Princeton University Athletics
Squash, Central Athens & Greek Cuisine Highlight Exciting Day For Tigers: Blog #3
November 06, 2016 | Women's Squash
For more on the Princeton women's squash team's fall international trip to Greece, check out Blog #1 and Blog #2.
After a long day of travel from Mykonos to Athens, we kicked off Thursday morning with an early training session at the Vari Squash Club. Joined by Leonides, a fierce and enthusiastic competitor from VSC, the group split up with half going upstairs for a challenging bike session while the others drilled and fine-tuned their match play skills. After the tough training session, we all hopped on the bus and headed to central Athens, where we were dropped off in Syntagma Square.
We made our way through the side streets of the city, getting brief glimpses of the Acropolis in the skyline and some of the local stores. We arrived at Diavlos Restaurant in the Monastiraki district, where we learned how to cook a traditional three course Greek meal. For our first course we prepared stuffed grape leaves, traditionally called Dolmas. According to an old Greek wives' tale, one is ready for marriage when she is able to properly wrap a dolma. The chef joked that we all were! While the dolmas were cooking, we moved on to our second course and made Horiatiki (a traditional Greek Salad) as well as Tzatziki sauce. For our main course, we wrapped chicken Slouvaki in grilled pita bread with fresh tomatoes, spring onions, and of course lots of Tazatziki to make a delicious Gyro. The room went silent once we were finally able to taste the food we had made! It was interesting to learn about the culture behind many of the dishes and ingredients used in the Greek cuisine and how it also overlaps with Turkish cooking. However, our most important takeaway was that you can never use enough olive oil. Ever.
Following our home-cooked feast, we split into small groups to walk off our filling meal and explore the local shopping district. The lucky groups were able to find the hidden olive oil and honey market, while others explored the flea markets which were filled with jewelry, clothing, and furniture shops. For friends and family at home, hopefully we can hold off eating the delicious treats we may have gotten for you on our long trip home.
Before heading back to the hotel, we were lucky enough to catch the guard change in front of the Parliament building in Syntagma Square. The attire and procession of the guards gave us a glimpse of Grecian culture, and allowed us to appreciate the memorial of the unknown fallen soldier.
To end the night, a group of us got dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant around the corner of our hotel. Stelios, our tour guided and much needed translator, generously treated us to the meal. He ordered us an array of classic Grecian dishes so that we could really get a taste of the whole cuisine! Thank you Stelios! It was a great way to end our day, and we fell fast asleep, looking forward to the full day ahead of us on friday.
- The Princeton Squash Class of 2018
After a long day of travel from Mykonos to Athens, we kicked off Thursday morning with an early training session at the Vari Squash Club. Joined by Leonides, a fierce and enthusiastic competitor from VSC, the group split up with half going upstairs for a challenging bike session while the others drilled and fine-tuned their match play skills. After the tough training session, we all hopped on the bus and headed to central Athens, where we were dropped off in Syntagma Square.
We made our way through the side streets of the city, getting brief glimpses of the Acropolis in the skyline and some of the local stores. We arrived at Diavlos Restaurant in the Monastiraki district, where we learned how to cook a traditional three course Greek meal. For our first course we prepared stuffed grape leaves, traditionally called Dolmas. According to an old Greek wives' tale, one is ready for marriage when she is able to properly wrap a dolma. The chef joked that we all were! While the dolmas were cooking, we moved on to our second course and made Horiatiki (a traditional Greek Salad) as well as Tzatziki sauce. For our main course, we wrapped chicken Slouvaki in grilled pita bread with fresh tomatoes, spring onions, and of course lots of Tazatziki to make a delicious Gyro. The room went silent once we were finally able to taste the food we had made! It was interesting to learn about the culture behind many of the dishes and ingredients used in the Greek cuisine and how it also overlaps with Turkish cooking. However, our most important takeaway was that you can never use enough olive oil. Ever.
Following our home-cooked feast, we split into small groups to walk off our filling meal and explore the local shopping district. The lucky groups were able to find the hidden olive oil and honey market, while others explored the flea markets which were filled with jewelry, clothing, and furniture shops. For friends and family at home, hopefully we can hold off eating the delicious treats we may have gotten for you on our long trip home.
Before heading back to the hotel, we were lucky enough to catch the guard change in front of the Parliament building in Syntagma Square. The attire and procession of the guards gave us a glimpse of Grecian culture, and allowed us to appreciate the memorial of the unknown fallen soldier.
To end the night, a group of us got dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant around the corner of our hotel. Stelios, our tour guided and much needed translator, generously treated us to the meal. He ordered us an array of classic Grecian dishes so that we could really get a taste of the whole cuisine! Thank you Stelios! It was a great way to end our day, and we fell fast asleep, looking forward to the full day ahead of us on friday.
- The Princeton Squash Class of 2018
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