This morning, about 12 of us met at the center to go on a Zaharplasteio Walk. Basically we visited some of the best sweet shops in Athens. Kim, our student activities coordinator, described it as a "bar crawl only with sweet shops instead of bars." Each place had a specialty. We visited the best place to get loukoumades (honey donuts), a gelato place, a bakery well known for its milk-based desserts and one of the most famous chocolate shops in Athens.
The chocolate shop is in Syntagma Square (one of the busiest and trendiest squares in Athens) and it was originally going to be our first stop, but we were detoured by the police. Evidently there had been a bomb threat on the McDonald's in the square and they closed off the entire square, thereby cutting off our access to the delicious chocolates.
So we walked through a bunch of back alleys, past a couple cute stores and through a really nice square to get to the honey donut place. It was packed and we were lucky to find enough tables to sit us all. Each table got two plates of donuts (six donuts per plate) that were covered in honey and cinnamon. There were also cinnamon and chocolate syrup covered donuts, but they weren't nearly as good.
Our next stop was only a couple blocks away at the gelato place. Yes, I know it's traditionally an Italian thing, but this place was a traditional gelato maker. I could tell because the banana was gray instead of yellow. I didn't get the banana though. I decided to go with the caramel, since I had always wanted to try it. Some of the others in my group asked for samples (which I always forget that I can do) and I got a chance to try what they eventually got. I must say, there weren't any flavors that didn't do it for me, but I was really glad I chose something that wasn't overly sweet (like a chocolaty one). Especially since our next stop was very sweet.
We had to take a 25-minute subway ride (which was actually mostly above ground, but that's beside the point) to one of the outlying neighborhoods to visit our next sweet shop. It ended up being a bakery that had a little restaurant/café section in the back. Kim ordered three desserts (one was baklava, and the other two I don't remember the names of but one was a custard pie and the other was basically liquid sugar), a bowl of yogurt and custard for each table. It was so rich and sugary and yummy! We sat there for a long time letting the sugar digest (or attempt to) before jumping back on the subway back to Syntagma.
By the time we got back to Syntagma, the bomb scare was over, so we made our way to the chocolate shop. At this point I was so full I wasn't sure I could eat anymore. Lucky for me, all we had from the chocolate shop was one piece of chocolate. It was delicious and a really great way to end out our sugar-filled day.
I have a feeling that all that sugar is going to catch up with me, but I think the experience was completely worth it. If you ever have the chance to wander around Athens, stop in at one of the local dessert shops. I promise you wont be disappointed.
