Souvlaki Row

                                                                                    Athens, Greece
                                                                                June, 2015
                                                                                              
The year was 1988. I was settling down and getting used to life at The University of Oklahoma (OU) at Norman. One of the  first international food I was introduced to, was the Greek Gyro Pita sandwich. There was a small, family run Greek cafe, walking distance from the engineering building. I used to visit the place often for a Gyro sandwich. After graduating from OU, I never had such an authentic,  delicious Gyro sandwich, that is, until this trip to Greece!


Monastiraki Square
The Monastiraki Square is with in 10 minutes of walking from the Syntagma Square (  link  ). Monastiraki means "Little Monastery" and refers to the 12th-century Byzantine church located in the square. Monastiraki Square is the hub of a busy shopping center, always packed with tourists. From the square, one street leads to the Athens Flea Market, and another street is home to specialty stores, clothing boutiques and souvenir shops loaded with just the things tourists want to buy !!!  Yet another street leading from the square has the most appropriate name, "Souvlaki Row", for a very good reason. 

Do I need a caption for this photo? :)

Walking towards Monastiraki Sqaure. See the street lights hanging overhead at the middle of the street !
That is very unique; I have never seen like this in any other country we had visited!

Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea on Ermou street;  a 11th century, Byzantine, Greek Orthodox Church.

The Monastiraki Square.

Fruit vendors at Monastiraki Square. I wanted to buy just 2 Peaches. The man selling the fruit said,
" Sorry my friend, you need buy for at least 1 Euro". I said OK and was shocked to receive 5 fresh, juicy and
very yummy peaches just for 1 Euro.!!! The narrow street behind these fruit stalls lead to the
Athens Flea Market.

This street is full of boutique and souvenir shops!

Souvlaki Row
If you visit Athens and would like to enjoy really, authentic, mouth watering, finger-licking delicious Greek food like Gyros and Souvlaki's, for a very reasonable price, Souvlaki Row is not to be missed. Located in the Mitropoleos street, leading off from the Monastiraki sqaure, the "Souvlaki Row" is lined with excellent Greek Cafes and Restaurants.  

As you walk along Souvlaki Row, waiters on either side literally try to pull you inside their cafe!

Outdoor tables clog both sides of the already narrow street, providing an enjoyable, upclose and personal dining experience!

We selected a Cafe called Σαββαs (pronounced as "Sabbas") which was opened in 1925.

This is how my red wine arrived !!!

Appetizer: Eggplant with Yogurt !!!  Man, this was melting in my mouth and setup high expectation for the rest of the food! 

Fresh Greek Salad. The cheese square on the top was worth its weight in Gold !

The Gyro.  It was delicious and we all absolutely loved it. Each Gyro costs just 2.50 Euros.
Next day, we went back to the same place for lunch (:-P...

                                                                                                                     * * * * * 
 
After the trip, I searched for my Greek House Cafe in Norman, OK. It is still there and I was not surprised to read amazing, raving reviews in Yelp, Google and TripAdvisor.  I also read a story that the original owners were farm workers from Greece who had moved to USA and started this Cafe in February of 1979.

When I had my first Gyro at this Cafe in Norman, OK in 1988, there was
no Internet, no web browsers, no cell/smart phones, no Yelp and no Google!!!
I know, I am dating myself :)
Thanks to them, today I was able to pull a photo of this place from the Internet !