Before you get carried away by the photographs of Greece, the blue and white houses, and turquoise blue waters, I must warn you about why you should never go to Greece. I traveled to attend TBEX and was blown by the unexpected experiences with the locals and their lifestyle. Here is the list of warnings –
1. Greek Food – Greek food will churn your stomach upside down and have you crave for it long after you are back in your country. The aroma of Souvlaki that I had almost every day still haunts my senses. It’s a pity that I can’t find it in India. Juicy pieces of pork, chicken or lamb gently roasted with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, finger chips and Tzatziki sauce over pita bread.. Uh! I should go and eat something now before I write further.
Now that I am back after a meal, I remember the Greek salads packed with green leafy vegetables, slabs of cheese, tomatoes, olives (like LOTS of olives), olive oil and local spices. If you want to avoid my plight, please don’t visit Greece.
2. The Hugs and Kisses – Greeks will hug you and kiss you on both cheeks no matter how many times you meet in a day. Kisses might be too much in India but I have stopped shaking hands now with people. I only hug them. If you are allergic to lots of love, please don’t visit Greece.
3. Their love for wine – Within few days, we were offered complimentary wine twice in restaurants because the host liked our conversations and our love for him. We were overwhelmed with the gesture and were short of words for him. As they say, love shows on the face. And it was evident on our hosts face while he offered us local wine in jugs.
4. Their parties and boozing – I confess that I crashed into a Halloween party in Athens uninvited. Later I realized that most of us were uninvited and so I felt at home. After drinking till three in the morning and dancing to the music, when Greeks finally started to swing under the effect of alcohol they started hugging each other. They hugged, kissed, laughed and danced together. I was wary that after drinking so much they might become violent or abusive and start breaking things. If you don’t like such surprises, don’t visit Greece.
5. Flirting is their lifestyle – Not for jerks like me but women might get a surprise flower or a flattering compliment as they walk on streets. Someone might even sing a song for you and propose you for marriage. As I saw with women, they were quite flattered. After all flirting runs in the blood of Greeks. They got to be smooth at it. If you don’t like flattery and flowers, don’t visit Greece.
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Gaurav BhatnagarSoftware Engineer turned Travel Writer, Photographer, and Public Speaker on Responsible Travel. Entrepreneur in Responsible Rural Travel @ www.thefolktales.com
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Good Blog..loved reading
Thanks Vibha. I hope it was valuable to you and that you will come back to do some more reading. π
The heading of the article was apt, as the reader gets curious to get to know your suggested reason of 'never' visiting Greece. But there was a great twist in the series of thoughts the moment I finished reading the very first point of your article. Great article. Reading it was fun. π
Devika. I had been writing in too much of goody good language (almost poetic) till now so I decided to throw in a little bit of spice here and there. And I see that people like spices. π Thanks for reading.
Great post Gaurav but you forgot the last reason. After you visit Greece all you can think about is when you can go back to Greece!
Haha loved this new style. Negative Psychology rock the world π
Yea Karan. All good words aren't interesting. Like you said yesterday, same 'adventure' over and over again becomes monotonous.
Yep. True that. π
You should have added they make you do weird dancing on stage π
Hey, it is so good to hear from you π Weird or not, I really miss that evening. What fun ! Or weird fun? π
It was not the kind of place I would normally go. With the old singers and full of tourgroups. But is was so much fun! I think because everyone just joined in and didn't care about looking stupid for one moment. And I loved the tricks like standing on a glass.
Yes, the willingness to look stupid and yet not worry about it was good for a change π I agree with you about the number of tourists. One would wonder if that event was happening in Greece or China π I think I forgot to take your business card. Send me a message on fb with your details and we will be connected.
Very good post :-).
Oh, the cruise ships that leave from the Piraeus Port to all those beautiful islands, don't visit Greece.
HaHa Kerwin… Good to see you here. !!
Simply loved it .. every word .. you rock!! Look forward to more Gaurav!!!
Thank You Shumon. Your words mean a lot π Congrats once again for the post of Huffington.
Awesome post…Just laughed reading it..Mind blowing….U r great…
Hey, Thanks for reading and I am happy that you loved it π
LOVED this piece. Now I can't wait to go to Greece π
Yes, you should visit Greece Ruchika. If you need any info for that, please feel free to ask. π
What is TBEX? The photos of Greek food looked amazing. Drooling!n
TBEX is Travel Bloggers Exchange (conference of travel writers and other travel industry specialists). Yes, Greek food is one of my favorite. Did you visit Greece ultimately? If yes, I hope you tried the Gyros and Souvlaki. π