An Americano at the Bakery

This morning I decided that I wanted to go up to the bakery to get an Americano before the work day. The most popular bakery on the island put in a new coffee area over the winter, compleete with a high end expresso machine, and I was craving a strong coffee.

This bakery also serves all kinds of pastries, spanikopita, cookies, pizza and bread.  This is a shot of some of their bread, just a sliver of their actual inventory. One of their more intriguing breads is black olive and feta, but I have never tried it.

I have previously written about this bakery, as it has an interesting cross section of customers early in the morning.  People going to work, like myself, often stop by to get a sweet treat and a coffee. The other group of patrons are folks who have been out partying all night, and are grabbing a quick snack before going home and crashing. Yes, some of the bars are still open when the sun comes up,

The customers this morning were no different, a mix of partiers and people off to work. But then the weird thing happened.  I was placing my order for an Americano, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a server, from the bar across the street, walking around the bakery carrying a tray full of shots. I looked twice, wondering what in the world was I seeing.  The server set the shots down on the counter and began to distribute them to the ladies running the counter and cash register.  Then she moved on into the back area where several men were busy making bread by hand. A great cheer went up when they saw the shots, and all of the staff were soon downing their alcohol.  A truly strange site at 6:45 am!

Anyway, we found out that July 20th is the feast day of the Prophet Elijah and that it is the name day for anyone named Ilias or Elias in Greece.  Name days are like birthdays, so everyone named Ilias celebrates on the same day.  It seems that one of the bakers is named Elias and that the shots were a little celebration for his name day. That explains things a little, but not completely.

I got my Americano, skipped the baked goods, and went on my way to work.  And no, I didn't get a shot for my coffee.

More soon.