Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2013–2018): Season 7, Episode 3 - The Greek Islands - full transcript
Life on the Greek islands, home to a fiercely independent and proud population, is relatively secluded, steeped in tradition, and revolves around local food, wine, close friends and family. On theisland of Naxos, Bourdain heads offshore to dive to a sunken ship wreck,drink raki with the local residents, and sample cuisine fresh from the fishing boat, including octopus salad, salatouri (skate), and rofos (grouper) with olive oil and lemon. While exploring the island, he meets with politically outspoken musical group, The Stray Bitches, and travels to the mountainous village of Apeiranthos where he attends a traditional celebration in the town square.
[birds chirping]
[leaves rustling]
[ominous instrumental music]
[woman vocalizing]
♪
♪
[both] ♪ I took a walk
through this ♪
♪ Beautiful world
♪ Felt the cool rain
♪ On my shoulder
♪ Found something good
♪ In this beautiful world
♪ I felt the rain
♪ Getting colder
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la
[man speaks foreign language]
[horn blows]
♪
[man speaks foreign language]
[Bourdain]
People who come here,
stopping on Naxos,
are they island-hopping
or they coming,
is this the destination?
[Lambros] Well,
I mean, island-hopping
happens a lot
during the summer,
so you know, someone
who's arranged to have,
like, a two, three-week
vacation in Greece
will probably wanna visit,
like, at least
-two or three islands.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
So how many islands
in this island group?
-The Cyclades?
-[Bourdain] Cyclades.
[Lambros] There's about 15,
maybe more.
There's Andros, Tínos,
Mykonos, Syros,
Páros, Naxos.
Umm, Anti--
[Bourdain]
Tito and Jermaine.
[laughs]
And--a-and more.
[Bourdain]
Right. And the rest.
[Lambros]
And the rest, yes.
[Bourdain] Lot of history here
on the Greek Islands,
on Naxos in particular,
where Zeus himself
was said to live.
Where his son Dionysus
frolicked and presumably drank
and threw orgies and dropped E
and danced all night
to the B.C. version of EDM.
These days, you have to go over
to Mykonos for that.
Anyway, Lambros here
runs a bar in Athens,
but comes out here frequently
to get away from it all.
[Lambros] If you are a Greek,
you will definitely dig
boarding a boat and leaving
for the Cyclades, you know?
There is this air
of mysticism about them
like an arcane feeling
that definitely doesn't exist
in the other island
archipelagos in Greece.
-[Bourdain] Rakis?
-[Lambros] Rakis.
[Bourdain] A big glass
of raki on the rocks.
[Lambros] And a big glass
of raki on the rocks.
[Bourdain] Ah, jeez, that's a--
that's a little more than
I'd sort of--well,
I'll have a sip.
[speaks Greek]
Good morning.
[speaks Greek]
[chuckles]
[shudders]
[Lambros] Yeah,
it kind of puts the day
into perspective
when you start off
with a--with a drink.
[Bourdain sighs]
[bells chiming]
[birds calling]
[sniffs]
It's a perfect day
in the beach.
[Lambros]
It's a perfect day, yes.
[Bourdain] I like the wind
here. It actually--
it's one of the really cool
things about this island is--
it's that breeze,
you know, that always...
[Lambros]
It's like our main pastime;
talking about the wind.
Wind's coming.
The wind's leaving.
Which beach do you go to
when the wind
is coming from the north,
the south.
-[Bourdain] Really?
-[Lambros] Yes.
[Lambros] Most islands
wanna claim that
actually, like, oh, this is--
-Ulysses was from there.
-[Bourdain] Right.
[Lambros]
Or Homer was from there.
I--everyone wants to claim,
you know, a bit of fame
from the mythology
to their islands.
[Bourdain] I can tell you this.
Ulysses was kind of a dick.
I mean, he left his wife
alone for how long?
And how far
was he from home?
-He wasn't that far!
-He wasn't that far.
[Bourdain] I mean,
he was just dicking around
in the islands, you know.
He couldn't
go home and, you know,
throw the wife a quick one,
you know?
Before--and then he gets pissed
'cause she's gotta look
elsewhere?
[Lambros] He came up with
this unbelievable story.
-Yeah, "But, baby..."
-[Lambros] If you
think about it,
that's his, like,
he went back home and he said
"God, you won't believe
what happened to me."
[Bourdain]
"They were singing and they--
they lured the ship into
the rocks, and oh, my...
but they weren't hot,
though!
They were really ugly."
-I think you summed
him up perfectly.
[Bourdain]
There you go: "The Iliad."
[laughter]
[Bourdain] I see a lot
of empty villas,
like, a lot of half-finished
construction
[Lambros] Yeah, they all
stopped, like, a few years ago.
-Right.
-Money just ran out.
Right.
I don't wanna talk about
the financial crisis.
It's bumming me out.
-It's harshing my total buzz.
-[Lambros chuckles]
[Bourdian] The pressures
of the outside world,
I don't wanna
think about.
I'm on a Greek
island here.
It's a beautiful day.
I'm planning on passing out
at the beach, shortly.
You know,
maybe some watercolors.
Do a little cooking,
more napping,
eating, napping,
contemplate mysteries
of the universe
or nap, either one.
Or nap. Either--
[Bourdain]
Or eat cheese.
All of those
are honorable options.
I mean, that's a
vacation to me,
is staying put
and doing nothing.
[birds calling]
[bells ringing]
[ambient music playing]
[bell ringing]
[Bourdain] I wanted
to get away from it all.
Coast gently,
gently into another season
of television.
No sharp edges,
easy.
Late summer of 2015
in the Cyclades.
and it feels a million miles
from the Greece
you see in the headlines.
[Richard]
Greek banks have remained
closed for the entire week.
Now the depth
of their financial woes
is becoming painfully clear.
[woman on TV]
Athens has asked its people
whether they accept
stringent reforms
as part of the country's
second bailout.
[man on TV] 40,000 Greeks
have hit the streets.
[woman on TV]
The country could find itself
kicked out of the Euro.
[woman on TV]
Athens could be just words away
from financial disaster.
[Bourdain] That Greece,
they say, is teetering
on the edge
of an economic apocalypse.
Broke, imperil of being
foreclosed on
by the disdainful
European powers.
On top of that,
there's the refugee crisis.
Greece, probably
the least prepared,
least equipped to take in
thousands of refugees
from Syria, Afghanistan,
and elsewhere,
is being flooded
with desperate women,
children, men.
They wash up
on their shores alive...
[boy] Papa!
[Bourdain] And dead.
[man on TV] It's not just
a question of Greece--
[Bourdain]
And yet here on Naxos
one of thousands
of Greek Islands,
you could, for now,
if you chose to,
remain blissfully ignorant
of what's happening elsewhere.
Pretend that everywhere
is just like here,
beautiful, sleepy,
delicious food,
everything is just fine.
[woman]
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
[Bourdain]
John Steinbeck said,
"Any man who pits
his intelligence
against a fish and loses
has it coming."
But the Greek fishing trade
didn't stand a chance
when hit with
the one-two punch--
first of diminishing
fish stocks,
then the financial crisis
and slacking demand.
[woman]
♪ La, la, la, la, la
[cat meows]
[sprightly music playing]
[Bourdain]
Is life good on Naxos
compared to the mainland?
If we go to Athens,
even for a day, we get sick.
-[Bourdain] Really?
-[Lambros] Yeah. I mean,
well if you come
from this island
with the fresh air, the sea.
[Bourdain] Right.
As soon as we set foot in
Athens, we take painkillers.
[Bourdain] Really?
This gentleman
is a fisherman.
[Lambros]
George is a fisherman.
His name is
Fearless George.
-[Bourdain] Fearless George?
-[Lambros] Yes, yes.
[Bourdain]
So as I understand it, in many,
if not all
of the Greek islands,
the government or the EU
is offering buyouts
to fishermen.
They're basically saying
"We'll pay you
to not fish?"
This is the worst thing that can
happen.
They are trying to destroy our
fishing industry in favor of the
imported one.
[Lambros] They're trying
to get the older,
domestic fishermen
out of the way
basically in order to--
-The little guys.
-Yeah, the little guys.
Basically,
the little guys.
In order to get
more commercial fishing
being imported
into the land.
Quite a few have sold out
their businesses, their boats,
and moved into,
like, tourism.
Instead of buying a boat, buying
a hotel,
we discussed that, nobody wanted
it.
There were opportunities,
but we love the sea.
[Bourdain]
Who [...] up here, I mean,
I mean as far
as the economic crisis?
I mean you've got the whole
EU crunching down
on poor Greece.
Greeks are being depicted
as basically lazy,
addicted to
social welfare--
what happened?
It's the scum that made things
like this.
[Lambros] I'm pretty sure
he means the politicians.
Exactly.
People are paying for it.
[Lambros] And the people--
and the people are paying
for the complete wrongdoings
of the politicians.
Those are the wrong impressions
foreigners have of us.
But don't you think there are
some Greeks like that?
Yes.
In the public sector, yes, there
are.
Because of political favors and
corruption.
But not the everyday citizen who
struggles to support his family.
So yeah, it's a shame, really.
You know,
we have the goods,
but living
on other people's money
for about 40 years was--
was good fun.
[relaxed music playing]
♪
[man singing in Greek]
♪
♪
[tense percussive
music playing]
[laid-back music playing]
[Panos] The wreck
was a cargo ship,
and it crashed in the reef
of Amaras in 1982.
So it's 34 years
inside the water.
[Bourdain]
Diving in the Cyclades
is some of the best in the Med,
and I was told that
this wreck was filled
with stolen doubloons
and Nazi morphine.
Panos, my dive master,
has certainly
never heard these rumors.
No treasure down there?
Nothing sinister or untoward?
[Panos] Maybe there is inside,
on the--in the engine room.
I never get there,
so I don't know what is inside.
The rumor is that
they crashed it on purpose.
in order to take the insurance.
And so nobody was injured.
Everybody was safely
transferred
to the port of [indistinct]
That's a rumor of course, eh?
[dramatic music playing]
[Bourdain] How many times have
you been down to that wreck?
-Hundreds of times?
-[Bourdain] Hundreds of times.
And it never gets old.
You still have fun.
[Panos] Yeah.
Every time is special.
[Bourdain] The Greek Islands,
when compared
to the rest of the country,
are doing pretty well.
Tourism on Naxos, in fact,
is on an uptick.
I don't know what your family
told you when you said,
"You know,
I'm gonna go to Naxos
and I'm gonna run
a dive center."
I know my parents
would have said,
"You should do something
sensible with a future,
like banking."
[laughs]
[Bourdain]
As it turns out,
this was the sensible
career choice,
I guess, so cheers to that.
[man speaks Greek]
[Bourdain] Around 25% of the
nation are unemployed now.
They say that about
40% are living
close to the poverty line.
That's apparently the mainland.
And yet, tourism is stable
and maybe even growing.
[man]
Tourism is getting bigger
even though it's completely
opposite with the crisis.
[Bourdain] So people
are basically saying,
"Oh, you know,
financial crisis,
beautiful islands.
-Beautiful county."
[man] Yes.
"Now's the time to go
'cause we can get it
for cheap."
[Panos] Tourism is
the only thing, I believe,
that saved Greece.
Apart from this, every--
every other thing collapsed.
It's really beautiful.
[dramatic music playing]
[rooster crows]
[women singing in Greek]
♪
[singing in Greek]
[women singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] Medea,
Antigone, Helen of Troy,
Aphrodite, Demeter,
Greek women have always
been known for their beauty,
their fierceness,
their strength,
their willingness to fight
for what they believe in.
[women singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] And these ladies,
who call themselves
the "Stray Bitches"...
[barking and howling]
[Bourdain] These women are very
much part of that tradition.
When I mentioned that I was
drinking ouzo before,
-I kind of peep every one--
-[woman] There were reactions.
-There was a reaction.
-[muttering]
[laughter]
[woman] We prefer raki.
[woman] We prefer raki.
[woman] Yes, yes, raki.
[Bourdain] Okay,
so I'll be drinking raki
on the rocks.
[woman] Bravo.
[all toasting in Greek]
[Bourdain]
"The Stray Bitches"--
who are "The Stray Bitches?"
[woman] Us.
What--what are...
[woman] It's a theatrical
musical group.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
-[woman] With political--whoa...
[laughter]
-With political...
-Issues.
Issues, yes!
And it speaks a lot about
what we live today
in Greece, in Athens.
[Bourdain] I've seen you
described as anarchist.
[woman] No, I don't like
stereotypes.
-[Bourdain] Right.
-I don't like characteristics.
Yes, of course,
I like very much
the anarchist's philosophy,
of course.
It speaks about
solidarity
and the common good,
because all over Greece
now is very hard.
[woman] During the '90s
it was all this wealth
and prosperity,
and we were all okay
with this,
but now it's time
to talk about politics
and make political
statements.
[Bourdain] A lot of the world--
Greece is being depicted
as Greeks got used to
not having to pay taxes.
[laughter]
[Bourdain] This is--
the stereotype is that you--
-[woman] This is a great it--
-[Bourdain] Is it true or not?
[woman] That's a very
nice strategy
to create a stereotype
of the people
-you want to exploit.
-[Bourdain] Right.
And say, "They're lazy.
They're terrible."
-[woman] It's propaganda.
-We can--let's [...] them.
[woman] From the moment
we built our state,
we built it on loans.
The great powers--
England,
France, Russia,
helped us to build
our state.
So we owe from this moment.
The truth is
that never this nation
take care of the citizens.
They didn't give back anything,
nothing to the people.
-So why to pay your taxes?
-[woman] Exactly.
-[woman] There's distrust.
-A basic distrust that people
are gonna spend
the money well.
[woman] It's not a like
mentality thing
-that comes from our genes--
-[Bourdain] Right.
---from ourselves.
We are not, like,
the lazy people.
[Bourdain] So what happens?
Should Greece be
in the EU?
Here, for the people
in Greece,
it is a feeling that,
"Oh, if we go out of the
European Union, we are lost."
We are, as people,
maybe ready to risk
to go to another direction,
because this direction
doesn't work for us.
[Bourdain] Nobody's
suggesting we return
to an agrarian wonderland.
"We're all gonna
farm together
and live
in a commune," right?
-No, why not, but--
-[Bourdain] You like this idea?
[woman] Yeah, why not?
[woman] Some of us will.
-Some of us...
-[Bourdain] If I put a yogurt
in the refrigerator
and I put my name
on it, "Tony,"
and somebody takes
a bite out of it,
I've got a problem.
-Really?
-[Bourdain] Yeah.
This is why I don't
live on a commune.
[laughter]
[woman] "Because someone
will take my yogurt!"
Yeah, but if you didn't
have the yogurt,
you would like to eat
from someone else's.
And I will!
[ominous music playing]
♪
♪
[chanting in Greek]
[chanting loudly]
[engine whirring]
[upbeat music playing]
[rooster crows]
[chickens clucking]
[upbeat music playing]
[woman singing in Greek]
[lively music playing]
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[Lambros]
Hey, man, how you doing?
-Tony, how are you?
-[Bourdain] Good now.
Yes, an idyllic
mountain village,
Apiranthos.
The sort of place
where you can still walk
into a town square
and find yourself
caught up in a celebration.
This one celebrates
Greco-American actor
John Stamos'
return to "Full House."
[laughing]
[Bourdain]
Then get ready for wine,
raki, and being hand-fed
by strangers.
[man singing in Greek]
[Lambros] I think there was
a sending off of a villager
to go to the army.
Basically, a good reason
for everyone to,
you know, let some steam out.
[Bourdain laughs]
[lively music playing]
[Bourdain] Whoa!
[woman] Oh!
[Lambros] Yes, yes, yes
[speaks Greek]
[Bourdain] Lamb? Pig?
[Lambros] This is lamb,
this is pork, and this is pork.
[Bourdain] And the famous
potatoes, of course.
[Lambros]
And the famous potatoes.
This is called Rosto,
which is a traditional,
Naxos-style pork.
[Bourdain]
Whoa, good sauce.
Looks like tomato
and peppers and...
[woman] Krasi. Yamas.
[Lambros] Krasi, yeah, wine.
Wine, tomato sauce,
pepper, and garlic.
[speaks Greek] Yamas!
[Bourdain] Yamas.
[Lambros] Yamas, yamas.
[woman] Yamas.
-[Lambros speaks Greek]
-Stefano.
[Bourdain]
So you make wine?
[Stefano]
I make wine, yes.
I make a good wine.
[Bourdain] Born here.
[Stefano]
No, I'm not born here.
I came to Naxos
when I was 23 years old.
-[Bourdain] From?
-Athens.
[Bourdain] Athens?
Very different life here.
[Stefano] I believe here, you
live every moment of your life.
Yeah, you feel
really the freedom.
[laughs]
Oh, thank you.
This village, what do the
people here do for a living?
Farm? Tourism? Both?
[Stefano] Yeah,
I guess a combination.
[Bourdain] I noticed a lot
of churches, little chapels.
[Stefano] There are shitloads,
and it's basically
the continuation
of the original temples.
-Ah.
-[Lambros] Be they temples
of Apollo or even Zeus
or Athena or something.
[Bourdain] They switched over?
They switched over
to churches.
[Bourdain]
Hey, you guys,
thought pagan
idolatry was fun?
Check it out.
Christianity.
It's much more fun,
and we'll slide right in there.
You won't even notice.
[Lambros]
Seamlessly. Yes.
[man speaking Greek] Naxos!
[Bourdain] Important island
in mythology, though--
[Lambros] Extremely, extremely.
It is the old Dionysus Island.
Yes, it is.
[Bourdain] God of wine,
women, and song, basically.
-And madness.
-And madness.
[singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] One of the things
I like about Greek mythology,
is that the gods
were all deeply flawed.
I mean, they had
some serious problems.
They were always, you know,
sleeping with humans.
They were jealous.
They'd get angry.
They weren't pure.
They weren't perfect.
There weren't divine.
They were--
[Lambros]
They're humans, yeah.
But every now and then
Dionysus would appear,
and, like, everyone said,
"Okay, [...] it.
Let's all have
a great time.
Why not?"
[lively music playing]
[man] Ho!
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[whistling]
[man] Hey!
[man] Ho!
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[whistling]
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
♪
♪
[birds chirping]
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
[upbeat music playing]
♪
[woman singing in Greek]
[Bourdain]
Food porn is so easy.
At this point, it's like
shooting fish in a barrel.
I mean, you want this, right?
Of course you do,
but you can't have it.
[lively music playing]
[Yannis] One pepper or two?
[Bourdain] No, one is good.
[Yannis] I will slice it.
[Bourdain] One is good.
And did you try pepper?
It's different.
[Bourdain] Oh, all right.
It's beautiful, thank you.
[Maria]
Okay, here we eat a lot, okay?
You can eat as much as you like.
[Bourdain] Thank you.
A family farm,
this one dates back
to the Venetians.
Mom, Dad,
daughter Maria,
her husband, Yannis,
who happens to be
the Aegean regional governor.
Let the food begin.
Stuffed pepper.
The famous potatoes.
[Yannis]
Naxos Potatoes, of course.
[Bourdain] Coq au vin,
a slow-cooked rooster.
[Yannis] Rooster,
rooster with a red sauce.
[Bourdain] And...
[Yannis] Rabbit.
[Bourdain] Rabbit, oh, yes.
[Yannis] Wild rabbit.
Mmm.
Yamas, welcome.
[all] Yamas.
[Bourdain] So how does that
mean? The rest of the country
is not doing so well,
but apparently here
-it's pretty good?
-[Maria] Yes.
[Bourdain]
What's different about Naxos?
-[Yannis] It's--
-[Maria] Self-sustained.
Self-sustained.
For example, in Naxos,
you can find
130,000 goats and lambs,
and also half
of the population
cultivating the land,
so they are farmers.
[Bourdain] So it's not
just a tourist economy,
you produce stuff here.
You grow things.
[Yannis] Yeah.
[relaxed music playing]
It's a circle.
Every week you need to do what's
necessary.
♪
Water the plants.
♪
Harvest anything that needs to
be harvested:
Tomatoes,potatoes, beans,
onions, peppers.
[Bourdain] Let me ask
a difficult question.
I'm not gonna ask you
this question
because you have
to be diplomatic
about difficult
questions like this.
I'm gonna guess
your father doesn't.
So who caused the Greek
financial crisis?
What happened here?
It all has to do with the
politicians. They were the ones
in charge.
They inflated the public debt,
issued loans without the proper
checks.
They did the whole thing.
We did not pay our taxes, you
might say,
but the taxation system was not
fair towards us.
He's not optimistic.
He says we have a--
Years, it's going to take years,
and we all need to change
our habits.
We need years,
and it's my opinion.
Yes, all of us paying our taxes
and the government to clean up
its house.
[Bourdain]
What does it mean to be Greek?
What are the characteristics
that all Greeks either do
or should aspire to?
She says, "Above all,
the family."
And religion, of course.
And patriotism, like all true
Greeks.
[Yannis]
This means Greek.
Greek remains here.
[Maria]
You are bound to the land.
-The land of your ancestors.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
[Bourdain] The farm itself,
how long has it been
-in the family?
-[Maria] This was
bought by my--
the grandfather of my father
in 1901.
Back when he bought the land it
was profitable,
because it grew fruit when the
rest of Greece didn't.
So with this farm, your granddad
was able to have a decent
income.
For us in the family,
it's a very special place,
and especially for me,
and I believe
for my father.
It has a special vibe.
There's...
a good energy,
this land.
[birds chirping]
[dramatic music playing]
♪
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
[engine revving]
[woman speaking Greek]
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
[woman rapping in Greek]
♪
♪
♪
[woman rapping in Greek]
[birds chirping]
[Bourdain] Please translate.
[George] Okay.
[Bourdain]
So I went to the beach today.
I'm lying there,
having a good time.
Suddenly, like,
200 nudists show up.
[laughs]
[Bourdain] Late afternoon, I
find myself on a fishing boat,
ruminating on matters
of great importance.
So here's my question,
it's a philosophical
question.
Greece is the home
of philosophy
as we know it.
Why are the first people
to take off their clothes
the last people
you wanna see naked?
[laughs]
I feel disgusted when I see
that. Seeing the child with mom,
while his dad has his balls
hanging out.
I totally agree
with whatever he just said.
[Bourdain]
Oh, yeah, there we go.
Octopus salad.
[Bourdain]
Lambros is there,
and George, of course,
and George's son, Niko.
And what kind of fish is this?
This is skate.
[Lambros] Man, it's so good.
Tell him this is marinated
anchovies.
-Ah, mashed fava beans.
-[Lambros] Uh-hmm.
-It's amazing.
-[Lambros] This is, like,
as traditional as you get.
All these dishes
are either used
as an appetizer
before the main dish,
which is the soup,
or as breakfast.
-[Bourdain] Breakfast?
-They have this for breakfast.
Maybe--maybe a couple
of beers and then
they go to sleep again
for a few hours.
Now you're talking
my language.
This one is monkfish soup. It's
a French delicacy.
Beautiful.
All the fish he catches,
it's sold on the island or--
[speaking Greek]
---sent to Athens?
Mostly--
mostly to Athens.
[Bourdain] Niko!
And what kind of
fish is this?
Grouper.
[Lambros] Olive oil and lemon.
[Bourdain] Man.
This is some
professional-quality stuff.
He doesn't look like he's
enjoying his soup.
[Lambros]
You need to eat more.
[Bourdain]
Ah, the broth is fantastic.
Mmm.
[Lambros] Yamas.
[George] Yamas.
[Lambros] Yamas.
[Bourdain] Thank you.
[Niko speaks Greek]
All of our kids are into
fishing.
One is on that boat, the other
one that one, me and Nikos on
this one.
I liked it as my dad did and
chose to do it, too.
[Lambros]
He liked his dad doing it
and he likes to do it himself.
And how do you meet
women on the sea?
[Lambros] I was gonna ask.
[laughs]
Where there's a will, there's
a way.
[Lambros] Where there's a will
there's a way, he says.
Since they started walking and
understanding some things,
I used to take them to
the whores.
Find all the sluts of the bar,
and have them rubbing all over
them.
[Lambros] Okay, this is gonna--
just gonna be
a great pleasure to translate.
Okay. He said
when they were, like,
at the right age,
I'm guessing something
like 14 maybe.
-Uh-huh?. .
-[Lambros] And he took him
to the brothels.
And he took him
to the whores.
And he told them, you know,
to realize, that, you know,
they're all out
to get your money.
So you know,
get them a few drinks.
Have a good time.
Go completely nuts
while you're young
and everything,
so you know,
you're gonna be
a bit laid-back
on the whole woman issue
when the--when the time comes.
[Bourdain]
When you're 50.
Okay. All right.
Glad I asked.
All right, not really.
[Lambros] So this is ouzo.
[Bourdain] Oh! Sweet.
I'll have some of that.
[ambient music playing]
♪
[woman vocalizing]
[Bourdain] My rented villa
is pleasant enough,
but to be perfectly honest,
lonely.
Is it worse
to be someplace awful
when you're by yourself,
or someplace really nice
that you can't share
with anyone?
[wind whistling]
[waves crashing]
♪
[woman] Hello.
[all] Yamas.
♪
[woman] And it is very typical
Greek sunset, huh?
-The famous Greek sunset.
-[Bourdain] Yeah.
[woman] It's the boat.
The grasses, the boat.
[all] Wow!
[Bourdain] That looks good.
[woman] Looks very good.
[Bourdain] Oh, man,
that's--that is really good.
Mmm.
[woman] The good food makes
you happy. Very happy.
[Bourdain] Yeah.
[woman] Opens your heart.
[Bourdain] There are a lot
of countries where
they're really, really poor,
but they're super
serious about food.
[woman] Like where?
Like here.
[laughter]
Okay.
Don't go--don't go
very far, right?
[Bourdain]
People who are not Greek
come to the Greek Islands
for the first time,
come to Naxos--
what should you do here?
You should drink raki
for sure.
For sure. To eat food.
To eat of course.
[woman]
Get drunk with raki, also.
Get drunk?
It's not enough
to just drink it?
[woman] No, get drunk
and sing and dance.
[woman] Don't tell me
what you ate,
tell me who you ate with.
Mm.
[upbeat music playing]
♪
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[indistinct conversations]
[man] Yamas.
[man] Yamas.
[woman] Yamas.
[leaves rustling]
[ominous instrumental music]
[woman vocalizing]
♪
♪
[both] ♪ I took a walk
through this ♪
♪ Beautiful world
♪ Felt the cool rain
♪ On my shoulder
♪ Found something good
♪ In this beautiful world
♪ I felt the rain
♪ Getting colder
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la
♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la
[man speaks foreign language]
[horn blows]
♪
[man speaks foreign language]
[Bourdain]
People who come here,
stopping on Naxos,
are they island-hopping
or they coming,
is this the destination?
[Lambros] Well,
I mean, island-hopping
happens a lot
during the summer,
so you know, someone
who's arranged to have,
like, a two, three-week
vacation in Greece
will probably wanna visit,
like, at least
-two or three islands.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
So how many islands
in this island group?
-The Cyclades?
-[Bourdain] Cyclades.
[Lambros] There's about 15,
maybe more.
There's Andros, Tínos,
Mykonos, Syros,
Páros, Naxos.
Umm, Anti--
[Bourdain]
Tito and Jermaine.
[laughs]
And--a-and more.
[Bourdain]
Right. And the rest.
[Lambros]
And the rest, yes.
[Bourdain] Lot of history here
on the Greek Islands,
on Naxos in particular,
where Zeus himself
was said to live.
Where his son Dionysus
frolicked and presumably drank
and threw orgies and dropped E
and danced all night
to the B.C. version of EDM.
These days, you have to go over
to Mykonos for that.
Anyway, Lambros here
runs a bar in Athens,
but comes out here frequently
to get away from it all.
[Lambros] If you are a Greek,
you will definitely dig
boarding a boat and leaving
for the Cyclades, you know?
There is this air
of mysticism about them
like an arcane feeling
that definitely doesn't exist
in the other island
archipelagos in Greece.
-[Bourdain] Rakis?
-[Lambros] Rakis.
[Bourdain] A big glass
of raki on the rocks.
[Lambros] And a big glass
of raki on the rocks.
[Bourdain] Ah, jeez, that's a--
that's a little more than
I'd sort of--well,
I'll have a sip.
[speaks Greek]
Good morning.
[speaks Greek]
[chuckles]
[shudders]
[Lambros] Yeah,
it kind of puts the day
into perspective
when you start off
with a--with a drink.
[Bourdain sighs]
[bells chiming]
[birds calling]
[sniffs]
It's a perfect day
in the beach.
[Lambros]
It's a perfect day, yes.
[Bourdain] I like the wind
here. It actually--
it's one of the really cool
things about this island is--
it's that breeze,
you know, that always...
[Lambros]
It's like our main pastime;
talking about the wind.
Wind's coming.
The wind's leaving.
Which beach do you go to
when the wind
is coming from the north,
the south.
-[Bourdain] Really?
-[Lambros] Yes.
[Lambros] Most islands
wanna claim that
actually, like, oh, this is--
-Ulysses was from there.
-[Bourdain] Right.
[Lambros]
Or Homer was from there.
I--everyone wants to claim,
you know, a bit of fame
from the mythology
to their islands.
[Bourdain] I can tell you this.
Ulysses was kind of a dick.
I mean, he left his wife
alone for how long?
And how far
was he from home?
-He wasn't that far!
-He wasn't that far.
[Bourdain] I mean,
he was just dicking around
in the islands, you know.
He couldn't
go home and, you know,
throw the wife a quick one,
you know?
Before--and then he gets pissed
'cause she's gotta look
elsewhere?
[Lambros] He came up with
this unbelievable story.
-Yeah, "But, baby..."
-[Lambros] If you
think about it,
that's his, like,
he went back home and he said
"God, you won't believe
what happened to me."
[Bourdain]
"They were singing and they--
they lured the ship into
the rocks, and oh, my...
but they weren't hot,
though!
They were really ugly."
-I think you summed
him up perfectly.
[Bourdain]
There you go: "The Iliad."
[laughter]
[Bourdain] I see a lot
of empty villas,
like, a lot of half-finished
construction
[Lambros] Yeah, they all
stopped, like, a few years ago.
-Right.
-Money just ran out.
Right.
I don't wanna talk about
the financial crisis.
It's bumming me out.
-It's harshing my total buzz.
-[Lambros chuckles]
[Bourdian] The pressures
of the outside world,
I don't wanna
think about.
I'm on a Greek
island here.
It's a beautiful day.
I'm planning on passing out
at the beach, shortly.
You know,
maybe some watercolors.
Do a little cooking,
more napping,
eating, napping,
contemplate mysteries
of the universe
or nap, either one.
Or nap. Either--
[Bourdain]
Or eat cheese.
All of those
are honorable options.
I mean, that's a
vacation to me,
is staying put
and doing nothing.
[birds calling]
[bells ringing]
[ambient music playing]
[bell ringing]
[Bourdain] I wanted
to get away from it all.
Coast gently,
gently into another season
of television.
No sharp edges,
easy.
Late summer of 2015
in the Cyclades.
and it feels a million miles
from the Greece
you see in the headlines.
[Richard]
Greek banks have remained
closed for the entire week.
Now the depth
of their financial woes
is becoming painfully clear.
[woman on TV]
Athens has asked its people
whether they accept
stringent reforms
as part of the country's
second bailout.
[man on TV] 40,000 Greeks
have hit the streets.
[woman on TV]
The country could find itself
kicked out of the Euro.
[woman on TV]
Athens could be just words away
from financial disaster.
[Bourdain] That Greece,
they say, is teetering
on the edge
of an economic apocalypse.
Broke, imperil of being
foreclosed on
by the disdainful
European powers.
On top of that,
there's the refugee crisis.
Greece, probably
the least prepared,
least equipped to take in
thousands of refugees
from Syria, Afghanistan,
and elsewhere,
is being flooded
with desperate women,
children, men.
They wash up
on their shores alive...
[boy] Papa!
[Bourdain] And dead.
[man on TV] It's not just
a question of Greece--
[Bourdain]
And yet here on Naxos
one of thousands
of Greek Islands,
you could, for now,
if you chose to,
remain blissfully ignorant
of what's happening elsewhere.
Pretend that everywhere
is just like here,
beautiful, sleepy,
delicious food,
everything is just fine.
[woman]
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la
[Bourdain]
John Steinbeck said,
"Any man who pits
his intelligence
against a fish and loses
has it coming."
But the Greek fishing trade
didn't stand a chance
when hit with
the one-two punch--
first of diminishing
fish stocks,
then the financial crisis
and slacking demand.
[woman]
♪ La, la, la, la, la
[cat meows]
[sprightly music playing]
[Bourdain]
Is life good on Naxos
compared to the mainland?
If we go to Athens,
even for a day, we get sick.
-[Bourdain] Really?
-[Lambros] Yeah. I mean,
well if you come
from this island
with the fresh air, the sea.
[Bourdain] Right.
As soon as we set foot in
Athens, we take painkillers.
[Bourdain] Really?
This gentleman
is a fisherman.
[Lambros]
George is a fisherman.
His name is
Fearless George.
-[Bourdain] Fearless George?
-[Lambros] Yes, yes.
[Bourdain]
So as I understand it, in many,
if not all
of the Greek islands,
the government or the EU
is offering buyouts
to fishermen.
They're basically saying
"We'll pay you
to not fish?"
This is the worst thing that can
happen.
They are trying to destroy our
fishing industry in favor of the
imported one.
[Lambros] They're trying
to get the older,
domestic fishermen
out of the way
basically in order to--
-The little guys.
-Yeah, the little guys.
Basically,
the little guys.
In order to get
more commercial fishing
being imported
into the land.
Quite a few have sold out
their businesses, their boats,
and moved into,
like, tourism.
Instead of buying a boat, buying
a hotel,
we discussed that, nobody wanted
it.
There were opportunities,
but we love the sea.
[Bourdain]
Who [...] up here, I mean,
I mean as far
as the economic crisis?
I mean you've got the whole
EU crunching down
on poor Greece.
Greeks are being depicted
as basically lazy,
addicted to
social welfare--
what happened?
It's the scum that made things
like this.
[Lambros] I'm pretty sure
he means the politicians.
Exactly.
People are paying for it.
[Lambros] And the people--
and the people are paying
for the complete wrongdoings
of the politicians.
Those are the wrong impressions
foreigners have of us.
But don't you think there are
some Greeks like that?
Yes.
In the public sector, yes, there
are.
Because of political favors and
corruption.
But not the everyday citizen who
struggles to support his family.
So yeah, it's a shame, really.
You know,
we have the goods,
but living
on other people's money
for about 40 years was--
was good fun.
[relaxed music playing]
♪
[man singing in Greek]
♪
♪
[tense percussive
music playing]
[laid-back music playing]
[Panos] The wreck
was a cargo ship,
and it crashed in the reef
of Amaras in 1982.
So it's 34 years
inside the water.
[Bourdain]
Diving in the Cyclades
is some of the best in the Med,
and I was told that
this wreck was filled
with stolen doubloons
and Nazi morphine.
Panos, my dive master,
has certainly
never heard these rumors.
No treasure down there?
Nothing sinister or untoward?
[Panos] Maybe there is inside,
on the--in the engine room.
I never get there,
so I don't know what is inside.
The rumor is that
they crashed it on purpose.
in order to take the insurance.
And so nobody was injured.
Everybody was safely
transferred
to the port of [indistinct]
That's a rumor of course, eh?
[dramatic music playing]
[Bourdain] How many times have
you been down to that wreck?
-Hundreds of times?
-[Bourdain] Hundreds of times.
And it never gets old.
You still have fun.
[Panos] Yeah.
Every time is special.
[Bourdain] The Greek Islands,
when compared
to the rest of the country,
are doing pretty well.
Tourism on Naxos, in fact,
is on an uptick.
I don't know what your family
told you when you said,
"You know,
I'm gonna go to Naxos
and I'm gonna run
a dive center."
I know my parents
would have said,
"You should do something
sensible with a future,
like banking."
[laughs]
[Bourdain]
As it turns out,
this was the sensible
career choice,
I guess, so cheers to that.
[man speaks Greek]
[Bourdain] Around 25% of the
nation are unemployed now.
They say that about
40% are living
close to the poverty line.
That's apparently the mainland.
And yet, tourism is stable
and maybe even growing.
[man]
Tourism is getting bigger
even though it's completely
opposite with the crisis.
[Bourdain] So people
are basically saying,
"Oh, you know,
financial crisis,
beautiful islands.
-Beautiful county."
[man] Yes.
"Now's the time to go
'cause we can get it
for cheap."
[Panos] Tourism is
the only thing, I believe,
that saved Greece.
Apart from this, every--
every other thing collapsed.
It's really beautiful.
[dramatic music playing]
[rooster crows]
[women singing in Greek]
♪
[singing in Greek]
[women singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] Medea,
Antigone, Helen of Troy,
Aphrodite, Demeter,
Greek women have always
been known for their beauty,
their fierceness,
their strength,
their willingness to fight
for what they believe in.
[women singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] And these ladies,
who call themselves
the "Stray Bitches"...
[barking and howling]
[Bourdain] These women are very
much part of that tradition.
When I mentioned that I was
drinking ouzo before,
-I kind of peep every one--
-[woman] There were reactions.
-There was a reaction.
-[muttering]
[laughter]
[woman] We prefer raki.
[woman] We prefer raki.
[woman] Yes, yes, raki.
[Bourdain] Okay,
so I'll be drinking raki
on the rocks.
[woman] Bravo.
[all toasting in Greek]
[Bourdain]
"The Stray Bitches"--
who are "The Stray Bitches?"
[woman] Us.
What--what are...
[woman] It's a theatrical
musical group.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
-[woman] With political--whoa...
[laughter]
-With political...
-Issues.
Issues, yes!
And it speaks a lot about
what we live today
in Greece, in Athens.
[Bourdain] I've seen you
described as anarchist.
[woman] No, I don't like
stereotypes.
-[Bourdain] Right.
-I don't like characteristics.
Yes, of course,
I like very much
the anarchist's philosophy,
of course.
It speaks about
solidarity
and the common good,
because all over Greece
now is very hard.
[woman] During the '90s
it was all this wealth
and prosperity,
and we were all okay
with this,
but now it's time
to talk about politics
and make political
statements.
[Bourdain] A lot of the world--
Greece is being depicted
as Greeks got used to
not having to pay taxes.
[laughter]
[Bourdain] This is--
the stereotype is that you--
-[woman] This is a great it--
-[Bourdain] Is it true or not?
[woman] That's a very
nice strategy
to create a stereotype
of the people
-you want to exploit.
-[Bourdain] Right.
And say, "They're lazy.
They're terrible."
-[woman] It's propaganda.
-We can--let's [...] them.
[woman] From the moment
we built our state,
we built it on loans.
The great powers--
England,
France, Russia,
helped us to build
our state.
So we owe from this moment.
The truth is
that never this nation
take care of the citizens.
They didn't give back anything,
nothing to the people.
-So why to pay your taxes?
-[woman] Exactly.
-[woman] There's distrust.
-A basic distrust that people
are gonna spend
the money well.
[woman] It's not a like
mentality thing
-that comes from our genes--
-[Bourdain] Right.
---from ourselves.
We are not, like,
the lazy people.
[Bourdain] So what happens?
Should Greece be
in the EU?
Here, for the people
in Greece,
it is a feeling that,
"Oh, if we go out of the
European Union, we are lost."
We are, as people,
maybe ready to risk
to go to another direction,
because this direction
doesn't work for us.
[Bourdain] Nobody's
suggesting we return
to an agrarian wonderland.
"We're all gonna
farm together
and live
in a commune," right?
-No, why not, but--
-[Bourdain] You like this idea?
[woman] Yeah, why not?
[woman] Some of us will.
-Some of us...
-[Bourdain] If I put a yogurt
in the refrigerator
and I put my name
on it, "Tony,"
and somebody takes
a bite out of it,
I've got a problem.
-Really?
-[Bourdain] Yeah.
This is why I don't
live on a commune.
[laughter]
[woman] "Because someone
will take my yogurt!"
Yeah, but if you didn't
have the yogurt,
you would like to eat
from someone else's.
And I will!
[ominous music playing]
♪
♪
[chanting in Greek]
[chanting loudly]
[engine whirring]
[upbeat music playing]
[rooster crows]
[chickens clucking]
[upbeat music playing]
[woman singing in Greek]
[lively music playing]
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[Lambros]
Hey, man, how you doing?
-Tony, how are you?
-[Bourdain] Good now.
Yes, an idyllic
mountain village,
Apiranthos.
The sort of place
where you can still walk
into a town square
and find yourself
caught up in a celebration.
This one celebrates
Greco-American actor
John Stamos'
return to "Full House."
[laughing]
[Bourdain]
Then get ready for wine,
raki, and being hand-fed
by strangers.
[man singing in Greek]
[Lambros] I think there was
a sending off of a villager
to go to the army.
Basically, a good reason
for everyone to,
you know, let some steam out.
[Bourdain laughs]
[lively music playing]
[Bourdain] Whoa!
[woman] Oh!
[Lambros] Yes, yes, yes
[speaks Greek]
[Bourdain] Lamb? Pig?
[Lambros] This is lamb,
this is pork, and this is pork.
[Bourdain] And the famous
potatoes, of course.
[Lambros]
And the famous potatoes.
This is called Rosto,
which is a traditional,
Naxos-style pork.
[Bourdain]
Whoa, good sauce.
Looks like tomato
and peppers and...
[woman] Krasi. Yamas.
[Lambros] Krasi, yeah, wine.
Wine, tomato sauce,
pepper, and garlic.
[speaks Greek] Yamas!
[Bourdain] Yamas.
[Lambros] Yamas, yamas.
[woman] Yamas.
-[Lambros speaks Greek]
-Stefano.
[Bourdain]
So you make wine?
[Stefano]
I make wine, yes.
I make a good wine.
[Bourdain] Born here.
[Stefano]
No, I'm not born here.
I came to Naxos
when I was 23 years old.
-[Bourdain] From?
-Athens.
[Bourdain] Athens?
Very different life here.
[Stefano] I believe here, you
live every moment of your life.
Yeah, you feel
really the freedom.
[laughs]
Oh, thank you.
This village, what do the
people here do for a living?
Farm? Tourism? Both?
[Stefano] Yeah,
I guess a combination.
[Bourdain] I noticed a lot
of churches, little chapels.
[Stefano] There are shitloads,
and it's basically
the continuation
of the original temples.
-Ah.
-[Lambros] Be they temples
of Apollo or even Zeus
or Athena or something.
[Bourdain] They switched over?
They switched over
to churches.
[Bourdain]
Hey, you guys,
thought pagan
idolatry was fun?
Check it out.
Christianity.
It's much more fun,
and we'll slide right in there.
You won't even notice.
[Lambros]
Seamlessly. Yes.
[man speaking Greek] Naxos!
[Bourdain] Important island
in mythology, though--
[Lambros] Extremely, extremely.
It is the old Dionysus Island.
Yes, it is.
[Bourdain] God of wine,
women, and song, basically.
-And madness.
-And madness.
[singing in Greek]
[Bourdain] One of the things
I like about Greek mythology,
is that the gods
were all deeply flawed.
I mean, they had
some serious problems.
They were always, you know,
sleeping with humans.
They were jealous.
They'd get angry.
They weren't pure.
They weren't perfect.
There weren't divine.
They were--
[Lambros]
They're humans, yeah.
But every now and then
Dionysus would appear,
and, like, everyone said,
"Okay, [...] it.
Let's all have
a great time.
Why not?"
[lively music playing]
[man] Ho!
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[whistling]
[man] Hey!
[man] Ho!
[man singing in Greek]
♪
[whistling]
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
♪
♪
[birds chirping]
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
[upbeat music playing]
♪
[woman singing in Greek]
[Bourdain]
Food porn is so easy.
At this point, it's like
shooting fish in a barrel.
I mean, you want this, right?
Of course you do,
but you can't have it.
[lively music playing]
[Yannis] One pepper or two?
[Bourdain] No, one is good.
[Yannis] I will slice it.
[Bourdain] One is good.
And did you try pepper?
It's different.
[Bourdain] Oh, all right.
It's beautiful, thank you.
[Maria]
Okay, here we eat a lot, okay?
You can eat as much as you like.
[Bourdain] Thank you.
A family farm,
this one dates back
to the Venetians.
Mom, Dad,
daughter Maria,
her husband, Yannis,
who happens to be
the Aegean regional governor.
Let the food begin.
Stuffed pepper.
The famous potatoes.
[Yannis]
Naxos Potatoes, of course.
[Bourdain] Coq au vin,
a slow-cooked rooster.
[Yannis] Rooster,
rooster with a red sauce.
[Bourdain] And...
[Yannis] Rabbit.
[Bourdain] Rabbit, oh, yes.
[Yannis] Wild rabbit.
Mmm.
Yamas, welcome.
[all] Yamas.
[Bourdain] So how does that
mean? The rest of the country
is not doing so well,
but apparently here
-it's pretty good?
-[Maria] Yes.
[Bourdain]
What's different about Naxos?
-[Yannis] It's--
-[Maria] Self-sustained.
Self-sustained.
For example, in Naxos,
you can find
130,000 goats and lambs,
and also half
of the population
cultivating the land,
so they are farmers.
[Bourdain] So it's not
just a tourist economy,
you produce stuff here.
You grow things.
[Yannis] Yeah.
[relaxed music playing]
It's a circle.
Every week you need to do what's
necessary.
♪
Water the plants.
♪
Harvest anything that needs to
be harvested:
Tomatoes,potatoes, beans,
onions, peppers.
[Bourdain] Let me ask
a difficult question.
I'm not gonna ask you
this question
because you have
to be diplomatic
about difficult
questions like this.
I'm gonna guess
your father doesn't.
So who caused the Greek
financial crisis?
What happened here?
It all has to do with the
politicians. They were the ones
in charge.
They inflated the public debt,
issued loans without the proper
checks.
They did the whole thing.
We did not pay our taxes, you
might say,
but the taxation system was not
fair towards us.
He's not optimistic.
He says we have a--
Years, it's going to take years,
and we all need to change
our habits.
We need years,
and it's my opinion.
Yes, all of us paying our taxes
and the government to clean up
its house.
[Bourdain]
What does it mean to be Greek?
What are the characteristics
that all Greeks either do
or should aspire to?
She says, "Above all,
the family."
And religion, of course.
And patriotism, like all true
Greeks.
[Yannis]
This means Greek.
Greek remains here.
[Maria]
You are bound to the land.
-The land of your ancestors.
-[Bourdain] Uh-hmm.
[Bourdain] The farm itself,
how long has it been
-in the family?
-[Maria] This was
bought by my--
the grandfather of my father
in 1901.
Back when he bought the land it
was profitable,
because it grew fruit when the
rest of Greece didn't.
So with this farm, your granddad
was able to have a decent
income.
For us in the family,
it's a very special place,
and especially for me,
and I believe
for my father.
It has a special vibe.
There's...
a good energy,
this land.
[birds chirping]
[dramatic music playing]
♪
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
[engine revving]
[woman speaking Greek]
[upbeat percussive
music playing]
[woman rapping in Greek]
♪
♪
♪
[woman rapping in Greek]
[birds chirping]
[Bourdain] Please translate.
[George] Okay.
[Bourdain]
So I went to the beach today.
I'm lying there,
having a good time.
Suddenly, like,
200 nudists show up.
[laughs]
[Bourdain] Late afternoon, I
find myself on a fishing boat,
ruminating on matters
of great importance.
So here's my question,
it's a philosophical
question.
Greece is the home
of philosophy
as we know it.
Why are the first people
to take off their clothes
the last people
you wanna see naked?
[laughs]
I feel disgusted when I see
that. Seeing the child with mom,
while his dad has his balls
hanging out.
I totally agree
with whatever he just said.
[Bourdain]
Oh, yeah, there we go.
Octopus salad.
[Bourdain]
Lambros is there,
and George, of course,
and George's son, Niko.
And what kind of fish is this?
This is skate.
[Lambros] Man, it's so good.
Tell him this is marinated
anchovies.
-Ah, mashed fava beans.
-[Lambros] Uh-hmm.
-It's amazing.
-[Lambros] This is, like,
as traditional as you get.
All these dishes
are either used
as an appetizer
before the main dish,
which is the soup,
or as breakfast.
-[Bourdain] Breakfast?
-They have this for breakfast.
Maybe--maybe a couple
of beers and then
they go to sleep again
for a few hours.
Now you're talking
my language.
This one is monkfish soup. It's
a French delicacy.
Beautiful.
All the fish he catches,
it's sold on the island or--
[speaking Greek]
---sent to Athens?
Mostly--
mostly to Athens.
[Bourdain] Niko!
And what kind of
fish is this?
Grouper.
[Lambros] Olive oil and lemon.
[Bourdain] Man.
This is some
professional-quality stuff.
He doesn't look like he's
enjoying his soup.
[Lambros]
You need to eat more.
[Bourdain]
Ah, the broth is fantastic.
Mmm.
[Lambros] Yamas.
[George] Yamas.
[Lambros] Yamas.
[Bourdain] Thank you.
[Niko speaks Greek]
All of our kids are into
fishing.
One is on that boat, the other
one that one, me and Nikos on
this one.
I liked it as my dad did and
chose to do it, too.
[Lambros]
He liked his dad doing it
and he likes to do it himself.
And how do you meet
women on the sea?
[Lambros] I was gonna ask.
[laughs]
Where there's a will, there's
a way.
[Lambros] Where there's a will
there's a way, he says.
Since they started walking and
understanding some things,
I used to take them to
the whores.
Find all the sluts of the bar,
and have them rubbing all over
them.
[Lambros] Okay, this is gonna--
just gonna be
a great pleasure to translate.
Okay. He said
when they were, like,
at the right age,
I'm guessing something
like 14 maybe.
-Uh-huh?. .
-[Lambros] And he took him
to the brothels.
And he took him
to the whores.
And he told them, you know,
to realize, that, you know,
they're all out
to get your money.
So you know,
get them a few drinks.
Have a good time.
Go completely nuts
while you're young
and everything,
so you know,
you're gonna be
a bit laid-back
on the whole woman issue
when the--when the time comes.
[Bourdain]
When you're 50.
Okay. All right.
Glad I asked.
All right, not really.
[Lambros] So this is ouzo.
[Bourdain] Oh! Sweet.
I'll have some of that.
[ambient music playing]
♪
[woman vocalizing]
[Bourdain] My rented villa
is pleasant enough,
but to be perfectly honest,
lonely.
Is it worse
to be someplace awful
when you're by yourself,
or someplace really nice
that you can't share
with anyone?
[wind whistling]
[waves crashing]
♪
[woman] Hello.
[all] Yamas.
♪
[woman] And it is very typical
Greek sunset, huh?
-The famous Greek sunset.
-[Bourdain] Yeah.
[woman] It's the boat.
The grasses, the boat.
[all] Wow!
[Bourdain] That looks good.
[woman] Looks very good.
[Bourdain] Oh, man,
that's--that is really good.
Mmm.
[woman] The good food makes
you happy. Very happy.
[Bourdain] Yeah.
[woman] Opens your heart.
[Bourdain] There are a lot
of countries where
they're really, really poor,
but they're super
serious about food.
[woman] Like where?
Like here.
[laughter]
Okay.
Don't go--don't go
very far, right?
[Bourdain]
People who are not Greek
come to the Greek Islands
for the first time,
come to Naxos--
what should you do here?
You should drink raki
for sure.
For sure. To eat food.
To eat of course.
[woman]
Get drunk with raki, also.
Get drunk?
It's not enough
to just drink it?
[woman] No, get drunk
and sing and dance.
[woman] Don't tell me
what you ate,
tell me who you ate with.
Mm.
[upbeat music playing]
♪
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[indistinct conversations]
[man] Yamas.
[man] Yamas.
[woman] Yamas.