The Ultimate Greek Food Tour in Athens Greece!! Athens Central Market

All right, it's time for the ultimate Greek food tour. All righty, Travel Dons, welcome back. And today, this is going to be the penultimate video here in Athens specifically. After this, we're gonna be kind of getting out for some day trips and then moving along up into Northern Greece. However, I figured we would finish it off with the ultimate food tour of Athens, Greece. And you might be thinking, wait a second, Ben, you've been doing food tours almost this entire time. Yes, but it's been stuff that I've been personally just kind of like researching and finding. However, this one, we're gonna go around through all like hidden gems here in downtown Athens. And I need a host. I actually have two. The first one has shown up, Miss Arela. Welcome to the channel, guys. Travel Dons, say hello to Miss Arela. Miss Arela, tell me a little bit about yourself and how this tour really kind of started. Well, my name is Arela. I'm 26 years old. My parents are originally from Albania, which is a country that borders Greece, but I was born here. And I used to live with my parents in the center for about 21 years. So Athens is a very beautiful city. It's a very big community and it has the most amazing markets. This is what we're gonna see today. So my journey of becoming a food tour guide actually started about four years ago. I was working as a waitress inside the meat market at a very nice taverna, which we're gonna take you there today. And there I met Rachel and Mike, the people who own this food tour company. We became very good friends and they said, let Arela join us in our company because you know the area, you're local to the area. So this is how my journey started. Of course, I think everybody knows what happened after November of 2019. We had COVID and everything. So I just started last year with Rachel and Mike. This is my second year of running the tours and I'm very happy to show you around today. Awesome, thanks Arela. So we're gonna go ahead and go around and kind of explore Athens and see kind of places I haven't personally been to yet myself. So, oh, and let's meet up with the second tour guide as well. Okay, so our second tour guide is here as well. And this is the host, the main host of this food tour here in Athens, Miss Rachel. Hi, nice to meet you. And Miss Rachel, how did you start all this? I started this about six years ago, actually. I am Greek, born in Greece, but I grew up in London. I came back seven years ago, met my now husband and we both understood that we had a very strong love for Greek food and for Athens. So we said, right, let's show the tourists what we love about this city. And that's how we started. Awesome. All right, so I actually haven't eaten yet today because we're gonna do this tour. So let's go get some food, shall we? Absolutely. I'm hungry. A lot of food. Phyllo or phyllo, it comes from the Greek word phyllo and it means leaf, leaf pastry. Because it's rolled out till it's super thin and then the depth is created by layering it. They make it on site here with Christos here makes it. Inside of it is spinach. Can you guess what cheese it is? Feta, of course, feta cheese. We're gonna talk about feta cheese in a little while. Red onion, black pepper. And can anyone identify the herb that's in it? I haven't tasted it today. I don't know how strong it is. I don't know. You know, yeah. Is garlic considered a herb? No, it's not garlic. Shouldn't be garlic in it. This is dill. Maybe a strong onion you can taste. That's dill. It's called Greek bread. Try the spinach one first. But the truth is many of us get up early but none of us get up any earlier than we have to. Put that butter cheese. Time to try the Bougatsa. So, you know, filo pastry is so hard to make. 80% of the world's filo is made by machine. It's one of the 20% that is made. What makes good extra virgin olive oil? Sorry, let us find out. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna taste a little bit of it. And actually we're gonna identify if the oil is good. This is extra virgin olive oil, also known as EVOO. And extra virgin is different to any other oil in four main ways. Does anybody know any of those four ways? Blue? The color. I don't know. It's making up things up. No, it's good. I like the info. Sure. First way is it is always from the first pick of olives of the tree. And if you are anywhere in the Mediterranean, that first pick of olives is the first or second week of November. So it was very recent. People have been doing their harvesting. The second thing is, have you heard of cold pressed? So cold pressed, what does it mean? It means that the olives are squashed without any electricity because electricity creates heat. And you don't want heat to combine with oil because it kills the health benefits. You don't wanna do that. So what they do in this country and all over the Mediterranean actually, is they lay the olives over a stone, a flat stone. And then they have another stone. Imagine a wheel. And this wheel, it has a handle. And as they turn the handle, the wheel goes around the other stone and it squashes the olives. Now, what they do with those squashed olives, they scoop them up. They put them into a hand operated machine. It's round. It has a barrel like this underneath it. And again, they turn the handle. Still no electricity. And as they turn the handle, the olives spin and eventually they're spinning so fast, the oil is thrown out of the olives. And it all goes down into the barrel underneath. And the third thing is from olive on the tree to oil in the barrel must not exceed 24 hours. And the final thing is acidity. And actually, all olive oils like canola, rapeseed can go right up to 2% acidity, but extra virgin must not exceed 0.8. And actually, this is a very, very good quality as we already established. And the acidity on this oil is 0.2%. 0.2 is about the lowest you're ever gonna get. And let's test that. So what I want you guys to do, smell it as you guys said, smell it, and then put it all in your mouth. If you can, hold it in your mouth, put your chin up, hold it in this part of, what's this called? This part, your throat, thank you. You hold it in your throat for three seconds and then swallow it. The worst it's gonna do is make you cough a little bit. Okay, so how was I supposed to do this again, Maria? So you take it, you shoot it, and if you can, keep it a little bit in the back of the throat. And you should experience something, Ben. A very, very mild sensation of pepperiness, a burn. Yeah. Yeah, it does. That was really good though, but. That means it's good. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. It means it's good. So this little shop is really cool. Like, I love olive oil. And the fact that we were learning so much about, I didn't know everything that went into the production of olive oil. And the fact that olive oil, like in the States, like a lot of the olive oil that you get is at max like 30% actual olive oil in there. A lot of like the rest of it, like the other 70% is mixed with like, you know, rapeseed and canola oil and stuff like that. So it's, it is fascinating because apparently 60% of the olive oil production and distribution in the world is run through the mafias. Didn't know that, that's interesting. So, but yeah, this little shop is great because they have all these different oils. You have all these different olives that you can get. They even have like olive oil soap and stuff like that. Really, really cool. All right, next little nibble is a little sheep's cheese. So try this real quick. Oh, that's so soft. That is so good. Oh man, I love me some good cheese. And then to pair with that, you've got this pork salami. That's got a little garlic and black pepper on it. Fantastic, that is so good. Fresh Kalamata olives. That's so good. One more, just for luck. Watch those pits. That's good. With oregano? With oregano, yeah. These are super nice. All right, with oregano. Let's try this. Mm. So, a little bit mushier, but that oregano flavor in there, that's fantastic. All right, green olive. These are called Halkatitis. So these are a little bit more firm, it feels like. Yeah, really good. Not as salty as the Kalamatas, but ooh, that is a great flavor. Wow, good olive. All right, one with the chili. Yeah, these are hot, hot. Yeah, and the Greeks don't do hot, so for us, this is not spicy. Spicy olive. Not spicy, not very much here. Right, let's just go around here, guys. Let me show you. Pepper's nice. I think the peppers and whatnot take away some of the saltiness, but ooh, that's really, really good. Okay, so we've actually come to a sit-down spot, and we've got a few different things going on here. So I'm gonna start off with kind of like a chicken suvaki skewer. Oh, that's so good. So, of course, they put these in gyros and stuff like that, but man alive, that is a really good chicken. And then, of course, I'm gonna try a little bit of Greek salad with a bit of cheese and cucumber, and there's also tomato. I'll get a bite of that in a second. A little olive oil, I think, like salt and pepper on there. It's not very old. We've only eaten Greek salad since the 1970s, and the reason for that is before that, we were a dictatorship here. I don't know if you know, we were a closed country. You couldn't come in, you couldn't go out very easily, and actually- That's delicious. All right, so we got now a white wine here. This is a white wine fermented with pine. It says red siena. Red siena. Very, very traditional. Not totally popular, but have some more, John. I will. That's actually really good. So, Rachel, what is it that you say in Greece when you're cheersing? You say yamas. Yamas? Okay, so yamas to everyone. Yamas. Yeah, have a tea. Yamas. Wee! So, baby is making the rock and roll. We're about to get right. Rocky with honey in it, so yamas. Yamas! After this, nobody's gonna be cold anymore. You will start taking your jackets off. First off, it goes up the nose, that smell. Oh, really? Ooh, that smell goes right up the nose. That's actually really good, though. That's really, really good, but wow. Eyes watering. So, as you can see, we are in the Central Athens Municipal Market. We've been here in a previous video. However, we came here kind of like as they were closing near 6 p.m. As you can see, they're in the middle of the day. This place is heaving, and it's got so much fresh fish and produce here. It's absolutely fantastic. All right, so just a warning. If you're anything from a pescatarian to a vegan, you do not want to see this next part. This cow's head is looking at me. Looks delicious, but I think he's judging me. So, next point on the tour is right next to the market. Ariella, what is this place called? It's called Greek coffee, Greek traditional coffee, and the way that we're cooking it is called hovoli. Hovoli? Hovoli with an H, yes. Okay, gotcha. This place is called Moka? This place is called Moka. It's the oldest coffee shop in Athens, about 100 years old, and the only coffee shop in Athens who still makes the Greek coffee the traditional way in the sun. Nice. You're gonna love it. Let's go ahead and watch this real quick, and then we'll try it. All right, guys, so the coffee's up. So, as you've seen, I've already drank some Greek coffee, but we gotta try it from the original spot here. Just the steam coming off that. Oh, that's so good. And we even got a little bite here called a Turkish Delight. I got a yellow one. I'm not exactly sure all the different flavors form, so. Coffee. Oh, that's sweet, but gooey. That's really good. Try that with a little coffee to go with it. That's a great combo. Ooh, yeah, definitely check out this place called Mocha right next to the market. This is a great spot. So, the tradition, guys, with the coffee is to have something sweet while we drink our coffee. So, guys, now we're gonna give you some Christmas desserts that we have only this time of the year. So, if you come back in summertime, you won't find them. We have two types, guys. We have one, this one, that is called Melomakarona. In a free translation, this means honey pasta. It's not pasta, has a lot of honey, has walnuts. Honestly, it tastes and smells like Christmas. Guys, you're gonna love it. Give it a go. Tastes like Christmas with cinnamon, with orange peels. Let's try this real quick. So, Melomakarona. Oh, my God. It's very good, guys. And they're homemade. That is fantastic. And the other one, guys, that we have here, it's called Curapyes. It's made with flour, a lot of butter, some almonds, and powdered sugar. Time to try the Curapyes. Curapyes, yum, yum, yum. Oh, that's very powdery. You can see, like, powder just going everywhere. Oh, my God. It's like the best little, like, dry little cookie. Yeah, I like the other one. Oh. We haven't had this, though. Not fantastic. Holy crap, look at all of these spices. Oh, my God. Gee, man, it's Christmas. Let's call this Spice World. A very unique spice store for us. More than three generation of spices and very unique mixes for cooking and mixes for drinking tea. Yannick, that we see over there, he's the third generation owner, and he inherited this business from his granddad. So, guys, I would like for us to start with some lavender. Why lavender? To give us, guys, a clean palate so we can taste and we can smell some of these spices, okay? I'm gonna give some lavender in your palm, and I would like for you guys to just warm it up a little bit, okay? To release the smell of it. All right, we got the lavender. Warm that up a little bit. Try this. It's nice. Simple. The smell is really where it gets you. That's so good. All right, so we got the tzatziki spices as well. So, let's try. Smell that a little bit. Ooh, I like that. That's actually really nice. I think there might be like a little bit of, like, looks like little small granules or something in there. I love tzatziki, but this spice is really good. So, this is this spice shop's kind of, like, they use it for chicken dishes, so it's like a chicken mix, but Anela likes to say dorito mix. Apparently, this tastes like doritos, so let's try it. That's weird. It does actually taste like doritos. That's very odd. It's really good. I like doritos, but I didn't want a dorito mix seasoning. Okay, it is what it is. Spice number four, oregano. Oh, I love cooking with oregano. This is so good. So good. Okay, so I went ahead and bought myself some what's considered mountain tea, and it's from Ikaria, and Ikaria is a blue zone here in Greece. It's very close to Turkey, and this is one of the reasons, I believe, she was telling me that, number one, there's very few, if zero people in Ikaria that get dementia, and part of the science comes down to literally drinking this mountain tea every day. So, I mean, I'm well before, you know, young enough that I don't think I'll be having dementia anytime soon, but I want to try some of this delicious mountain tea, because we smelled it earlier. It smelled so good, so. But anyway, we continue on with the tour. Yeah! There's so much better than that. And yamas to you. It's ouzo time. I have a whole thing of yamas. I watched you step on it once, and I was like, ah. So it's basically a rocky, ah, that's been distilled a second time with, like, anise and stuff, so it's got, like, a black licorice taste. Not the biggest fan of black licorice and stuff, but this goes down rather smooth, and it's not as harsh, so if you're looking for something a little bit smoother and easier, this is what you want to do. And also, when you put a little ice in it, the anise interacts with the water, and it gets all milky, so it's actually kind of cool. A little science in that bartend behind there, so cheers to you guys. That's all you remember about the food, huh? A few pints? Yeah. Licorice. All right, so we got a frickin' smorgasbord over here. So, ah, first dish, a little fava, ah, fava bean paste that we put on top of the bread. Let's go ahead and try this real quick. Mm. It's slightly warm, too. It's not hot, but just, like, slightly warm. That is absolutely fantastic. Oh, my God. Okay, so we got, actually, more than four dishes, so I've got this small, this whole little plate of just the amalgamation of a bunch of different stuff. So we're just gonna start trying all of this. First off is this kind of, like, I don't know what the name of it is, but it's a little bean here, actually a rather large bean, with some kind of spiced oil. That's really nice. Really, really good. And then, of course, some chickpeas. Love chickpeas. If you're into hummus, made out of chickpeas. Fantastic. And then, then you have, of course, kind of like a spicy cheese dip. Oh, my, that's a, some kind of bread, I'm not exactly sure what that is. Oh. That is, that is absolutely fantastic. Really, really good cheese. And then, then we got, of course, this red pepper here, stuffed with cheese. I think this is, this would be like a, looks like a feta cheese. Oh, I know. Between the feta and the peppers in there, really, really good. All right, now we'll try the meats. We got sausage. I'll try this hot. Oh, man. That is a great sausage. Really, really good. Oh, man. I'll try a little bit of this meatball. It's a good little meatball action. Take a mixture of lamb and pork in there. Got a nice crunch on the outside. Inside, very soft, meaty, delicious. Oh, man. The one I've been waiting for, anchovies. No, I know, not everybody likes anchovies, but fresh grilled anchovies with just a little bit of like, olive oil cooked into it. Oh. Come on. What a beast. This is so good. Okay, so we got two more things before we leave this place, and basically it's kind of dessert-ish. So we got Greek yogurt here, their own house-made Greek yogurt, with lavender honey, so you just see that. That place looks so, so good. And it absolutely is good. Oh, my God. That lavender honey adds so much to that Greek yogurt. And then we got ourselves a banana here. This is not any regular banana. This is a Greek banana from the Isle of Crete. So Crete actually makes their own bananas. It's supposed to be creamier, about the same amount of sweetness, but it's supposed to be very creamy, so we're gonna try it real quick. Oh, it's very soft. Very soft, and as she said, rather creamy inside. That's a really good banana. This is all fantastic. Welcome, welcome to our show. As Rachel said, we are the producers in here, three generations now. And I have to say that we have more than 150 international awards for our honey, taste and quality. We produce honey, olive oil, and cosmetics out of this. So all of our products in here are one by one. Well, I don't want to say more. We will start with thyme honey. Thyme, the small goose. That's good. That's why you've got my own film. I know, I do, I do. See, I was promised thyme honey before. We ended up with lavender. It is time for thyme. It's time for thyme. Time for thyme. Honey, honey, honey, honey. When I lived there, we had the South London honey, and when it was ready, it was a bit funky. Oh my God. That is amazing. And this honey is from the island of Cyclades, you know, Paros, Naxos, Mykonos, Andorini, and from Crete. So this is kind of like the Greek Manuka. The Greek Manuka, exactly. Cyclades? Cyclades. Cyclades honey, the Greek Manuka. Let's try this. I want to be a beekeeper. It's my next career. That's really good. I've actually had Manuka honey from New Zealand. That's, yeah, that's on par. That's fantastic. All right, so we've got a little raw honeycomb from Crete. We're going to try that. That's so good. Just that nice little crunch of the comb itself. That's so good. For the finale, pistachio butter. Slap that on a piece of toast. That actually tastes a little like Nutella. That's really good. Okay, so I think I've found my favorite new shop, this honey shop that we've just been in. Melitta is awesome. I highly recommend checking them out because they have, the family that runs the shop has been doing honey here in Greece for over 200 plus years. They have the beehives in there from back in the day. You know, nowadays it's kind of like the more large stacked beehives that they do for bee farms. Then this one, you know, you have, they no longer use those old hives, but they put them on display to showcase their history. And just the amount of different types of really good honeys is ridiculous. So, shop-wise, this is probably my favorite shop so far on the tour. All right guys, so this is gonna be the end of the video. Aurela is taking off real quick. Everybody say bye, thank you so much. Appreciate you, Aurela. Thank you, Ben. And then we're gonna finish off here with Rachel. Thank you so, so much. Thank you. This was an amazing, amazing food tour. And it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a whole lot of ground to be covered, but there was still a lot to do in that small little ground. So, is that kind of like how Athens really is all about? I think, you know, Athens is a small city, really. And the tourists don't always realize that seconds away, they're in the really authentic streets, the food markets. We do cover a fair bit of ground, but you see that the scenery changes pretty drastically, very, very quickly. And yeah, that's typical, I think. That's typical of our city. I think that's what I've, you know, you guys have watched my videos, has really stood out to me as well. And even within like three or four blocks, you could literally for two weeks, just eat and drink your way through, you know, two or three blocks, not even just going through the rest of the city. So, but anyway, guys, I hope you liked this video. We're gonna start going outside of Athens in the next one. But if you liked the video, give it a big old thumbs up. And of course, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And I will leave links in the description for the food tour. It is on Airbnb, correct? We are on Airbnb. And it is the number one Airbnb experience, I think, in Greece. It is indeed. Yeah, so they're very, very popular. So again, Rachel, appreciate you. Thank you very much. And guys, until we meet again, peace out. Have a great night.