mother’s. I’ll begin by saying that Greece wasn’t on the high of my listing for nations to go to, as a result of there are a selection of European nations I haven’t but been to. However residing in Spain, my sisters have traveled all over the place in Europe, and Greece occurred to be the one nation none of them had ever been to. We didn’t know what we have been lacking!
Greece, and particularly Athens, and some islands we cruised to, occur to be a kind of gems one discovers and says how come I had by no means been right here earlier than. When you dwell or have traveled there, you in all probability know what I’m speaking about. The vigorous streets, day and evening. The historical past and structure. The meals. The attractive orthodox church buildings, some giant, some tiny, sharing area with buildings that appear to be towers subsequent to them. When you’ve been there, I don’t suppose I’m discovering something new to you.
The change of the guard in entrance of the Hellenic Parliament, in Syntagma Sq.
Nationwide Library of Greece
The Odeon of Herod the Atticus, on the Acropolis
Strolling to the Athens Cathedral
The inside of the Athens Cathedral
On the entrance of the Acropolis
Hadrians Library
Strolling by Plaka neighborhood
Gate of Athena Archegetis
The caryatids on the Erechtheion within the Acropolis
The Erechtheion Temple
On the Nationwide Archeological Museum
On the Nationwide Archeological Museum
The Academy of Athens, with Lycabettus Hill within the background
The unique caryatids from the Erechtheion, preserved on the Acropolis Museum
Admiring the Parthenon
The Parthenon
Athens, or a minimum of the historic heart, is a really walkable metropolis, a lot much less overwhelming in measurement than Madrid or Barcelona, that I’m extra aware of, or different European capitals, like Paris or London. Our lodge was just some minutes stroll from Syntagma Sq., the place the Hellenic Parliament sits, and the place we watched the very colourful change of the guard. From there, we headed to the Nationwide Archeological Museum.
One picture I’ll always remember occurred the primary evening, once we arrived in our lodge. The restaurant was on the highest ground and, as we walked up the steps from our ground to discover the place breakfast can be the subsequent morning, the illuminated Parthenon at evening appeared in entrance of us. It was nearly as if we may contact it with our fingertips. What a picture. We made the Acropolis, the place the Parthenon stands, a precedence the subsequent day, as we couldn’t get our eyes off of it from our breakfast desk, this time within the wonderful morning mild.
The Acropolis from our lodge rooftop terrace
The Panathenaic Stadium
Hadrians Arch
The Temple of Olympian Zeus
On the Acropolis Museum
On the Zappeion, within the Nationwide Gardens of Greece
The very vigorous Monastiriki Sq.
Within the charming Anafiotika neighborhood
The Temple of Hephaestus
The Historic Agora, with the Stoa of Attalos on the left and the Parthenon on the correct
The Stoa of Attalos, initially constructed from 159 and 138 BC
The Historic Agora
When you journey to Greece, I like to recommend you do as we did, and rent a tour information for a minimum of a part of the day. Due to our tour information we realized extra in regards to the historical past of town and about curiosities of various features of Greek dwell, walked by Hadrian’s Arch, the Temple of Olympian Zeus or the Panathenaic Stadium, realized in regards to the varied dishes and what to order and what to keep away from and customarily had a really enjoyable time (he was a vigorous and enthusiastic Spanish expat!)
The Nationwide Archeological Museum and the Museum of the Acropolis gave us all the extra info we would have liked in regards to the metropolis and its historical past. I discovered it fairly enlightening, seeing with my very own amazed eyes what I had studied in my faculty years. Strolling the streets of the Plaka neighborhood or having fun with the scrumptious meals within the many eating places that lined the streets, with their vigorous terraces, stuffed our days.
Cruising to the islands!
It was windy!
On the fishing harbor within the island of Hydra
The church of the Dormition, within the Island of Hydra
On the church of the Dormition
Hydra’s fishing harbor
On the port within the island of Hydra
There are donkeys all over the place in Hydra. Motorized autos usually are not allowed
Cruising to the island of Poros
Within the island of Poros
The Temple of Aphaia within the island of Aegina
Inside of the Monastery of Agios Nektarios, within the island of Aegina
The Monastery of Agios Nektarios
Blissful and exhausted on our final evening in Athens
The Historic Agora and the Acropolis at evening
The islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina
A daytime cruise to the islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina accomplished the picture that we had of Greece. The attractive seashores and quaint coastal cities, with homes painted within the distinctive Greek white and blue, the fishermen and their catches, the donkeys all over the place in Hydra as the one type of transportation, the very social folks, the scrumptious meals.
In Aegina we visited the Temple of Aphaia, devoted to the goddess Athena. It was constructed between the years 480 and a couple of BC and is without doubt one of the best architectural wonders of historical Greece. Additionally in Aegina is the Monastery of Agios Nectarios, comparatively new, constructed between 1904 and 1910. Driving by the island we admired the fields of pistachio bushes, as Aegina is without doubt one of the world’s largest producers of this fruit (we had probably the most scrumptious pistachio ice cream right here!)
Some Greek meals
We had fish (fairly a little bit of it!), my favourite, and different Greek dishes just like the highly regarded tzatziki (a dip with a yogurt base, cucumber, olive oil and garlic), dolmades (boiled small wraps made from grapevine leaves with completely different fillings), moussaka (a layered baked dish that features potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and a few type of meat), souvlaki (marinated meat grilled in a skewer), and plenty of others. I notably cherished the pistachios from the island of Aegina, roasted with lemon, and the marinated olives.
This baked sea bream jogs my memory of Spain, but in addition brings me again to this fabulous journey to Greece within the firm of among the favourite girls in my life. I’m trying ahead to discover extra of that attractive nation!
PS For extra details about the websites we visited, examine the hyperlinks on this publish —I didn’t wish to make it longer than obligatory!
BAKED SEA BREAM OVER POTATOES
Besugo al horno
- 1 giant sea bream or 2 medium ones
- 4 medium potatoes
- 2 medium onions I used 4 small ones
- 4 or 5 cloves garlic
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 lemons
- 3 or 4 bay leaves
- 3/4 cup further virgin olive oil
- A couple of sprigs of parsley minced
- Salt and pepper to style
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Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF
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Peel the potatoes and slice them into 1/4 inch thick items. Place them in a bowl and toss them with 3 Tbs olive oil. Unfold them in an oven dish giant sufficient to suit the fish and season with salt and pepper. Scatter the bay leaves on high and canopy with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes.
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Slice the onions very thinly and scatter over the potatoes. Sprinkle the onions with the minced parsley. Drizzle the onions and potatoes with half of the wine and the juice of the zested lemon.
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Season the fish on either side with salt and pepper and place on high of the mattress of potatoes and onions.
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Zest one lemon and set the zest apart. Slice the second lemon in skinny slices and place them contained in the fish. Drizzle the fish with the remaining white wine and the juice from the zested lemon. Sprinkle with the lemon zest. Place the dish within the oven and bake for quarter-hour.
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In a small skillet, fry the garlic, unpeeled and barely smashed, in 1/2 cup further virgin olive oil, till mushy, 3 to 4 minutes.
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Take away the dish from the oven and pour the garlicky oil and garlic over the fish. Return to the oven and bake an additional quarter-hour, or for a complete 10 minutes per pound of fish.
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Serve instantly. When you used two medium sea breams, separate the heads and open every physique into 2 filets. Take away the central bone and as many smaller bones as you may. Serve with the potatoes and onions and one or two slices of lemon.
I used sea bream, however you should use different white flesh entire fish like sea bass
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