Coffee search in Greece

Finally I found some real coffee in Greece, after searching high and low. I'm out on my own, 1,5 hours to be exact. I'm sitting down like I love so much - in an outdoor café, on the corner of a street, on a bar chair right by the road, watching the busy night go by here in Rhodos. Old men on tiny scooters, long lines, taxis coming by every minute and animals around my legs everywhere. Cats, dogs, even birds at times.

I watch people on their whereabouts and wonder who is tourist and who is a Greek citizen. It's not necessarily as easy as I would think to tell them apart. People look more alike these days, and tourists are so different. I wonder what I look like to others. Does anyone see that I'm a stranger?

I can't describe the feeling of freedom here I'm sitting, outdoors at night in a T-shirt and shorts. In the middle of everything, watching lives go by, chatting with the café owner, reassuring him the coffee is excellent and the best I've had so far here in Greece. He is pleased and starts telling me his story.

My eyes tear up and so does his as he shares about the rough life he is trying to endure. He shares about working days in the café from 10 - 01 in the morning 7 days a week to make ends meet. He tells me about higher rent and prices, but lower Euro value and fewer tourists who spend less money. He says he no longer has any dreams and he won't meet my eyes anymore when he reveals how his marriage is failing and his daughter studying in Athens, but with no prospect of getting a job, that the only hope might be leaving the country and going abroad into the unknown.

He leaves me speechless. I have no words to say or to consolidate him with. Getting a peak into the life of an ordinary Greek man and how the crisis has left him desperate and worn out moves me and makes me embarrassed to share about the situation in my own country when he asks.


Well I have no more receipts to write on here so I better finish. One bank receipt flew away and the rest is filled with words now. I thank him for sharing his story and tell him I'll be back this week. Maybe to hear more, and learn some, or maybe just for the good coffee.