My favorite tastes of Argolis

Every time I leave Nafplion and return to Athens, apart from idyllic images, I also put in my box of memories countless flavors and smells.

- The deep breaths I get as I enter the land of Argolis, are filling me inside with the incomparable smell of citrus. If Nafplio was a fruit, it would definitely be an orange! From the ones you peel with your bare hands and enjoy them, as if it was the first time you taste an orange in your life! And of course I adore the orange pie, the orange marmelade, the orange liqueur and the traditional orange spoon-sweet!

- I always care to buy handmade pasta from local workshops. My favorite sour "trachana", the local "gkogkes" (if you have not yet tasted them, you lose), the noodles and the lasagna.

- Delicious pasta, made with quality natural ingredients, on top needing nothing more than some grated gruyere from Trachia village or some feta cheese crumbs of Argos.

- Now, if I tell you that from Nafplio I also buy every kind of meat that can fit in my freezer, what would you say? Well, here you find really tasty and quality meat at prices much cheaper than in Athens!

- Every end of summer, I fill up plastic bags with peanuts from Kandia area, delicious, perfect for the winter evenings but also a disaster for my diet...

- As for the drinks, the blessed land of Nemea produces some of the finest Wines in vineyards that generations and generations of winemakers are well taking care of. My best thing is to take a trip to Nemea, visit a winery and buy my preferred wines directly from there. A true experience!

- And while the local wine is always in the top of my preferences, I also like a lot the local beer, which has divided many people's opinions and groups of friends, as either you love it or you hate it; however, it will never be referred as indifferent.

- The only thing that I can not take away with me -but I care to enjoy it as much as I can here- is the local ice cream with the rich, luxurious flavor; made in all sorts of flavors, "Bio" or not. Indeed, who have not heard of the famous, the renowned Nafplio ice cream?

Anyway, can I honestly make a confession? Whatever I carry in Athens with me, the taste is always different from the one I enjoy while visiting the hospitable land of Nafplio.

You see, tastes belong to our most powerful memories, which are always built in an environment of care and love; among good friends and fragrant orange trees...