Puttering in the Study

Rick Steves' Athens & the Mnisikleous "Restaurant Steps"

As good our our Rick Steves book was in Istanbul, in Athens it gave us new places to look forward to every night for dinner.  While the walks made interesting reading, we'd already seen every museum but the Byzantine on prior trips, and we knocked it out the first afternoon we were there.

We were staying in the Plaka area, so everything was walking distance, and the two best places, he counseled were on the Mnisikleous street "restaurant steps" a sidewalk that was inclined steeply upwards towards the Acropolis.  It was just a few blocks away, so after having dinner the first night at our old favorite, Hermion near Cathdral Square (where we always had lunch) we tried what looked like the two best places our last two nights.

The first night was at Geros Toy Moria (I think), not quite at the top by far enough up that you had a nice view down the grapevine-covered arbor overhead from our table on the steps.  Fresh bread, olives, feta, rustic wine, and good Greek cooking - it was magnificent.  They started dancing in the taverns below us around the time we were headed home, and you could tell it was a good spot for night life.  But we're pretty much just there for the food.

But the book was definite that the best experience was at a restaurant that is almost concealed at the top of the steps, and that is Xenios Zeus.  I got a 500 ml terracotta jug of cheap wine, we got the #1 (or was it #2) plates, which consisted of multiple appetizers and sauces, the best grilled bread I've ever had in my life, and again, I can't remember the specific foot, but probably lamb or kebabs or some plain and lightly seasoned.  And then watched the sun setting over Athens to the north with our table pushed up against the trees at the base of the rock of the Acropolis.  The owners sat and visited with patrons while we were there, and it was - as the book said - obviously a family-run joint.

This night-time photo isn't from our trip, but the table in the foreground was ours.

So I can't recommend the Mnisikleous resturant steps enough.  Just be sure you make it to the top at least one night.

Rest in Pieces - Bess Lovejoy

This book was another good companion during our days in Athens, lurking in our hotel room during the afternoon heat, leaving only to search for the ultimate Greek salad at lunch and then going out for a late dinner at one of Rick Steves' suggested venues (which I'll get around to posting on eventually).

It pulls together the weirdest and most bizarre stories about famous historical figures whose bodies received unusual treatment after death.  Lots of fun!

Churchill - The Teaching Company - Prof. J. Rufus Fears

I downloaded and listened to this relatively short set of lectures recently, and it wasn't one of my favorites.  While I liked the subject matter and learned a lot about Churchill, Fears' treatment is pretty uncritical, and at times inconsistent.  For example, at one point he calls Churchill a political genius and then within only a few moments points out what terrible political decisions he made.

More important, while there is much to praise, of course, his principal thesis that a great leader must have a moral compass, that Churchill did, and that it was the defense of freedom, he never even attempts to really reconcile Churchill's alleged commitment to freedom with his even greater commitment to the preservation of the British Empire during World War II and after.  Freedom from Nazi tyranny was all very fine, of course, but freedom from political and economic domination by Great Britain - that was a different matter entirely.  It may be, as he has Churchill saying, that allowing colonial peoples independence was not likely to result in a better outcome for them, but it is hard to reconcile that statement with Fears' claim that Churchill was, first, last and always, committed to freedom.  

But I did learn a lot, and the lectures provided a good framework for diving into some of the biographies that I eventually need to get around to reading.