The Souvlaki Pilgrimage

Souvlaki is Greek fast food perfected over millennia - small pieces of pork (or chicken, or lamb) threaded on a skewer and grilled over charcoal until lightly charred and juicy, then either eaten straight off the stick ("kalamaki") or wrapped in a soft, warm pita with sliced tomato, raw onion, a generous smear of tzatziki and a scattering of chips tucked inside for crunch. The whole thing costs a few euros, takes about two minutes to make, and is eaten standing up or walking down the street. It's not complicated. It doesn't need to be. The charcoal, the marinade and the pita do everything.

Athens' Monastiraki square and the streets around it are the spiritual home of souvlaki - tiny shopfront grills that have been serving the same thing from the same spot for decades, with queues that form at lunch and don't stop until late at night. Eating a souvlaki wrap in Monastiraki, the Parthenon on the hill above you, is arguably the most Athens moment you can have - cheap, fast, ancient and modern at once. Greece is the biggest country missing from your map, and souvlaki is the obvious, joyful, zero-pretension way in.