Traveling in Greece for nearly 3 weeks was full of gyros and euros. At first we started off having a gyro each day. That lasted three or four days. Then I moved onto soulvaki and Greek salads. I also had some pasta dishes, moussaka and lamb. The way I could judge how expensive a restaurant was, was by comparing the price of a Greek salad. (4 – 7 euros) I still can eat a gyro any day of the week and a Greek salad.
I knew the food and culture would be interesting. I also knew that it wouldn’t be cheap! The thing I didn’t realize until I got here was how strongly the US economy affects the rest of the world. I knew it was bad at home. But since E1 = $1.61, I thought it would be better in Europe.
The thing that was very apparent was the absence of US tourists. We hardly saw any Americans. Granted, this is a popular destination for Europeans. When asked where we were from, shop owners were always surprised to find out. Sometimes I’m a little reluctant to talk about where I’m from. You never know what the reaction is going to be when you say you’re from the US. But people were always nice and hospitable. We’d joke around about the dollar being crap and get into a more serious dialog about how business is down because they’re are fewer tourists in general.
I’m not going to get into anything political. But it’s sad that our tanked out economy hurts more than just us.
