Hanging out in Greece

I've come to discover that everything as I knew it in Vancouver is different here in Greece. First the time. I am not sure who started this, but it has been a great source of confusion for me and generally I am pretty good with numbers. So when Akis said to me we will go out in the afternoon to his friend's house, I expected that we would be going out sometime between 1pm and 5pm. This was not the case. It would seem that the day is broken into the following timeframes: 8am-12pm is the Morning, 12-4pm is considered noon while 8-11pm is afternoon, and after 11pm is night. This also means that their eating patterns are different from ours. The regimented lunch between 12 and 1:30 does not happen, nor is dinner consumed prior to 9pm. As such, I am finding that I am falling victim to the snacks as I am trying to hold out for lunch and dinner.

The noon time seems to be filled with time sitting around the cafeterias drinking coffee. This is a common ritual and now that school is out you also see the youth partaking in this tradition. The coffee shops (aka cafeterias) are very common and each seems to have it's own unique style. They are not the cookie cutter Starbucks or Timmy which I have grown to love, but rather a jazzy version of the coffee shop down the street where I have noticed some places actually employ a DJ to mix music during the day. Incredible really. Think Martini bar meets coffee shop in the middle of the day.




Yes, this particular cafeteria has a pool and for a Friday there were seats to be had. However, Sunday is truly considered to be a day of rest. Much like it used to be in North America before the full fledged adoption on Sunday Shopping, the shops shut their doors with only some taverns, and coffee shops opening for the day. As a result, the Kiosk doubles as a Macs Milk or 7/11 and you can get anything you may be in desperate need of from here. As a result of everyone having the day off, the same cafeteria was packed on Sunday ~ we had to hang around like vultures ~ hoping to score a seat. The key is once you get your bum in a chair, you don't move it... and I mean you don't move it for hours.




The other great thing is eating out. We have had lunch out a couple of times and of course the specialty is Greek. The food is good and it always seems to be in mass quantities. I really do wonder how these people stay so fit looking... Anyway, my first exposure to 'authentic' Greek food was great. You sit on the terrace, order food and just hang out.





The outside of the restaurant is exactly what you think it would be. What I wasn't expecting was the deliver service. Similar to Pizza, Souvlaki can be delivered. The scooters/motorbikes have a box on the back of them which the order is placed and they then tear off up the street looking to deliver you your meal. Sounds like a deal to me!