I returned home today after an 11 and a half hour
plane ride on Olympic Airlines, jet lagged and recalling
these past 5 days in Greece. 
Luisito
Rosario and I performed at a small place called "Palenque"
in the heart of central Athens for three nights. What a
surprise to be this far from a Latino oriented country
and yet be confronted by beautiful women, dancing the
real salsa steps on two. 
The band provided to us by owner Vasilis Kounenis and
his partners were made up of 4 young Cuban musicians, a
Mexican bongo player, a Venezuelan coro singer and 4
horn players from Greece. Surprisingly so, they played
with great feeling and after the initial rehearsal felt
confidence and played strong. The club was packed every
night and the music and drinking continued until 5 or 6
am every night. Then at 5am out for some Greek soup.
Athens is a city of 5million people with just as many
cars and motorcycles and of course NO PARKING. I made it
a point to do some sightseeing in this very historic
city. Being 67 years old and out of shape, I walked to
the top of the Acropolis to see a magnificent view of
all of Athens and visited the museum and the Parthenon. 
The
artifacts date back to 500 BC. My calves and legs will
never be the same. The food at every restaurant was just
wonderful. Besides all the meat made of Souvlaki (beef,
chicken, pork, lamb) Giros, there were plenty of
different Greek salads to choose from.
Saturday I was contacted by an old friend Alexandra
Rousseou and her husband, who run Kalligraphon
Advertizing and promotion company, to come and visit her
home town of Pireus, near the sea where the boats dock
and sea food is abundant. 
I
did a fast recording session in Athens for the Palenque
All-stars for a few hours and then we drove the 35 min.
Pireus and stopped to eat dinner starting at 6pm until
9pm. Tzatziki, Taramouslata, Cheese pies, Salted
anchovies, Beet root salad, Guaros, Grilled octopus and
Fagri fish was the order of the evening. We washed it
all down with a few bottles of Greek wine and some Ouzo.
What a treat.
I staggered back to Athens to perform on a very full
belly. The crowd was SRO with a line down the block at
Palenque Saturday eve. We finished at 4am. I staggered
back to my hotel and passed on the soup. Alexandra and
her husband waited until I changed clothes, picked up my
toothbrush and vitamins and I jumped into their car for
an hour drive to another city called Loutraki, built on
pure water springs that bottles water and has a 5 mile
coastline of rocky beach recalling Cannes in France or
the Italian Riviera. We stopped at a local watering hole
for a night cap only to find it jumping at 5am with loud
rock and roll playing on the speakers - the Greeks sure
like to drink. I made it to their apartment and was
greeted by their 60 lb pitbull who just wanted to play
and play. I crashed and awoke at 2pm.
The Greeks have a coffee called "Frappe" in
the morning that gets you moving immediately and keeps
you going like a triple expresso, although it is cold,
drunk from a straw in a tall glass. WOW, now let's have
lunch.. The Greek people skip breakfast and go directly
to a hardy lunch. We drove to the Aegean sea and sat at
a wonderful restaurant and ordered Makedoniko wine,
Grilled Octopus, 
Fried
Shrimps, Broiled Mussels, French Fries, Boiled Greens,
Spicy Cheese Croquettes and Greek Salad. We ate for 2
hrs and drove back to Athens.
My last performance started at 10;30 pm much earlier
than the previous nights for Monday is a work day in
Athens. Nevertheless the crowd was large and everyone
Salsa danced the night away. Vasilis made me sign some
posters and some sheet music for him for his wall of
fame in his office and we headed back to the hotel to
rest before our morning flight to New York. Luisito and
his wife took a 6am flight and mine was at noon. I
arrived 11 hrs later at JFK and waited and hour for my
bag and getting through Customs and immigration.. Taxied
my way to Manhatten and finally got to my apartment..
DESTROYED from my "It's Greek to ME" week. All
in all a beautiful country, great people and a wonderful
time..
