Field Trip (via the Time Machine)

The Greek Festival

Every Labor Day weekend,the Church of the Holy Cross, in nearby Belmont, CA,  hosts a Greek Festival.  I've always thought it sounded fun but intimidating, since we don't know much about the Greek culture.  Well, this blog is really taking us out of our comfort level - in a good way! 

The Greek Festival was FUN!!  

Here are a few pics of what you can expect at a Greek festival.....

Lots of great food!  We had to order the combo platter of pastries because, well, we had to try them all!  We also had the gyros and some marinated olives and feta but were tempted by the souvlakia (marinated meat on a skewer), kalamari (whole baby squid deep fried- ok maybe we weren't tempted by these) and the pastitsio (Greek Lasagna), spanakopita (spinach & cheese phyllo triangles) and dolmades (rice and meat stuffed in grape leaves). I just wish we had more time in the day (and money in the wallet) to try then all!

There are interesting things to buy in the marketplace.  One of the big items were fancy hip belts made with silver dangling coins- if I were thinner I might consider these!! Of course, if I eat all that food mentioned above that dream isn't gonna happen anytime soon :)  There was a lot of pottery and traditonal Greek items but my son was dragging me towards the kid rides so I didn't get to browse long!

Another MUST at a Greek festival is the dancing!  How fun to watch the different dances and see the dancers in their traditional costumes.  The groups ranged from the youngest who looked nervous to the adults were having a great time and bringing audience members into the line.  We hid in the back, I'm not willing to get that much out of my comfort zone yet (at least not without a few shots of Ouzo first)!!

We had fun and the people were very nice and understanding when we asked questions about everything.  I think we found a fun new activity for Labor Day weekends!!  OPA!!!