“Whatever happened to Hanson ?”

28th February 2023.

Time to say goodbye to Greece, after a rather chaotic last night following the Pubmeister Guide to Strong Craft in Athens, which I’ve probably credited enough now to avoid litigation.

Koukaki is the smart quarter below Parliament and the Acropolis, your route taking you past a host of esteemed UK Universities running courses on operating murky beer bars.

The Parliament building itself will be a bit of a disappointment to those of you familiar with the House of Commons or the Tynwald,

but at least you can still speed past it at 70mph and scare pedestrians daring to cross on the green man.

Take time to admire the cats,

and your last view back to the Parthenon,

before entering a warren of smart tavernas, boutique hotels,

and punky craft bars.

Your actual punk, too, not that revivalist stuff BRAPA listens too.

I’d popped down the night before while Mrs RM slept to do Strange Brew; you’ll recognise the style.

Pulp was very similar, but the pump clips were cuter,

and the soundtrack better, including Dukes of Stratosphere and this fella;

Great beer, top soundtrack, lovely art.

Not a soul in at 7:15, when the local musician strolled in to start to set up.

We were hungry, and I picked the first place that popped up on Google that looked Greek. Was it Mani Mani or Manh Manh ? A Chinese family stood at the door, bemused; we nipped in.

They’d booked, we hadn’t but squeezed into the last table, dangerously close to a wall composed of 50 euro bottles of wine I feared knocking over.

Blimey, it was smart, a Michelin star sort of place, but also incredibly unfussy and informal.

Squid, octopus, risotto, too much of that rose.

As Pauline will possibly know, NEVER follow craft beer with wine. And if you do, NEVER follow that with a glass of raki*. EVEN if it is free.

And certainly, NEVER follow that with more beer in a craft bar like Blame the Sun, where Mrs RM somehow confused a series of tracks in the Ramones style with Hanson.

She may have been a little bit tipsy.

But to be honest, I’d just Shazamed a track with one Shazam, and that felt like a win.

But it really sounds nothing like “Mmmm Bop”.

*Or whatever the Greek equivalent of raki is.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on ““Whatever happened to Hanson ?””

  2. I am going to be rather rude here,but these blogs have made me decide never to go to Athens -other peoples crumbling old ruins & steep hills are not for me -give me a nice National Trust property & I am happy -looks like you had a good time anyway.Not sure how I will cope with crumbly old Rhodes in the summer (we don’t do “hot ” holidays either ) Sorry,i’m coming across as a grumpy old Daily Mail reading pensioner— oh hang on ! Welcome back to Blighty

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      2. I have seen the scone hero & admit I do like the occasional one myself (even take my own jam -tight Tyke ) Never looked at Mumsnet -probably best -got put in Facebook prison for calling a post gibberish

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    3. WordPress offer a sidebar in which syndicated feeds from e.g. the Daily Mail website are facilitated.

      It’s perfectly clear where the world of pub blogging should be going then, don’t you think, Pauline?

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  4. *Or whatever the Greek equivalent of raki is.

    Tsipouro. (Or Tsikoudia in Crete.) Love it, but lethal – especially if find the home-distilled stuff in some tucked-away back street outfit rather than the commercially manufactured product 🙂 .

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