A Magical Night in Athens

Our first night in Athens was nothing less than magical. We landed in Greece in the evening, and arrived at the apartment we rented for our three night stay in Athens even later in the evening, full of anticipation of discovering Athens and greater Greece in the days ahead.

We take the advice of the apartment owner and walk the couple blocks to her favorite neighborhood restaurant. The night is the perfect temperature and we choose a small table on the sidewalk outside the Olympion Restaurant, situated next to the curb and under the protective branches of a tall and sprawling tree.

We don’t hear English being spoken at any of the tables around us, our first waiter speaks only Greek, and we know instantly we are in the right place. Somehow the waiter understands us and we are quickly served a carafe of white wine, a carafe of red wine, bread, and oils for dipping. The next server to come over speaks English and he guides us through the menu, making us laugh with his gregarious personality and his boisterous antics. Our friend Ryan wisely tells the waiter to bring us what he would choose if he were eating. We end up with amazing dishes — some chicken, some beef, some in savory sauces, all cooked to perfection. The wine flows and the conversation is easy as we bask in the glory of dining on the moonlit sidewalk at a neighborhood restaurant in Athens.