Picking Up On Greece

After spending 3 full months living in Greece, in the beach town of Saronida and the boom city of Athens. We learned what to expect, what do to and not to do. Greece is a beautiful country full of culture, history and food.

The people are really nice, helpful and friendly. Keep in mind for a lot of people English is a second language or they do not speak English at all. They will still try and help you, it just proves to be a bit more challenging.

As we enjoyed our time in Greece, here are somethings we learned as we worked our way around.

Tip #1 1+1 Deal At The Market

1+1 deal is buy 1 get 1 free, you can not mix and match this deal (we tried). Whatever item you are buying it is that item you get a second one free. Not a similar item at the same price that specific item. This deal is great! When it is marked and offered it applies to beauty products, food and alcohol. Yes alcohol! There were a couple of times we got 1 bottle of wine for free.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Tip #2 Goat Products

Goat milk, cheese or cream is just as common in the grocery stores as cows milk. It is sometimes even costs less than other dairy products. Also milk products come in a glass jar or paper carton, no bagged milked!

Tip #3 Drinking The Water

On the islands you are told only to drink bottled water and on the mainland you can drink the tap water. We only used boiled water for coffee, tea or cooking and did not drink directly out of the tap. A case of 6 1.5L bottled water is 1,30 Euro at the grocery store.

Tip #4 Sidewalks Are For Everyone

The sidewalks in we found to be uneven and a bit hazardous at times (holes). The stones they use to form the sidewaks are slippery and get even more slippy when it rains. Also watch out for cars, bikes, other people and scooters, sidewalks are for everyone. A lot of the time we found the scooter parking was on the sidewalk and if there was no parking on the street it was not uncommon to find a car pulling onto the sidewalk and parking.

The common curtesy of moving over or watching for someone else while walking is not a thing. People just walk Photo Credit: V.Gray into you or expect you to move for them, otherwise they jump bump into and carry on.

Tip #5 Crossing The Road

After travelling to Southeast Asia we thought we had learned how to cross the road, not a chance! Greece even if you are using the cross walk and the little man is green saying "it's okay to cross", it's not. You have no right of way, the scooters and cars do! If the car or scooter wants to turn they will or stop in the middle of the cross walk, hey man they are bigger!

As a result we found taking our time and following crowd worked best crossing the road. In busier places, like city square round abouts or bus stops we found the cars would stop better or if they police were out. Otherwise look both ways and try and use the cross walks.

Tip #6 Homelessness & Begging

There are a lot of homeless people in Athens and we did find a few in Saronida. However as long as you do not stare at them we found they leave you alone. Do not be surprised if you are sitting in a cafe having a coffee or a snack in a park if a child comes up to you and starts talking and rubbing their belly or if you are walking down the road and somenone pulls food out of the trash or is sitting with a cup begging. They are aggressive with the begging too. They may come back 3 or 4 times before finally leaving you alone, shaking your head and saying "no" did not seem to be enough. Putting our hands out in the stop motion (yes I am aware this is insulting in Greece), seemed to bring it to an end quicker.

Where we stayed in Athens was a bit more questionable and we did have a fair number of homeless people around our apartment. They would sleep on the stoop at night, a few fights at night, they be wandering around the area during the day time or we watched them go into older buildings in the that have been boarded off. With saying all of that, which paints a pretty dark picture of Athens there always seemed to be police officers about. They were either walking the streets or standing on street corners. Really it is quiet safe as long as you have your wits about you.

Tip #7 Stray Cats & Animal Droppings

There are a lot of stray cats in Greece, honestly I have never seen so many cats. However they are not the issue, we found a majority of the cats would run as we walked in their direction and very few would hang about.

What we did actually see several times in Saronida and in Athens, was people walking their dogs and leaving the droppings behind. It did not seem to matter if it was beside a tree, in the middle of the road or sidewalk or where ever. People do not pick up after their animals. As a result there is a ubseen amount of animal droppings everywhere.

There are personell going around sweeping and cleaning up throughout the day, they may get some of it but still watch your step!

Tip # 8 My Friend

While we walked through the tourist section, where all the ruins are localed at the foot of the Acropolis, we would find restuarants asking if we wanted to look at their menu or shops trying to pull us in. The one that got me was coming across a man handing out bracelets, he would start with "My friend" and reach out for a fist bump, then a conversation starts (smart move). Then he would carry on to tell us about a festival and say this bracelet is a gift trying to hand it off to us, it is free. Ryan had seen this in Roma and politely declined.

At the next corner was another man with the same bracelets and would ask you to trade or give him something for the bracelet, smart move. Since as I said Ryan was aware of this trick of the trade already, we did not buy into it but we did watch this happen to others.

Tip #9 Smells

Okay so above I mentioned the animal droppings which does leave a suttel smell in the air. I will warn you if you are someone who is sensative to smells watch out! Prefume, aftershave and cologne are heavily used! The best way I can describe this is, we walked by a man who's cologne stayed with us for a full block before someone's cologne or perfume took over. It was crazy!

The other big smell you will get a lot is cigarette smoke. Smoking is still very common and people seem to smoke everywhere. We did notice some people using essaintal oils placing it under their nose or on a hankerchief and smiffing it. As it is common now to wear your face mask in public, I put a little peppermint oil in my mask. It does not completely get rid of the smells about the city of Athens but it did help down play some of them.

Tip #10 Toilets

You will find your normal toilets and toilet paper in Greece, however if you are on the mianland or an island do not flush ANYTHING! There is a bin side for your used toilet paper and other products, toss it in there.

We found this is restuarants, bars, hotels, AirBnB's, really it was any bathroom we used had a bin for toilet paper or other products. There are some commical signs to remind you after a few beverages to not flush anything.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Tip #11 Clothing

I honestly believed that bell bottom jeans and platform runners died in the 90's. I was seriously wrong! They are still alive and well over in Greece and alot of people seemed to be wearing them. Platform shoes seemed to very common in the stores.

The matching tracksuit, not just for you but your spouce and children as well! There were so many couples wearing matching tracksuits it was cute. Track pants are actually more commonly worn than jeans we found (mainly in men), with tight elastic bottoms. Going out to for the day or sight seeing or dinner a lot of people were wearing tracksuits or track pants.

Tip #12 Do Not Eat The Fruit From The Trees

There are so many beautiful trees in Saronida and green spaces in Athens. In Saronida we found olive trees everywhere (the fallen olives stained the bottom of our shoes), along with fruit trees (the fruit was bitter and unediable). This is a very nice sight and even if you can not eat the fruit when it has fallen off the tree it leaves a nice smell about the area.

Tip #13 Mosquitos

It's warm in Greece and as a result they have year around mosquitos. Some of the places we stayed the doors or windows did not seal well, as a result we found ourselves fighting the mosquitos at night. However we found they did not bug us very much at night when we would go out walking just in restuarants or at home. Bring bug spray!

Tip #14 Tossing Your Garbage & Recycling

It is so easy to toss your trash, there is no garbage or recycling day. Every couple of blocks there is a large green bin and blue bin, you simplely toss your trash or recycling in the bins and walk away. The truck comes every couple days, normally after 7 pm we found or even in the middle of the night to collect and leaves the bins behind.

Tip #15 Sundays

As you walk the streets on a Sunday morning or afternoon, you may find a lot of the small shops, restuarants, pharmacies or the grocery store to be closed. You will find smaller local flea markets open, major tourist attractions (Acropolis or muesums), local restaurant's and bakeries to be open, but do not plan on going into any larger shopping centers or stores, they will be closed. Sundays are devoted to the saints and church, one bishop declaired shopping on Sundays an act of war against the church.

These are some of things we noticed during our time in Athens and Saronida Greece. This changes everywhere you go, we heard the islands were a lot nicer but more expensive. We enjoyed our time in Greece and would recommend everyone go at least once in their life time to see what it has to offer and experience. There were moments of "awh" as we walked through the ruins and took in the views.

Cheers!

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **