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The taverna

Our grandfather put five tables on the sand in 1974. There are twenty-two now, and the grill has never changed.

Afissos, then

Stefanos Stournaras printed postcards of Pelion in Volos in the early twentieth century. Two of them show our village: the bay, the houses at the water’s edge, the boats. The plane trees on the quay are already tall.

Neochori and Afissos, around 1900. Stefanos Stournaras, public domain.
Neochori and Afissos, around 1900. Stefanos Stournaras, public domain.
Afissos, around 1920, hand-coloured. Stefanos Stournaras, public domain.
Afissos, around 1920, hand-coloured. Stefanos Stournaras, public domain.

The fish

We don't print a fish list, because we don't decide it. Whatever comes off Nikos's boat in the morning is what goes on the grill that night. If we tell you the sea bass is finished, it's finished.

A whole fish on the grill, close up

The fire

Charcoal, never gas. We light it at five so the flame has settled by six. Octopus needs patience — which is why it's the dish you ask for most.

Octopus over charcoal

Winter

From mid-November until March we close. The bay turns rough, the fish thins out, and we go to pick the olives. We open again when it warms.

The Pagasetic Gulf seen from Pelion, winter haze on the water
Photo: Athinavaitsi, CC BY-SA 4.0

The oil and the wine

The oil comes from the grove behind the village, off trees our grandfather picked. The white and the rosé arrive in demijohns from a friend in Tyrnavos, the red comes from Rapsani, and we serve them all from the carafe. There are three: a white, a rosé and a red.

A table of small plates and a carafe of wine

Photo credits

The photographs of Afissos are real, from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences listed. The food photographs are from Pexels.