It’s All Greek to Me — Part 3

Kifisia, Greece House Sit

After sight seeing in Athens, we headed by metro to Kifisia, a northern suburb of Athens, to start our 10 day house sit with three pets — Lily, an 11 year old cocker spaniel, June, a mostly outdoor cat and X (a yet-to-be-named) mix puppy. All three are so cute and really easy to care for, though the puppy does take a little extra work, as was expected.

We had initially talked with this homeowner couple for a house sit in the October/November timeframe, but the dates didn’t work out for us. In late December, we received an email from them asking if we could do a house sit in January. We were skeptical that we could get affordable-enough air tickets to make it work, but we lucked out and found reasonable airfare on Turkish Airlines from Houston (rather than Austin) via Istanbul. Flying from Houston reduced the per person cost by $500.

With our second day in the home, we are establishing a routine for the 3x/day dog walks, the frequent yard visits with the puppy, and inside/outside time for the cat. June, the cat, is an adept climber and neighborhood explorer. She usually accompanies us (doing her own thing) while we walk Lily. When inside, she is loving and purrs contentedly, but it isn’t long before she’s ready to head back out.

In other “getting into a routine” news, Beth is currently training to hopefully run the Manchester Marathon when we are in England this spring. Luckily, we found a gym less than a mile away that she can use to continue her training while here as there is no ability to run on the local sidewalks or streets. The sidewalks here appear to be for the planting of trees and the parking of motorbikes, if they exist at all. And the car traffic here is crazy.

In terms of local food, we have had some great cheese, local bread, and sweets. Bob has also enjoyed some gyros (made differently than in the States) and souvlaki while Beth has been into the grilled veggies and just discovered a lovely Sonia salad (carrots, beets, kidney beans, onions, dill, and parsley).

The house is just off the main avenue with many shops and markets. And we have enjoyed poking into local markets (seafood, regular, produce) and various bakeries.

The costs here are really good (cheap). The owners pointed us to a great coffee shop where we had two coffees and four pastries for about US$8. The Metro cost us US$1.25 a piece (going from central Athens to Kifisia, the last stop, approximately 15 miles). Greek wine is very tasty and really cheap — about $6 – $8 for a good bottle of red, white, or rose. We have also sampled local liquors — ouzo (anise-flavored and often mixed with water) and mastika (slightly sweet).

The weather has been chilly. In fact, it snowed all day and overnight last night with some snow accumulation on cars. But, it is likely warmer than our next house sit locale in Calgary, Canada. (At 5:20 pm Athens time on Sunday the 24th, it is 43 in Athens, 43 in Austin (but much earlier in the day), and 27 in Calgary (ditto about time difference).