GREEK TRAVEL TIPS:
What not to Pack and to buy here instead

 

Although you can buy just about anything you forgot to pack here in Greece, your favorite hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and author may not be available so keep any special items and medicines close by in hand luggage.

Whether you hope to be mostly laying on the beach or visiting classical sights or a combination of both, I hope the information which follows will give you some ideas and allow you return home with a nice item bought in Greece. Something special that wont fade away like your tan. Below I make some suggestions so that you, somewhat prepared, can consider shopping for some nice timely purchases for yourself or family and maybe even something to wear back at work too in the months following your return. 11,000,000 people live in Greece, of whom half live in Athens and they at least, have a surprisingly wide variety of clothing to choose from.

IMHO Greek made; leather bags, cotton knits, hats, sandals and shoes are of good quality and value if you shop around! These are the type of items you'll encounter most if you follow a typical itinerary such as every bodies favorite: the Athens', Plaka (left) and Monastiraki quarters, and then the islands of Mykonos and Santorini for example. Follow the major sites and you'll see variations of these over and over.

 However In Athens, just a few blocks away from your typical Acropolis and Plaka itinerary, in the nearby historic triangle and Kolonaki area exists the opportunity to expand your horizons and shop like a European instead of a tourist, however briefly.

I don't know about you but the homogenized and recycled American Mall can get pretty boring after a while. The same old anchor stores and globalized provender. For certain things you cant beat it but for variety you surely can.

Athens has several new malls and the main one for you to check out with the least amount of effort is just steps from Constitution Square with 250 ritzy shops. The Attica Mall, which carries dozens of brand names, cost 50 million euros to put together and employs about 1,500 people.

Greece is becoming more globalized all the time too as these big malls are big money financed. There will no doubt be negative consequences, such those that small grocery stores suffered when supermarkets became dominant. But if the malls include small firms which manage to show profits, there is no reason why small traders cannot survive and even flourish if they specialize, offering products and services that hypermarkets shun. There are still vestiges of fashion independence to be found if you look. All over Greece there are still many more independent boutiques than you'll see in your typical American city.
Marks & Spencer's on Aeolou St. in downtown Athens above left.

Greece is in the European Union after all, with its expanded borders, fewer trade restrictions and greater European variety supplanting the older Greek brands or imports. This is the good side. That it all costs more is the bad side. Everything including food and clothing costs more in Greece with the advent of the "euro". The only thing that hasn't gone up is peoples salaries. If you have dollars to spend the poor exchange rate makes it worse, However in August its sales time in Athens and one can often find unique items at prices you'd call "bargain" even by outlet mall standards.

Already some smaller merchants I know have been put out of business by the European chains. One close friend had a ladies boutique on Pindarou (Pindar) St. in the Kolonaki area of Athens for over ten years and when the Spanish clothing giant Zara, recently opened near by, he lost so much business he had to close. Fortunately his boutique on Mykonos 'Jony Boy' is doing fine. You can take advantage of this changing retail environment offering a wider variety of European brands and concentrated in a small area of Athens in an afternoon or less! Made in Greece cotton knits (Plaka Athens left) prove that Greeks are the original preppies. Will this Greek industry survive the yellow onslaught?

But the European chains aren't what have Greek Merchants in an up-roar. The Chinese have flooded the market  with goods all over Europe and also have opened many stores here in Athens. These stores are cheap! I used to work in retail myself and know that these Chinese fashions are only going to improve in styling as time goes on. Imported Chinese textiles are going to put many local textile people out of business and already have caused textile industries to close in Greece. These particular Chinese are mostly copiers of western fashions so far, but quick studies with huge production capacity. Greece flagged ships carry 80% of Chinese goods by the way so expect more

AUGUST IS SALES TIME IN ATHENS, THE "REAL GREECE"

Shop the Kolonaki area of Athens and the new mall, just feet from Syntagma Square.

If, as a Greek would, you take advantage of the 4 week sales period every August, in the 'real Greece' section of Athens (i.e. where the tourists don't normally go). You could save hundreds of dollars on beach and resort outfits, sandals, shoes or an Italian power suit by a famous designer. Men too! Nino Cerruiti, Ted Lapidus, Karl Lagerfeld and even more ubiquitous brands like Georgio Armani and his clones like Artisti Italian and many more.

Buying the right items upon arrival here in Athens, Greece will let you pack fewer outfits initially. If you spend wisely you'll enjoy immediate use and your girlfriends back home will be impressed. Because of the sales, there are good deals in both casual and more formal items like shoes and career wear to be found. Ermou Street near Syntagma Sq. and Pattision St near Omonia  are also good bets!

Out of Athens, for casual wear, if you stick to the summer itinerary you'll usually be able to browse in small shops depending on where you go. For more variety and a a better selection Athens is the convenient answer.  Ex-athens tourist destinations have different 'rules' and I don't consider them the real Greece for some things like shopping. In fact in a place like Oia on Santorini (left) you are more likely to be gouged than get a good price. Yachters haven Fiskardo in Kefallonia is another example of fleecing the sheep Greek style. At least in Santorini there are some interesting crafts people and collections of goods to be found there alone.

 

In summer there are 2 kinds of Greek merchants you'll shop from. Permanent ones and seasonal ones. The permanent ones are more common in bigger metro areas like Athens, Patras, Naufplion and so on with the population center to support them. Here is where you can find the sales. In this picture (left) of Chania, Crete you'll find some interesting and unique items including traditional Cretan boots and knives.

Many people live and work in these larger cities and towns year round. But in many less populated areas of Greece many of the Greeks you'll see are not full time residents. They set up shop during the tourist season and return to Athens afterwards only to return again, if successful, the next season.

These seasonal merchants work the tourism location and the tourists themselves - wherever that might be. There are exceptions occasionally, on Mykonos and Syros for example, to mention just two islands, each with a large, young, hip Greek and Albanian population where you'll get good progressive restaurants and boutiques both. Remember though that for them August is high tourist season and they'll be less happy to hear that you know all about the summer sales! The sales are not mandatory for the merchants by the way. In that case bargain, if you must. Aghio Nicolaou Crete (left).

For shopping in Greece in General the best bopping around and just being a tourist shopping to be done is in Athens, Mykonos and Chania, Crete. Santorini and Syros have interesting design sense too.

Lets face it, millions of you are going to arrive in Athens during August and you should be aware that August is Sales Season for the 'real Greece' not the tourist Greece like Mykonos or some other popular destination!

Left, an Athens jewelry store which in pricing follows the daily gold rate published in the newspaper.

As I write this gold is at a 25 year high so 2006 maybe a good time to buy gold before present inventory stocks need replenishing.

So if you find yourself in Athens in August, and if you have the time, browse Athens for a day or two, pick up anything you need to wear on your Greek island vacation and on the way back pick up 2 or 3 pairs of really nice shoes and a suit or two. Alterations are usually no problem if contracted when you put down an early deposit which will ensure your item will be there for you to pick up later.. Since Kolonaki Sq, is only a 20 minute walk from Syntagma Sq. the ground zero of Athens, its a crime not to wander up the slope and do some window shopping. You'll notice a preponderance of shoe stores because Greece has a thriving shoe industry that follows the latest italian and French designs by a few months.

ATHENS PLAKA SHOPPING

Greece grows its own cotton and exports it. Greece also makes wool and cotton clothing for export. Both are sold in the Plaka area just under the Acropolis in Athens. Greek clothing is of good quality and inexpensive and comes in lots of different styles from traditional to modern. There are a lot of sheep in Greece too. Woolen Flokati rugs are another common gift or home purchase you may make and ship from Greece and even buy on line. The Ermou St. area of Athens with Acropolis visible (left) and Monastiraki (right).

SHOPPING FOR GREEK COTTON KNITS

In summer, in Athens, Greece, you can buy quite a nice selection a of 2 main types of cotton clothing; manufactured (Tee's and shorts for example) or rough woven. I am making up this label: rough woven, as these items in the picture right don't look in the least bit rough to me. What I mean is they aren't like the weave you normally associate with, say, a Tee shirt and some are hand knit.

I refer to items of clothing you can safely leave at home, only to buy and wear here in Greece, that you wont find back home, unless you live in Manhattan or London some big city with a large Greek population. They make good gifts too.

The best place in Greece to see a good selection of the rough woven cotton is on Adrianou St. in the Plaka, in Athens Center, near the Acropolis. Please see the Athens Guide for more information and pictures. The Plaka area is a must see for all visitors to Athens.

Grecian garments, such as light, easy to carry, beach pants, tops, and all kinds of cotton attire for the Greek islands beach scene. There are cotton demi-season sweaters and jumpers too! And who knows, you may just need that cotton jumper one of these nights. Your sister or brother might like a gift from Greece too. They cost anywhere from between 15 and 40 Euro. and up. Protecting your skin from the Greek sun is a great excuse to buy these airy and comfortable outfits.  So consider lightening your Greek Traveling load before locking that pitiful lock on your baggage. Your not going to put your camera, medicine or jewelry in there are you? Good!

SANDALS IN GREECE

If you go to Greece in summer, bear in mind it will be hot (90 plus), so plan on buying some sandals in Greece or bringing your favorite pair with you. I recommend buying them in Greece as there are many styles to choose from and are inexpensive. (The picture left shows some ancient styles, now we know who invented the flip-flop.! I always assumed it was a Taiwanese). Athens especially is a town of foot fetishists with more shoe stores than you can imagine.