Fish and Seafood
Seaside psarotavernes offer fish , though for the inexperienced, ordering can be fraught with peril. Summer visitors get a relatively poor choice of fish, most of it frozen, farmed or imported from Egypt and North Africa. Drag-net-trawling is prohibited from the end of May until the beginning of October, when only lamp-lure ( gri-gri ), trident, "doughnut" trap ( kyrtos ) and multihook line ( paragadhi ) methods are allowed. During these warmer months, such few fish as are caught tend to be smaller and dry-tasting, and are served with butter sauce. Taverna owners often comply only minimally with the requirement to indicate when seafood is frozen (look for the abbreviation "kat.", "k" or just an asterisk on the Greek-language side of the menu). Given these considerations, it's often best to set your sights on the humbler , seasonally migrating or perennially local species. The cheapest consistently available fish are gopes (bogue), atherina (sand smelts) and maridhes (picarel), eaten head and all, best rolled in salt and sprinkled with lemon juice. In the Dodecanese, yermanos (same as Australian leatherback) is a good frying fish which appears in spring; gavros (anchovy) and sardhelles (sardines) are late summer treats, at their best in the northeast Aegean. In the north Aegean or around Pilio, pandelis or sykios (Latin Corvina nigra , in French "corb") is caught in early summer, and is highly esteemed since it's a rock-dweller, not a bottom feeder - and therefore a bit pricier than the preceding. In autumn especially you may encounter psarosoupa (fish broth) or kakavia (a bouillabaisse-like stew). The choicer varieties, such as barbouni (red mullet), tsipoura (gilt-head bream), lavraki (seabass) or fangri (common bream), will be expensive if wild - anywhere from ?26.50-41 per kilo, depending on what the market will bear. If the price seems too good to be true, it's almost certainly farmed . Prices are usually quoted by the kilo, and should not be much more than double the street-market rate, so if a type of bream is ?14.70 a kilo at the fishmonger's, expect it to be not more than ?30 at the taverna. Standard procedure is to go to the glass-fronted cooler and pick your own specimen, and have it weighed (cleaned) in your presence. Cheaper seafood ( thalassina ) such as kalamarakia (fried baby squid, usually frozen) and okhtapodhi (octopus) are a summer staple of most seaside tavernas, and occasionally mydhia (mussels), kydhonia (cockles) and garidhes (small prawns) will be on offer at reasonable prices. Keep an eye out, however, to freshness and season - mussels in particular are a common cause of stomach upsets or even mild poisoning. As the more favoured species have become overfished, unusual seafoods , formerly the exclusive province of the poor, are putting in a greater appearance on menus. Ray or skate (variously known as platy , selahi , trigona or vatos ) can be fried or used in soup, and is even dried for decoration. Sea urchins ( ahini ) are also a humble (and increasingly rare) favourite, being split and emptied for the sake of their (reputedly aphrodisiac) roe that's eaten raw. Only the reddish ones are gravid; special shears are sold for opening them if you don't fancy a hand full of spines. Many a quiet beach is littered with their halved carapaces, evidence of an instant Greek picnic.
Kavourotrypes beach.kostas says "An excellent,fantastic,superb beach in Sithonia peninsula of Chalkidiki.Its about half an hour trip from Porto Coufo by car.Its a mixed beach,for ordinary peolple and for nudists!Try a visit there." Tour Greece On Line (Video + Stills)David Mundstock says "My film "I Follow Apollo” presents the highlights of Greece, including Athens, Olympia, Meteora, Sparta, the Byzantine Empire, and a cruise to the islands of Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, & Rhodes, plus Ephesus in Turkey.
The video can be seen on the web, if you have a high speed internet connection.
This is a free, non-commercial, streaming video on the Windows Media Player. No ads and no strings attached. I sell absolutely nothing.
With any modem you can view a new gallery of still pictures from my trip to Greece.
There are over 30 of my other amateur travel videos on-line including trips to China, Russia, Antarctica, Italy, the UK, Australia, Hawaii, Peru, Mayan pyramids, and Turkey; see whales, penguins, or polar bears
The planet is yours, including my Home Page giant galaxy of still pictures.
To watch the videos or view the stills, please ask a search engine for: Intrepid Berkeley Explorer" tramadoltramadol says "tramadol" ultramultram says "ultram"
Your Tip for Greece
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Greece - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Greece - visit the main Greece forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Greece webguide section below! Thanks.
|
