Athens is like some weird cross between Morocco, Cuba and Spain. The main tourist drag, Athenis, starts with a red light district at the top and finishes down in the main square at the base of the Acropolis. Traffic lights don't actually seem to mean anything and although the men stare quite openly, they don't touch. Takes a bit of getting used to though!
Alongside derelict buildings Castro would be proud of, like any ancient town the majority of the shops sell food and are concentrated around the market, which I didn't actually venture into given the rivers of blood coming out of it. Also scooter central - they're the ones you have to look out for.
I don't think however I'll ever get tired of olives and Feta cheese, which has name protection in the EU like Champagne and Parmesan, and which is sold pretty much everywhere.
Along with Ouzo, Greek coffee, knock off Louis Vuitton handbags (every woman under the age of 50 seems to have one), and of course cigarettes.
And nuts, spices, meat, fish, vegetables - the smells are amazing. And everybody smokes, everywhere, all of the time, even in all the shops, and if you're extra friendly they even offer you to sit down and have one with them!
And birds. Lots of shops selling everything from chickens to pigeons to budgies. I haven't seen them on any menus so I am rather hoping they are genuinely pets.
One of the best second hand junk stores I've seen in a while... I just couldn't figure out how to get anything home!
And then there's the just plain wacky - there's at least three of these shops in Athenis that sell nothing but religious acoutrements - communion chalices, incense burners, etc. Just what every home needs.
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