Day 6 – Greece: Cafes, Inomelo, & Black Sheep

We woke up at 9:30am to meet up with Georgios and 2 other friends – Aleko and Christo at Berikoko beach cafe. It was a cute cafe across the street from the water, and a 5 minute drive from the Tsoukalas house. It turns out the owner of the cafe was Erato’s sister (Stelios’s childhood friend who we met when we were in Paros 3 years ago). We grabbed a table by the window, ordered frappes, and I got a Mastello sandwich with pesto and sundried tomato.

The conversation was endless and we ended up chatting for about 3 hours. Aleko works as an engineer on cruise ships which I found very interesting so he is abroad for 3 months at a time and then at home for 3 months at a time. A very cool job, but a lot of flying around it seems. I commend him because I don’t think I could be away from my family for such a long period of time, but the 3 months of no work is probably also incredible. Another big topic that came up was how much things cost here compared to America. Certain things like eggs, milk, and standard groceries are priced about the same, but eating out at restaurants and bars is much cheaper here compared to America, and buying clothes/shoes (normal brands not luxury) are more expensive in Greece than in the US. Overall the job market and opportunities to make money seem more available in America. In Chios the monthly average salary is about 1000-1200 € a month which just doesn’t seem like enough. Then we changed the subject to more lighthearted topics like stories from their childhood, and the boys bringing pranksters in their youth. After 3 hours of coffee, chatting, and excellent company, I remembered this time to take a photo of Stelios and the guys. It makes me so happy to see Stelios in his element catching up with old friends, you can see it in the photo he is beaming and literally can’t stop smiling. 

After saying goodbye to the other guys we went for a walk along the water with Georgios. It was breezy but a beautiful day outside. We walked to a small marina park where suddenly I saw a large rat come out of the bushes and run across to the other side. Stelios said something to George in Greek (to not mention the rat) but without fully knowing every word I knew what he said so I turned to him and said “it’s ok I saw the rat”and he was surprised I didn’t freak out. Eventually we turned around and decided to head back to the house. 

We picked up Leo and decided to walk to the fishery for lunch that several people had recommended to us. The fishery is very hidden behind a shipyard and it is definitely not a spot you would stumble upon by accident. Unfortunately the hidden local gem was closed on Thursdays. We’ll have to come back tomorrow for lunch instead. We were getting hungry and didn’t want to walk all the way to Chora so we walked 10 minutes back to the house, hopped in our car, and drove to Mouri Taverna – a restaurant that I spotted along the water when we were driving to Grias castle. It was a family run taverna where the dad was in charge and took our order, the uncle was cooking in the kitchen, and the daughter who looked like she was 14 or 15 was serving and hosting. Talk about young work ethic! We were seated at the last open table by the window and ordered cheese balls, moussaka, the catch of the day – Greek Tsipoura fish, and a side of French fries. The fish was brought out whole and the dad cleaned in front of us which was much appreciated (I love fish, but it is quite annoying when it’s served whole and you have to pick out all the bones yourself). The fish was very tasty and so was the sauce – light olive oil with lemon. The moussaka was also very tasty, but honestly nothing beats the way Steli’s mom makes it. 

After lunch we drove back to the house and the boys dropped me off. Stelios and Leo went to Steli’s cousins house to drop off a gift, but I needed to nap tonight if we were going out dancing later (the bars/clubs don’t start until after midnight here). I unintentionally napped for 3 hours from 5-8pm, but I’ll take whatever sleep I can get on this trip. Around 9:30pm Stelios, Leo, and I met up with Mihali, Stelios’s cousin and went to Chora for dinner. We asked him to pick a local spot for dinner that’s not on the water since we’ve basically walked up and down that strip every night. Mihali took us down a street in Chora that I hadn’t been on yet and we tried getting a table at Shosto, but unfortunately they were full. I think it was meant to be because we ended up at Rakoumel and it turned out to be my favorite dinner of the whole trip. They had something I hadn’t seen on a menu yet called “Inomelo” – hot wine with honey. Mihali said it is very good and encouraged me to try it, and said when you finish it it’s customary to say “aspro pato” which means “white heels”. He was right, the Inomelo was delicious and the honey felt good on my throat. We also ordered a round of Ouzo for the adults while Leo enjoyed a Greek Cola. Unfortunately the ouzo wasn’t for me – it’s too strong of a flavor for me to actually enjoy drinking, and I would rather sip on Mastiha. For dinner we ordered a large spread of plates to share including pasta salad, house salad, spicy cheese sausage, lamb ribs, chicken, pita & tirokafteri (spicy feta dip), saganaki with feta, and French fries. Everything we ordered was so delicious but my favorite was the cheese sausage and pasta salad. At the end of our meal, the friendly restaurant cat jumped up on the seat next to me. She looked like she was smelling the leftover French fries so I tossed her a small fry but she wasn’t interested and smacked it away. I gave her a tiny piece of lamb and after a few minutes she begrudgingly ate it and then laid down and went to sleep. 

By the time we finished dinner it was midnight so we drove back home, put Leo to bed, and then went back to Chora to checkout the nightlife scene. It was a Thursday night but it’s also not summertime so we didn’t know what to expect. First we walked to Sueno but it was basically empty so we walked back towards the bar Kubrick next to where we had dinner. On the way there we passed a different cocktail bar called “Black Sheep” that was bumping Greek hip hop music. We grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered two Mastihas. The DJ started switching it up and played Reggae music (Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley) and both the bar and the crowd were giving hipster vibes and we were loving it. It also makes me laugh that there is a deluxe triple espresso machine at a cocktail bar, but the Greeks truly love their coffee and will drink it any time of day. Eventually they started playing 90s hip hop music and we danced, Stelios rapped to some Biggie & Method Man, and called it a night around 2:30am.