The next day, they were taken North of town and up a hill in Katerina’s car. According to Jimmy, it was the Old Town and there were remnants of the fortress everywhere. It surrounded the town to protect it from intruders. Later on, it served as a prison. Its name was Yedikule, which was Turkish for Seven Towers. The area was more commonly known as Ano Poli (Upper Town) or Kastra (Castles) to modern Greeks, and it was brimming with Greek tavernas and restaurants.

They squeezed through narrow streets the width of Katerina’s car and drove through steep hills more akin to rollercoasters than roads. He came out of the car with a new-found admiration for Katerina and her driving prowess. She had parked the car at an incline that looked all kinds of dangerous. He could never imagine driving through these alleys with such skill like she had demonstrated, even if he had a license.

They went in a taverna called Yedi. It was a small restaurant with half the tables taken by well-dressed, middle-aged people. Against one wall, a three-member band played Greek folk songs and sang without a microphone. The people in the tavern were singing along.

They got a long table, which Stelios and Markos had already occupied. There were small sipping glasses in front of them.

‘This is lovely,’ Daisy cheered looking around the restaurant and at every nook and cranny.

‘I’m glad you like it,’ Jimmy told her.

The waiter, an elderly man with white hair on the sides and a balding middle, brought them a few menus.

‘Would you like some retsina?’ Antonis asked them and lifted the bottle in the middle of the table.

‘What is it?’ Ren asked.

Jimmy took the bottle from Antonis and poured some in a glass in front of him. ‘It’s resinated wine. Very popular in Greece.’

Ren wasn’t a big fan of wine, but he accepted some in his glass and so did Daisy. Katerina passed Jimmy a bottle of Coke and he poured a dash in his, then he turned to the two foreigners. ‘Do you want to put some Coca-Cola in it? It gives it a sweeter flavour.’

‘Like a spritzer,’ Daisy laughed and took the bottle from Jimmy’s hand. She poured a small amount into her glass and gave it to Ren, who mimicked her actions. ‘It’s lovely,’ she exclaimed. ‘What are we eating?’

Stelios grabbed the menu in front of him and listed the food items. Daisy informed him she was vegetarian and he recommended a few dishes for her. They placed their order and Ren and Daisy watched the band.

‘You like it?’ Katerina asked Ren.

He nodded. ‘What is it?’

She rolled her eyes as Stelios put his glass down to answer him. ‘The music style is called rebetiko. It’s a working class genre of music and it’s about everything from unrequited love, to drugs and poverty, to depression. It was really popular in the 60s and the 70s, although the genre goes back as much as 1890. Nowadays, they play it in a lot of tavernas, if not live, recorded, and there are few contemporary singers who still sing it, or attempting to write new songs, but most of the songs were written in the last century.’

‘Next time, ask me,’ Katerina said and pushed Stelios away from her with a sour face. ‘They don’t need the history. Who cares?’ she told him.

Daisy and Ren laughed.

‘But the history is half the magic of things,’ Daisy told her.

Katerina acted like Daisy had called her all sorts of despicable things. ‘History is history.’

Daisy laughed again. ‘I understand, hon. I was just like you when I was younger. But travelling has made me appreciate it a bit more.’

Ren turned his attention to Jimmy, who was mouthing along with the musicians. His eyes were closed and his elbow propped on the table, his cigarette and glass together in one hand. He seemed to be taking in the words and feeling them with all his heart. Ren wished he knew what the song was about. What it was that made him feel that way.

‘It’s about love,’ Markos whispered to Ren and the breath in his ear made Ren jump.

‘Is it about his mum?’ he asked Markos.

Markos shrugged. ‘The song is about love love. It talks about the night and how the singer wishes the dawn never came because in the darkness agapi comes alive.’

‘Aga-what?’ Ren asked.

‘Agapi, it’s the Greek word for love. The affectionate, deep kind of love, not the lustful impulsive love that is eros,’ he explained.

Ren looked back at Jimmy.

‘He might have a crush he’s not telling us about,’ Markos said as the song finished.

Was it true? Was Jimmy crushing on someone so much it made him look so sombre and drunk?

Jimmy opened his eyes. He blinked to adjust his vision and turned to Ren. Jimmy’s stare lingered on him. His face looked pained. Ren smiled and Jimmy turned the other way as the waiter arrived at their table with a gigantic tray chock-full of plates. He and a girl in her late twenties put everything down and by the time they left, the table was full. They all had small side plates in front of them and everyone started compiling dips and bites onto them.

‘Okay, so here you’ve got the definition of Mezze. Everything is for everyone. So, Daisy, for you, we’ve got Horiatiki—.’

‘That’s Greek salad, right?’ she said.

Jimmy nodded.

Daisy and Ren helped themselves to the salad, which contained cucumber, tomatoes, feta, olives and oregano.

‘Then, here you have tzatziki with some pita bread you can use for dip. And here, there is two of the best dishes for vegetarians, in my opinion. This—,’ he pointed to a plate with grilled, bright red peppers, ‘is red pepper from Florina, at the top, North-western part of Greece. They are very sweet and juicy. And this—,’ he pointed to the dish next to it. It was stacked with green sausage shaped leaves and tzatziki on the side. On top of the dip was a single black olive. ‘This is dolmadakia. They are vine leaves stuffed with rice.’

They both got some on their plate and Ren tried a bite. A sour and bitter taste hit him. It was marinated with lemon and it proved a yummy appetiser. Daisy dipped some in tzatziki and ate the whole thing at once.

‘Oh, I like those,’ she moaned and grabbed another one.

Everyone laughed as they helped themselves to some.

‘These are cheese croquettes and these are zucchini fritters,’ Jimmy took one and so did Daisy. Ren got some croquettes. ‘And the last dish Daisy can eat is bugiurdi. The name is Turkish, but it’s a casserole of feta, tomatoes and spicy peppers.’ Daisy scooped some with her fork as Jimmy moved to the meat dishes. They didn’t need much introduction really. Meat was meat. But apparently the first dish was a specialty. ‘This is the Smyrneiko soutzoukaki. It’s a recipe from Smyrna, which was a city in Little Asia before it was taken by the Turks. It’s beef meatballs baked in tomato juice.’

Ren put two on his plate and the waiter had already returned to collect some plates. Antonis pointed at a couple of the dishes and said something in Greek, and the waiter nodded as he left. Ren tried the soutzoukaki. An explosion of garlic, onion, and tomato took place in his mouth. It reminded him a lot of Bolognese meat, only with a ton more seasoning. He helped himself to some tenderloin, steak, and grilled halloumi, as well as the last of the dolmadakia. The guys’ plates were still full and they sipped their retsina slowly. Katerina was stuffing her mouth with tzatziki and bread.

When Ren turned to check on Jimmy, he was staring at him. A smile crept up in Jimmy’s face, but before Ren could reciprocate Jimmy turned his attention back to his plate.

The waiter returned with a top up on some dishes and a lot more retsina. They all indulged themselves and imbibed. Daisy and Ren managed two bottles between them. At some point, the musicians played a song that made everyone clap along. Jimmy got off his chair and danced. His hands were raised to his sides like wings and his fingers snapped according to the rhythm. He did most of the dancing with his legs. It didn’t seem to have a routine, but he staggered back and forth, sometimes bringing his foot to the side and slapping it away and sometimes he knelt down.

It was peculiar, alien, but tantalising and intoxicating to watch. His eyes barely opened throughout the whole thing. His cigarette rested on his lips and the fire burned through the entire thing leaving a trail of ashes on the dancefloor. The guys in the group and the other customers were clapping, encouraging him along and occasionally would shout ‘opa.’

‘That’s the zeibekiko dance. It’s danced as a way to deal with strong emotions. It’s a dance of freedom,’ Markos said to Daisy and Ren while they were watching.

What strong emotions was Jimmy dealing with to make him dance that particular dance? Was he feeling strong emotions for Ren? Was Ren reading too much into things and was Jimmy just having a good time with his friends?

No matter what the real answer was, Ren felt a sharp pain in his chest which he had to take deep breaths to soothe.

The last thing he’d imagined when he’d decided to move to Thessaloniki was that he’d be falling in love with a Greek.