Thessaloniki 1 - Hanging Out

In the afternoon we hung around the family apartment building to relax and enjoy each other’s company in a more intimate setting. While everyone loved the nightlife and to see the city, it was important to all of us to spend some time together as a family as we only had two short days in Thessaloniki. We looked at family photos, and they even had one framed of mom and dad (they had one printed from an email we sent them and had already framed it before even meeting us!).




We explored the building, where in the backyard patio they even had a full garden...in the city! There was even a lemon tree which they planted 35 years ago. We checked out their basement with a small home gym area - I practiced my kickboxing skills for a little bit - it was awesome.



There is always an abundance of food on the table, especially when guests are in town (as we've all learned from the Velvento experience). Evyenia makes bread and greens but doesn't actually eat either one. While her husband Giorgio LOVES the spinach mix (or Horta), she doesn't eat the spinach or salad - her plate was just piled high with meat, and meat alone (she even ate the tender meat off of the chicken ribs). We noticed this a lot with the older generations in our family, and asked why it was. It turns out that in hard times, all they had on the table was bread with sugar, or otherwise salad greens. They told us that my grandmother used work all day in the field to gather enough grains to make bread to feed her children that night. So as a result, most of the family doesn't touch the bread anymore, though they always make sure to have plenty for their guests at all times.




Here's a funny little story we enjoyed (especially dad):

As Evyenia and Giorgio saved up enough money to add extra floors onto their apartment building, the Agoratsiou brothers would all come into town from Velvento to do the construction. They worked hard and drank all day together while having fun building the extra floors. The result? A beautiful, strong, and stable home. However, the walls, floors, and ceilings are crooked!