Monastiraki

One new Greek experience that I had and struggled with was tipping. Something that is so common here in the Untied States because waiters and waitresses here are not compensated enough for their work while in Greece and most European countries are paid livable wages so tipping is not so common. In the United States it is almost a compliment to tip a server nicely as appreciation for their service. During one of our free nights in Athens we had a girl named Effie as our waitress. She was super sweet and super helpful. She suggested items helped to answer questions (like how to say straw in Greek because she didn’t know it as straw and for those wondering it is καλαμάκι). She even went next door with us to help pick “the good” gelato or as she put it flavors that they would normally get. Overall she made our experience that night run so smoothly. In the United States if we were to get that service and hospitality here the server would expect a big tip but not in Greece. She was offended that we left her a tip but we were a bigger group and great service how else could we show her appreciation? I went back later because I forgot something and she had put it aside in the corner for me. So I took some time to explain to her that here if we get good service we tip. I don’t know if she really understood that we had a good experience at their restaurant and that’s why we tipped.Read more

Auf Athen haben wir uns alle sehr gefreut und der erste Eindruck war super! ÖPNV ohne Probleme, die Stadt ist fröhlich laut und bunt, hinter jeder Ecke lauert eine archäologische Stätte. Echt toll und wir freuen uns auf morgen 😍Read more