Greek Food in Albuquerque, Who Would Have Thought

Today we had one of those kickback days....watched church over the Internet, rested, and due to a commercial we saw since we have been here, decided it was time for some authentic Greek food....something we have not had, unless Marcia has cooked it, since we left Florida back in May.  Who would have known that Albuquerque has a Greek Community.

So we drove to Zorba's....just to find that it is not open on Sundays.  The sign on the door that shows their hours says, "Sundays, Never".  Well, good for them, not so good for us.  The GPS said that Mykonos was less than 2 miles away...so we went there.  Yes, it was good, authentic Greek food....not as good as Tarpon Springs Greek food, but close.  

Would we go back to Mykonos, yes.  However, there are other Greek restaurants in town, Zorba's, Yanni's, Olympia Cafe, and Gyros Mediterranean, just to name a few...we might want to try them too.  So why so many Greek Restaurants in Albuquerque?  Greeks started coming to Albuquerque around the late 1890s. The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroad entered northern New Mexico and eventually Albuquerque. Albuquerque city directories, starting in 1896, contain the names of Greek men who worked on the railroad as machinists and painters and in the supply department for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.  Albuquerque was established as a principal locomotive repair center between Chicago and Los Angeles, businesses began to sprout up along Railroad Avenue (now Central Avenue).  Hotels, cafes, shoe shining and hat cleaning establishments, bakeries, confectionery establishments, ice cream parlors, tailor shops, and real estate businesses sprung up.  Many of these were owned by Greeks.  Surprise to us, the Greek community has been in Albuquerque for over a century, and still flourishes.  Perhaps I should say, "Lucky us", and "Lucky the people of Albuquerque." 

As the sun was setting in the west on our way home, a red glow was hitting the horizon to the east, where the moon was already up in the sky.

Here is a picture of the Rio Grande River as it comes out of Cochiti Lake's dam.  It was nice to get back to the motorhome, where eight little legs, one and one tenth tails, and one loud mouth barker were happy to see us.  They were very happy that we went by Sam's Club and got them some more doggie treats too.  Boy those tails, errr, tail and a tenth of a tail, really were wagging.