Between our arrival, and our welcome dinner, Pat and I decided (ok, I twisted her arm) to walk a few blocks over, and a few blocks down from our hotel, and get our general bearings while exploring the sights and sounds of this area of the city.
The first thing we noticed was that there are plenty of “mini-mart kiosks” 
along the street, and the one right outside the hotel door became our favorite go-to spot for bottled water and sodas. A 16-ounce bottle of water was only .50 Euros, or about 50ยข, and it became a staple on all of our adventures. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that I could not find any diet Pepsi during our trip, so had to rely on Coke zero as my mainstay beverage.
The kiosks offered plenty of souvenirs, snacks and newspapers, and I was totally enthralled by the language I could read. It was mysterious, even sexy in an oddly exciting way, and I found myself drawn to photograph signage storefronts, only because I so totally enjoyed and embraced being a stranger to everything “locals” took for granted here.
Our walk, although we didn’t travel far, took us past spice vendors and fish markets, feta cheese displays and many, many bakeries! (And I am such a sucker for the vibrant colors and decorative presentations in their display cases!)
And then there was the gelato, which is technically an Italian treat, but I was more interested in the soft piles of a myriad of flavors than the national heritage of this most-excellent dessert. Theoretically, gelato is low
er in calories, fat, and sugar than “traditional” ice cream, so I convinced myself it was actually a health food, and better for me than some other sweet choices I could make. I’m good at rationalizations like that. Suffice to say I helped out the Greek economy by buying my fair share of gelato during our 10-day stay.
