Travel, 50+, Greece

To my shock, I came to realize that both my trips to Greece were during the "blackout years". For this unfortunate reason, all pictures are from pixabay and, uh, let's imagine it fits the reality and the stories. So... As everyone else, I visited Santorini first...

...but because I'm more "special" (think of Ralph Wiggum), I did not go to the Oia end to insta my hiney aka my beautiful man buns. No. I went to where everything, alongside the beach, is black and dark and totally metal. Right under Ancient Thera. The "wrong" side of the island. I think I have never had such peace on a mega touristy location. My co-tourists of the establishment were some old Brits who had gotten tired with the Benidorm-lifestyle (translating to younger Brits: Magaluf). There were a couple of restaurants along the beach and the traffic consisted of one American riding his newly purchased Thai wife on an ATV, and a handful of random strangers on a lazy stroll.

I ended up eating in the same restaurant with the US-Thai couple and one of them left the dish nearly untouched. Just nibbled at it and then returned the rest aka the most. The old man running the place went to the "backroom" (three walls and I was sitting at a table with the "room" in full view from the missing fourth wall. somebody must have broken it, huh?) and proceeded to eat the rest of it instead of, say, trashing it. Never seen that happen before or after. We can surmise it tells a lot about the place.

As a polar opposite, my second visit was to Corfu and in the city. Everywhere was packed. People squeezing through the narrow streets, lubricated by their sweat. Local shops selling 99% same items everywhere with maybe one or two "special items" found in that shop only. The restaurants came with the classic style of engagement where they ask you "where do you come from?" and then try to serve you in your language. It's one of the only places where I actually replied with "Switzerland" and the young boy serving looked mighty confused. After consulting his colleagues, he opted to serve me in Italian.

While Corfu Town might seem as yet another boring mass-touristy location, it is a UNESCO world heritage site. The old town, anyway. It's one of those things that I tend to "collect" where available. And, were you to take a few steps to the side, the island offers something a tad untouched.

I have to give it to the Greek. Despite all their hardships and somewhat brutal island life, they sure know how to host. Greece is, in my experience, the friendliest and best country for a Mediterranean chill out holiday. Plenty of the Mediterranean countries are, nowadays, outright hostile. Some are publicly crying that "the people we invited here actually came".

While the Greek handle tourists with politeness and, even, kindness, they do have the other side. There are islands where blood feud between families is still a thing. Were you to go to a football match, you will witness the other side of the coin the "safer" way. One could almost say they have a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde situation going on. Don't mess with the Greek, eh?

The Judgment:
Greece is one of the most unvisited countries for myself. It's a shame, but it's also a combination of not really liking the non-weather of hot and sweaty combined with having free slots in the calendar for mostly hot and sweaty season and the work trips going elsewhere (which is also one of the combo-reasons for not yet visiting Albania). Skipping that, I really appreciated Greece and the Greek on my visits. Whether you like frying your side bacon in the Sun, floating in the pool while sipping on refreshments, exploring historical sites or enjoying tasty cuisine, Greece is the place for you. The waters and the rugged nature are massaging your eyeballs and you can let the stress slip away for just a while. Unless you're at the epicenter of mass-tourism, I guess. This is the islands, at least.

Would I go again? Yes. There's too much more to see and did my visits even exist, if I cannot find those pesky missing years in images?