Both of us having got dressed, we left the hotel together to go out for dinner. Heading into the Monastiraki area, I took Argia to the restaurant Efcharis which was situated on the street of Hadrian under the rocky crag of the Acropolis. The restaurant was in a non-descript yellow building with tables for dining out front and very wide blue doors thrown wide open inviting the passing crowds to stop in for dinner. With a name like Efcharis which means “the one who has a lot of fun… a cheery and pleasant mood” I was optimistic that we would enjoying eating here.
Walking past the tables outside under the canopy, we went in through the wide spread doors to the impressive inner stone-made courtyard interior which had a brownish red square tile floor and an arbor roof over the patio. There were wine racks and elegant furniture display cases exhibiting antiques along the walls, dark wood chairs and tables with marble table tops interspersed throughout the room, and two guitarists singing and providing live music to the side. At the end of the room was a stairway to a balcony on the second floor with more seating for customers.
Heading over to the hostess, I asked if she could seat us on the balcony where we could have a romantic dinner, and hold a conversation away from the prying eyes and ears of others. Leading us to a table for two along the rail upstairs, she left us with a couple menus, telling us the waitress would be with us shortly.
Looking at the menu, Argia decided to go with the Greek Salad with tomato, cucumber, onion, pepper, feta cheese, olive oil, olives and oregano. I myself opted to try the Efharis Salad with lettuce, red cabbage, rocket lettuce, tomato, cucumber, lollo rosso, radish, parmesan and sauce.
Looking at the cold starters, I queried Argia “For the dip to go with the pita bread, which sounds better, Tyrokafteri which is a mixture of soft cheeses with slightly spicy pepper flavor, or Fava made from yellow split peas with chopped onion and olive oil? Or something else? The dips this restaurant has available are simply amazing.”
Thinking for a second, Argia replied “Mmh, I kind of feel like Fava dip tonight…”
Looking down at the hot starters, I began to get excited “I definitely want to get something with cheese for dinner. They have Saganaki, a fried gruyere-type cheese, and Haloumi, a traditional Cypriot grilled cheese. Plus, they have Cheese croquettes mixed with 4 kinds of cheeses, and Courgette balls kneaded with goat cheese and dill. All of them look delicious to me, what do you think?”
“The Saganaki fried cheese sounds good, and I’ve been missing the goat cheese from back home, so let’s also get the Courgette balls.”
“Let’s see, I also want to get some appetizers made with meat. They’ve got Meatballs fried from fresh mincemeat and herbs, then there is Grilled sausage from Trikala, or Mpekri meze made with small pieces of pork meat, baked with tomato & peppers, which has a slightly spicy taste. Of course there is the old standby Dolmade grape vine leaves, stuffed with rice & minced meat. Which sounds good to you?”
Argia started squirming in her chair, rubbing her hands together between her thighs with her raising her shoulders up and down “Geez, Pericles, don’t order too much, you are going to make me fat.” She said embarrassedly while looking away.
Smiling with a smirk, I replied “Don’t worry Darling, you’ll work it off when we get back to the hotel room. In fact, you are going to need the energy so we can go all night!”
Crossing her arms and staring back at me with an indescribable look on her face, she huffed “Okay, I guess the Meatballs sound the best.”
When the waitress came with a pitcher of water and a couple of cups, I put in our order for salads, appetizers and a couple of meads, a celebratory drink made by mixing honey with water and adding yeast.
With the order having been put in, I broached the main subject “I suppose we should talk about our relationship. For it to work, we’ll need to spend time together so we can not only get to know each other, but also so I can also give you the attention, love and affection that you deserve. For starters I want you to join me and the other girls for lunch at the Academy, so I can introduce you as my fiancé and you can get to know one another. After all, since we’ll be spending our lives together, I want my women to get along and help each other out. It’s a collaboration, not a competition, and I intend to treat all of you equally with the same love and affection.”
With a light smile, she replied “That sounds nice, maybe I’ll be able to make some new friends.”
“Secondly, I want to walk you home along with Helen on Mondays and Fridays and also spend Saturday afternoons with you and Helen. Currently, I spend Sunday afternoons with Pallene and Deinomache and walk them home on Tuesday and Thursday. I also walk Aglaia and Yelan home on Wednesday afternoons, and meet them in the Student Council Chambers on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons until the last bell. With things structured like this, I should be able to give all my girls equal time.”
With a little consideration, Argia asked “Sounds like a well thought out plan, but spending so much of your time with all these women, how do you find any time to spend with your other friends?”
“Well, I usually go out drinking with the guys on Friday and Saturday nights, and Prince Cleomenes is always at their place hanging out with his Fiancé, my sister Taygete, when I walk Helen home, while Alcibiades is usually over at Deinomache’s place, hanging out with his girlfriend Hipparete.”
With that the waitress brought the Honey Meads to the table along with salads, Fava dip, and grilled Pita bread.
Raising my mug in a toast, I said “Let’s celebrate our new relationship, and find much joy and happiness together with me as your husband and you as my wife!” Clinking our mugs together, we both then swallowed a mouthful of the sweet and floral, fermented honey water.
While munching our salads and enjoying eating the Pita dipped in Fava, I started talking about my plans and goals with Argia “Earlier I had told you I had wanted to unite the Greek city states together and form a country through commerce and alliances. I wanted to give you some details because you’ll play a big role in bringing Thebes into the fold by convincing your father.”
“Essentially, I see Greece broken down in to different regions with one group dominant over the others. In the Peloponnese, you have the Spartans standing head and shoulders over the rest. They should be considered the elite infantry, with the other city states in the region vassals to them and reliant on them, but also forming the rank and file of the Greek army.”
“I see Thebes in Boeotia as the Knights of the Heavy Cavalry. It would be nice to bring Thessaly with its horse lords in as the light cavalry, but they are so far to the north that they would have to be an independent group.”
“As for Megara and Corinthia, they would definitely be vassals of Athens due to the already established roads and commercial connections, but as for the regions along the Gulf of Corinth the question would be whether or not Aetolia and Achaea would be dependent upon Corinth as vassals. As the countries primary navy, Athens would probably have to take responsibility for the Islands of the Cyclades and Sporades, Although Samos has a significant navy of its own. The other major political entities in the Aegean Sea are Troy in Aeolis, Miletus and Ephesus in the Ionian City States, Rhodes, Crete and Euboea. They rightly should be independent political entities themselves.
“The main point is that there should be a clearly defined feudal hierarchy based on population and military might. Then when commercial and mutual protection alliances are formed, the road infrastructure should be improved, not only so troops and calvary can more quickly advance to provide support, but also so that commerce between cities becomes more reliable and efficient, dropping transportation costs, resulting in lower prices and a higher standard of living for the citizens of the alliance.
“As for the city states that are resisting joining the alliances, the poor roads will impair their militaries and increase the cost of transportation, adding to the price of their goods. This will give a big advantage to members of our alliance, and a big incentive for others to join us.”
“So, the biggest change, if you can convince your father to form a commercial and military alliance with Athens, is that Thebes and Athens would have to pave the roads connecting them. Then as your father brings the villages and cities around Thebes in as his vassals, he would need to improve the roads to them from Thebes.
“I would also like him to allow us to establish an Alcmaeonidae store in Thebes to help facilitate trade and commerce between our two cities. It will provide an outlet for the local farmers to wholesale their goods, and a place of sale for the local population to access those products along with those from Athens at a reasonable price. The excess that the local population can’t absorb can then be exported to Athens, which is a bottomless sinkhole of consumption.”
Just then, the waitress brought out more grilled pitas and our Saganaki fried cheese, Courgette balls, and Meat ball appetizers. I ordered a couple beers for the two of us, and placed an order for baked Lamb with potatoes and lemon sauce for me, and Kempap Kebobs served with freshly cut fried potatoes, pita bread and tzatziki as Argia’s main dish.
As we started enjoying the fried cheese on the grilled pita bread along with our Courgette and Meat balls, I brought up another topic “Argia, currently there aren’t enough Greeks compared to other nations. With the mountainous terrain of the Greek peninsula, it is hard to grow enough food, so population growth has stagnated. Athens itself has only managed to achieve its population size by importing half of its food. The need to grow more food is a big reason for the migrations of Greeks to Sicily, the coasts of the Aegean, and into the Black Sea.”
“There is a simple answer to this problem; increase the crop yields of the existing farms through better technology and knowledge. The current method of farming used throughout the Mediterranean requires farm land to sit fallow every other year to prevent soil degradation and eventual desertification. To solve this problem, my father and grandfather have developed farming techniques to vastly increase the yield of their farmland with methods allowing them to continuously grow crops.
“I would like your father to pay one of our farming experts as an agricultural consultant to teach the serfs on his farmland how to increase their crop yields. Plus, I would like him to buy improved farming implements that increase efficiency and productivity. Once the techniques have proved themselves, he can then spread them throughout the lands of his vassals without risk. Over time, the population of the people under his authority should be able to multiply, creating a positive deferential to the peoples around his lands.”
Thinking hard about everything I’d just told her, she asked “Why don’t you just tell us how to make the farm implements, and how to go about using the new farming methods?”
Responding with an eye-roll and a sarcastic smirk, I responded “Well, how do you expect me to support my new beautiful bride if I can’t make any money? In fact, I was expecting to use the dowry your father should provide to marry you to fund the manufacture of the farming implements and set up this business venture. I also was going to utilize your extensive knowledge of the Thebes economy to determine what products would sell there, and goods they have available to buy and export back to Athens.”
With a laugh, Argia responded “I see your point. It looks like I have a lot of things to write to my father about, and see if I can get his agreement.”
I laughed as well, and admitted “To be frank, things have been moving so fast, there are a lot of things I need to sit down and discuss with my father too.”
With that the main courses arrived along with our beers. At that point I put in an order for two for Ravani for dessert, a traditional Greek cake made with semolina flour and soaked in a sweet, citrusy syrup. When the waitress brought them out, I asked for the check, and then we enjoyed our Ravani cakes which had a delicate, tender texture, with a sweetness from the citrusy syrup, and whipped cream on top making it a truly delightful dessert.
With all of the food and drinks we ordered the bill with tip was still quite reasonable coming to 4 small silver and a large bronze coin.
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