In November Marti & I flew to Athens
for several days to catch a few concerts,
do some shopping & enjoy a bit of
Greek cuisine. We had a great time . . .
We went to two shows at the Small Music Theatre by Chuck Prophet.
Chuck was excellent. On the first night an English rocker named
Nikki Sudden sat in on a couple of sloppy encores.
Our friend Alex joined Marti & me on both nights.
We all hung out a while backstage after the first show.
Alex is a super guy: he collected us at the airport,
drove us to our hotel & lent us a local cellphone.
We had a fun time with him & his wife Alice & their
darling daughter Lina.
Our hotel was located in the Koukaki neighborhood south of the Plaka.
There were lots of auto parts shops on our street. Having been to
Athens a few times, Marti & I only did a bit walk-by sightseeing.
We had lunch twice at our favorite little Kolonaki taverna.
One evening Alice & Alex took us to Capitanio's
seafood restaurant in Piraeus, a place we'd loved
on a previous visit. It was Lina's first time here.
The restaurant's namesake has gone on to better fishing waters,
but Mrs. Capitanio chopped up some ingredients to make us a
delicious chowder. She & I selected a big porgy to be grilled
for us. Between courses Lina & I entertained each other
with monkey-see, monkey-do head-slapping games.
The girls love me!
After our wonderful dinner Alex & Alice dropped Marti & me
at a club where we heard the remarkable music of violinist
Giorgos Maglaras, polyrhythmic guitarist Andreas Georgiou
(he plays a 16-string acoustic!) & angelic singer Savina Yannatou.
I had known only Savina's music before, but all the compositions
& improvisations we heard that evening were marvelous.
Alex had warned me that Savina was only scheduled to perform
a song or two & that the cover charge would be 18 euros each.
As it turned out, Savina sang in all but one of the songs in Set 2.
Marti & I spoke with Savina a bit after the concert. She was so
impressed that we had sought her out that she insisted on making
us her guests for the evening, comping us on the covers
& even our drinks! Greek hospitality is legendary.
The next morning Marti & I went to services
at the little church in our Koukaki
neighborhood. It was very moving to me.
We went back to Piraeus in the evening & had dinner
at a local taverna. We got coffee afterwards in a hip
harborside café. My bride & I avoided the local Domino's.
Marti & I went to the rapidly-gentrifying artisans' neighborhood of
Psirri, did a little Christmas shopping & strolling around, stopping
for drinks at a taverna we'd visited on our last trip. Then we went
to hear a long acoustic set by Nikki Sudden at a bar named after
the comic book character Corto Maltese.
On our last evening in Athens Marti & I went to
the beautiful new Megaron concert hall to hear
La Camerata, Athens' fine chamber orchestra, perform
Mozart's Haffner & Jupiter Symphonies, plus the Boy
Wonder's Concerto for clarinet, K. 622.
Sir Neville Marriner conducted; his son Andrew
wielded the clarinet.
We went to late dinner at another favorite Athens haunt, Diogenes.
Afterwards we walked through a deserted Plaka. Marti & I hailed
a taxi to return to the hotel. Catching a view of the illuminated
Parthenon as we got off the elevator was always a special treat
for Marti. I promised her we'd be back sooner than later.
