Since I love Mythology I always wanted to experience ancient places with a lot of history. My first stop on what should be a World Trip, started off in Athens. Maybe because my expectations were too high...I have to admit, that I was rather disappointed from the city of founder-hero Theseus. The city center itself seemed somewhat dirty and when I reached the ancient Agora part, I was shocked of the destroyed, once so pretty, buildings. The walls were over and over scrawled with Graffiti. Besides that the points of interests are well protected and also in good condition. Getting around in Athens won’t take you longer then a couple days and I actually would recommend you Athens as a Shopping City, because there are countless shops in the Monastiraki Quarter.

I really can only advise you to include at least one of the Greek Islands on your Trip - there you will surely find some magic!

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The language could become a problem. I had no chance of reading the Bus Map, just like other signs and writing, which are mostly in Greek. For the short stay I couldn’t really figure the words out. So when I used the bus, I checked our location on Google Maps and when I was close to where I wanted to go, I just get off the bus. There would probably have been a closer bus stop, but a little walking never killed nobody ;-)

 

The Greek people are a delight! I expected the language to be kinda similar to Italian, but it actually sounded more like Czech. First I was confused, whenever they said “Kaliemera” until I found out that this was their greeting. When I used it in a restaurant the waiter laughed at me and explained, that it means “Good Morning” and it was evening, when I visited the venue.

 

Some words for you to know, I wish I had known ;-)

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Καλημέρα – Kalimera – Good Morning

Καλησπέρα – Kalispera – Good Afternoon / Evening

Ευχαριστώ – Efcharistó –Thank you

Γειά σου – Yah-Soo – Hi or Bye informal

Ναί – Ne – Yes

όχι – Ohi – No

Συγνώμη – Synchoreíte – Excuse me

πόσο κοστίζει – póso kostízei – How much is it?

 

Ch - is pronounced like "K"