Every year for some weeks tulipland Holland turns into the crocusland...Carpets of purple, white and yellow flowers covers cities and fields. It is funny to see that crocus and snowdrop come out of the ground at the same time (at home the snowdrops were always the first ones.
And as this winter was so long, the crocus time was just the past few weeks...Now its sure and official spring is coming:-))
The Greek food is yummy and ...how do I say it...somehow extremely similar to the Bulgarian food. Lets take as an example the famous Greek salad. It has the same ingredients as the Bulgarian "shopska salata", the only difference is that the feta cheese is in one or two pieces while the "shopska salata" is covered with grated feta cheese. Somehow the cuisine of all Balkan countries ends up of offering several dishes which one can find and enjoy no matter if you are in Turkey, Bulgaria or Greece.
The grilled squid (picture above) is though something we dont have...and the portion above (with plenty of vegetables hidden under the squid) I have enjoyed at a very trendy place in Athens called "Tzitzikas kai Mermigas". But to continue with my comparison, I grew up with "sarmi", wine leaves filled with rice. The Greek call them "dolmades" and say its Greek dish...but my grandma cooked it already for some 50 years:)
One of my favourite dessert is the joghurt with honey and walnuts on the top. Well, the Greek have it too and yes, it tastes good and no, there is no one single difference to the Bulgarian version...I suppose the fact that we are so close has as an end result, that Bulgarian dishes are not only found in my home country but also in the neighbours...And i am happy that like this more people can enjoy these delicious specialties:)
Finally I made it - a visit to my neighbourhood country Greece, a weekend in Athens. And of course one of the first things i did was to climb the Acropolis (in Greek "the highest city")....This antic sanctuary of the goddess Athena offers a breathtaking view of the modern city. While walking though pieces of history from different eras its easy to start to picture how everything looked before.
Even if the Parthenon (the temple for Athena, protector of the city) was completely covered with renovation scaffolding, i fell in love with the Erechtheion (second and third picture). In the night the Acropolis is lighten and the actually highest hill of town (Lycabettus/ in Greek "Λυκαβηττός") is a great point for enjoying the night cityscape.
Finally we have got a very suuuuuuuuuunny weekend! Last week i also have discovered the first snowdrops for this spring, so it is official.
Inofficial it is still winter...In the night under the zero and the poor duckies still need ot walk/slide on ice, as part of the canals still do get frozen...
Hopefully it warms up soon:-)
It is MY favourite Bulgarian holiday/ tradition!:-)) Every first of March (and then for the rest of the month too) we celebrate "Baba Marta" (literally "Granny March") - by giving our beloved ones (friends, colleagues, neigbours, etc...) white+red-threat-made "marteniza". This little present (in form of armband, necklace or little dolls ) symbolises the coming spring and makes people smile...
