Day 7: Sat Feb 11
Day 7: Sat Feb 11

Day 7: Sat Feb 11

Having recovered from whatever it was, I showered in the morning and went up to the penthouse bar ravenous. Each time I order food there I think how silly it is. After all, I can better prepare food that I like than they can. I just need to head out to a supermarket. I even knew what recipe I would begin with, and what other things I would buy. But guys, as I sat up at the bar table, my back facing away from the Acropolis, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time: A burst of sun suddenly warmed up my back. Priceless! That’s the first such burst I can recall since last summer.

Today I finally unpacked my big ole backpack and headed out. My goal was to first find a multicooker (which would take up like half of the backpack). Then a flosser (my American one would require a converter and I only had an adaptor, so I left it at home). Ladies and gentlemen: I do not exaggerate that I walked for 3 hours and did not find either item. There were shops for tourists–clothing, phones, shoes, purses, makeup–and very few others outside of those categories.

I broke down and asked for directions, couldn’t find the appliance store, but found another nearby. They had tiny rice cookers which would not work for cooking meals. They would work for cooking rice, but I don’t eat rice. They did not have a flosser. Next, I hit the supermarket, which I found easily. The selection wasn’t great, but I found all the ingredients I needed for soutzoukakia–except for the main star: ground beef. Apparently, you need to get that at a meat shop. Found the meat shop, found the beef, my backpack was soooooooooo heavy.

Back at the hostel I cooked and shared some lovely food.