buy groceries like a Greek and one of the Greek scandals

Something that I soon came to realize here in Athens, is that eating out is relatively cheap in comparison to Sweden. A big and filling baguette/sandwich costs around 1-3 euros, a souvlaki 2-3 euros and dinner at a fancy restaurant is around 10-20 euro. Also, Greeks eat out a lot. Maybe not always for a dinner or a lunch, but for streetfood and for what we in Sweden call "fika" (meaning, having a coffee with a friend). 

But then I came to the supermarket to buy groceries, and as I mentioned before: I was shocked at how expensive everything was! Even canned foods such as crushed tomatoes and beans, or simple foods such as pasta, fresh vegetables, olives and feta cheese!? How could that be?

So after some research I've understood a three things:

1. LAIKI! After the crisis, Greek supermarkets are not at all affordable anymore for many Greeks. Therefore, they go to the "LAIKI", the weekly market (a.k.a farmers market) that is set up every week in about every neighbourhood in Athens and around the cities of Greece. In these markets locals go to buy everything from vegetables, fruits, wine, meat, fish, olives, eggs, honey, beans, lentils, goods for the household and more. The food on the market is a lot cheaper than the usual supermarket and also the quality of the food is so much better. Generally, the market stays open between 6-14 and the earlier you come the better the choices you have, while the later you come  the better the offers you have. However, I may be the worst in the world at bargaining so for me it is better to be early. I have found a website with the schedule for the different markets, however, it is in Greek... but you find it HERE. 
2. Bought fresh over the counter: In Sweden, it's cheaper to buy food that's already packaged. But for some reason, here it is much cheaper to buy things like tzatziki, feta cheese and so on fresh over the counter in the supermarkets. 
3. Small, specialized shops: In Athens there is a shop for everything, as well as food. Most of the ones that I have found so far are located around the central food market. But I'm sure that there are more areas with these kinds of shops. In these shops you have nuts, herbs and spices, cold cuts, cheese, olives, olive oil, honey, wines and much more.

So, on Saturday we walked to Kallidromiou farmers' market to buy our fresh groceries. 

After the farmers market, we also walked by the canteen to get our free meal. That day, as any other day, we had 9 options of food to choose between. 

After buying cheap fresh food at the market and getting free food from the canteen, I walked home and ate a long awaited brunch. We then took the metro to the Mall of Athens which has over 200 stores and restaurants. The mall was built as an Olympic project, but wasn't inaugurated until the year after in 2005 and it's construction has become one of the biggest Greek scandals since it was build on land that they didn't own and many of the stores operate illegally and without a license. 

As a shopping center it was beautiful, but I wouldn't recommend it in these times since you had to wear a mask all the time, and the stores had a limited number of visitors which meant that all the big stores had long queues outside. After a few hours we went home, and all I had bought was nothing but a juice haha...

Later that night we had some pre-drinks on a rooftop to one of my friends, and we then spent the night at a private party with some other students, mainly from France. I was completely drained of energy, but it wasn't an evening I wanted to miss, and I'm really happy I went! 

You only live once, and sleep? - I can do that in Sweden!

With love, Elsa ♡