It is slowly getting dark, the soccer game between Croatia and Brasil is about to start, and we are getting ready to leave Patras, Greece, to catch the ferry to Venice at midnight. It’s been a very interesting visit in Greece: for once it’s been a culture shock, coming from Morocco, where prices are low, handmade work is the usual way of making things, where nobody was begging and we felt very safe.

Greece was like waking up from a dream! 70% of every shopping or downtown area is filled with stores you can see everywhere in Europe or the US: Starbucks and McDonalds, Mark & Spencer, Zara, H & M, Pandora, etc. Beggars everywhere and a few pickpocket thieves, etc. Prices are like anywhere in Europe, a dinner for 2 with wine will end up ~$ 40-50 (compared to $10 in Morocco). Same for taxi, bus or train tickets; comparable to the rest of Europe.

A funny thing we recognized are a few stereotypes about Greek style (And please don’t get me wrong – I love Greece, always loved it, always will!):

• Men hang on to their curly long hair, even if there are only a few left (hair, not men!)
• Women live to dye their hair red. Dark red. Like cherry / Mahagoni / burgundy, whatever you call it, it does not exist as a natural haircolor
• The Greek nose is an actual feature and if you don’t know what I’m talking about – travel to Greece!

• Greek dancing is an interesting activity to watch. On one side there are those dances where a few people stand next to each other, arms wrapped around the shoulder and you and everybody else follow a given sequence of steps. It looks a little like line dancing, but with a physical connection.
• Then there is this dance where a single man or a single woman dances and nobody else is „allowed“ on the dance floor. It’s „his / her“ dance and other people can stand around, clap their hands and kneel down and show their appreciation. The dancer chooses a creative sequence of movements, usually not very fast, he / she twists and turns and pretends to touch the floor once in a while where the arms are usually up in the air most of the time. I have no idea about the rules and the fine tuning, but both dances look like a lot of fun!