I’m in Alexandroupoli for a short visit from Istanbul. Last night I stayed in Hotel Erika, not a bad hotel although its free wifi access was not operating, much to my annoyance (I’m in an internet cafe at the moment).
This is my first ever time to Greece. From the little I have seen, it shares many similarities with Turkey, as expected.
Some of the differences between Turkey and Greece I have observed (not ‘facts’, but generalised perceptions) are:
– Greece is slightly more religious. Many of the Greek flag poles have crosses on top of them, there are many small shrines on the sides of the road and every second TV channel seems to feature a Greek Orthodox priest.
– There is much more pork! I’ve stocked up on bacon, ham and salami.
– There seems less differences between men and women in Greece
– The average standard of living is higher here
– The alphabet and language are different – It is difficult not being able to understand and express myself as much here, although on the whole more people speak English.
– Prices are on the whole about 1&1/2 times to double those in Turkey
– The cafe/bar culture is much bigger
– Based on a tiny sample size of one, I think the Greek ‘yiros‘ is better than the Turkish ‘doner‘
I hope to visit Greece again in the future, see more of the sights and try more food and drinks.
Today I will go back across the border and eventually arrive to Ankara tomorrow in preparation for a fair on Thursday.
ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention a few things when I originally wrote this post:
– I found out the reason why the Greek yiros tasted better than the Turkish doner: the yiros was made of pork! When I found this out from the woman at the restaurant I bought a second yiros along with the pork sausage I originally intended on buying.
– Alcohol in the Greece is much, much cheaper than in Turkey. The supermarket prices are only slightly above those in the duty-free shops at the border.
– Easter was coming up in Greece. This may have been why there were so many Greek Orthodox priests on television. I did buy some Easter eggs to bring back to Turkey.
– In Greece there were outdoor cigarette advertisements. These are banned in Turkey.
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