Travel

Goal of this page is to laconically detail where I, Georgios Samaras have travelled, since I usually forget some places…But I always remember this: a flight to my destination lasts a day, or just an hour, however, the memories, last for a lifetime! :)I will list where I have been to, and say some more about the non-Greek places I have been after 2012. It’s also good to write down the memories… 🙂

• Greece
• Egypt
• Tunisia
• Spain
• Monaco
• Turkey
• Switzerland
• France
• USA
• Sweden
• Austria
• Italy
• Germany
• UK

• Greece (history & beauty), and here is the list:
  • Μήλος: Οι πρώτες μας διακοπές με το blue diamond της Εύας. Υπέροχο ξενοδοχείο Vesleme που έκλεισε η Εύα μου πριν το Πάσχα μόνο με 190€ για 5 μέρες. Είχε καλό κόσμο, χαρακτηριστικό παράδειγμα ένα τραπέζι Νεοϋορκέζων, όπου όταν οι Γάλλοι στο δίπλα τραπέζι τους ρώτησαν τι παρήγγειλαν, τους έδωσαν να δοκιμάσουν κολοκυθάκια, διότι δεν μπορούσαν να καταλάβουν τι είναι με λόγια: για την ιστορία, ξετρελάθηκαν!
    • Μέρα 1η: Σαρακίνικο, το σεληνιακό τοπίο και τα καθαρά νερά με Ποσειδωνία και το βαθύ μπλέ.
    • Μέρα 2η: Κίμωλος, παραλία Πρασσά με την ανοιχτή δανειστική βιβλιοθήκη. Φαγητό στο Ω! Χαμός! στη Μήλο με τοπικό τυρί αφοτυριά, ντόπιο αγριοκάτσικο και γουρονοπουλο.
    • Μέρα 3η: Παραλία Φυριπλάκα και φωτογραφία σε βράχο με σχισμή μέσα στη θάλασσα. Αστάκα, Κλήμα για ψάρι, σκάρο φρέσκο (τσεκαρα τα κόκκινα βράγχια), κριθαροτο με σφυρίδα. Επίσκεψη στον αρχαιολογικό χώρο του αρχαίου θεάτρου όπου βρέθηκε η Αφροδίτη της Μήλου. Ηλιοβασίλεμα στις αποθήκες καϊκιών πάνω στο κύμα. Βόλτα και βαφλακια με παγωτό στο χωριό Τρυπητή.
    • Μέρα 4η: Κλέφτικο και κόλπος Γέρακα με το σκάφος Ζέφυρος boat trips (μόνο 40€/άτομο). Στο Κλέφτικο είδαμε (“πιάσαμε”) λαβράκι! Στον Γέρακα κορμοράνους. Φαγητό στο χωριό Πλάκα στην Αρχοντούλα (μέτριο, εκτός από τα κεφτεδάκια με χορταρικά). Ηλιοβασίλεμα από το Κάστρο του χωριού και γλυκό προφιτερόλ στον Παλαιό.
    • Μέρα 5η: Έβρεχε, οπότε επισκεφτήκαμε Παπαφράγκα, παραλία Φυροπόταμο και Μανδράκια, φάγαμε ψαρόσουπα στα Πολλώνια, στον Γιαλό, όπου έμαθα να ξεχωρίζω την στήρα από τον ροφό.
  • Μονοημερη στην Επιδαυρο: 1) μπανιο στην Βαγιονια, οπου εντοπισα θαλασσια χελωνα με την μασκα και ηρθε και η Ευα να την δει (η πρωτη που ειδαμε μαζι!), 2) φαγητο στο λιμανακι διπλα, 3) Οιδιπους επι Κολωνω με πρωταγωνιστη τον Δ. Καταλειφο και ειδαμε ενα πεφταστερι την ωρα της παραστασης.

• • Πηλιο Πρωτοχρονια 2022-23, η πρωτη μας με Ευα!
    • Μερα 1: Βολτα Πορταρια, Μεσημεριανο Αγορα 1955 (χωριατικο burger με λουκανικο), Airbnb Marita’s Happy House (τζακι), Cafe n Crepes για το βραδυ.
    • Μερα 2: Μονοπατι Κενταυρων, σπετσοφάι στο Με Μοστρα, Πυργος ΟΤΕ και χιονι (ηταν ζεστος ο Δεκεμβριος του 22, οποτε σπανιο), βραδινο στη Κριτσα (ελαφι μαγειρευτο με ρυζι).
    • Μερα 3: Κατοχωρι, Μακρυνιτσα (ιδιωτικη θεα), Καρδαμο (μοσχαρισια μαγουλα κριθαρωτο), Αερικο για γλυκο, Ρεβεγιον αρχοντικο Κλειτσα με ωραια βασιλοπιτα.
    • Μερα 4: Μηλιες, Βυζιτσα, Τσαγκαραδα, μεσημεριανο Αλεκα’s House (πατατα οφτη).
    • Μερα 5: Βολος, Τριηρης στο Λιμανι, Κινουμενη μπαλα απο σμηνος πουλιων, Ουζερι Τα Φιλαρακια
  • Βόλος-Θεσσαλονίκη, 10/2023 για το συνέδριο ETCEI, ωραίο φαγκρι στην ουζερί Λόλα και σογάνια (Μυτιλήνης , σογάν είναι το κρεμμύδι στα τούρκικα) στο Ελληνικό. Διαμονή στο ABC Hotel, είχε ωραία μπουγάτσα για πρωινό. 9/2022, για τα γενέθλια του Νίκου. Υπέροχο λαχματζούν από ξυλόφουρνο στο Μπακάλ. Le Jardin Extraordinaire Cafe το καλύτερο brunch, και κέρασμα πραγματικό με το καφέ ενα κομμάτι μπουγάτσα, μέχρι και μια κρέπα! The Garden Bar επίσης καλό brunch, Μπουγάτσα Pancakes, αλλά ακριβό. Ψάρι στην Ουζερί Τα Φιλαράκια στον Βόλο. Airbnb Emerald central luxury mini suite, τέλειο και με διαφορετικά κρεβάτια.
  • Αντίπαρος, 9ος 2022. Οι πρώτες μας διακοπές. Τοπική σπεσιαλιτέ: Γούνα. Μελτέμι ξενοδοχείο στο λιμάνι, εξαιρετική τοποθεσία, δίπλα στο κέντρο. Ωραίο δωμάτιο, αλλά πλημμύριζε εύκολα το μπάνιο. Για ποτό κάτσαμε σε διάφορα. Πρωινό στο φούρνο Ασπρονήσι και Blender για καφέ.
    • Day 1: Μπάνιο στη Ψαραλυκή (μέτρια) και Βραδινό στο “Το Σταθερό¨ (ωραία παραδοσιακή ψαροταβέρνα, φρέσκο χταπόδι και γούνα φρέσκος κολιός).
    • Day 2: Νοικιάσαμε όχημα από τον “Aggelos Antiparos Rent A Car, Bike and Bicycle”, παζαρεψαμε τη τιμη και ολα καλα. Πήγαμε στη Φανερωμένη παραλία (γεώτοπος, μοναδικό τοπίο), και σε μια άλλη παραλία εκεί κοντά. Το εξαιρετικά μικρό όχημα δεν είχε φώτα τελικά, γυρίσαμε με αλάρμ και το κινητό για φακό! Cafe Margarita για βραδινό με γκιόζα θαλασσινών με κακαβιά. Dumplings σπανακόπιτα. Γκουρμεδιές, άξιζε για τη διαφορετικότητα του.
    • Day 3: Παραλία Κάμπινγκ (γυμνιστών) και Μοναστήρι (εξαιρετικά δύσκολος δρόμος, αλλά υπέροχη. Είδαμε 30 πελαγίσιους τόνους που έκαναν κύκλο από κάτω μας! Απίστευτη μοναδική εμπειρία, βγαλμένη από ταινία). Βαρδινό στο Argo Restaurant & Rooms, το καλύτερο εστιατόριο του νησιού (φρέσκο καλαμάρι, ντολμαδάκια και μας κέρασαν και γλυκό).
    • Day 4: Δώσαμε πίσω το όχημα, πήραμε το κτελ για Αγ. Γεώργιο, ώστε να περάσουμε με καραβάκι (μίνι κρουαζιέρα) στο Δεσποτικό να δούμε τον Ναό του Απόλλωνα. Μετά μας πήγε σε μια παραλία με χρυσαφένια άμμο, όπου εάν τη πατούσες γινόταν μάυρη. Πήγαμε με τον Κάπτεν Σαργό. Φάγαμε στον Captain Pipinos, γούνα φρέσκο Σκουμπρί και Σαλάχι φρέσκο ψητό. Πίσω, στο κέντρο της Αντιπάρου φάγαμε παγωτό Κιουνεφέ στο Trick or Treat. Είχαμε φάει και στο Vicky’s Ice Cream.
    • Day 5: Φεύγουμε από το ξενοδοχείο, πήγαμε Σιφνέικο για μπάνιο αλλά είχε κύμα, οπότε ξαναπήγαμε στο Κάμπινγκ, το οποίο ήταν σαν λιμνοθάλασσα, οπότε έκοβε. Από το νησάκι απέναντι από εκεί πήραμε και το μικρό κομμάτι “χρυσαφένιο” μάρμαρο. Φάγαμε brunch στο Nautica coffee & bites και πήραμε το καραβάκι για Παροικιά Πάρου. Φάγαμε πολύ ωραία κρέπα στο Cosa Breakfast-Cafe-Bar και πήραμε το πλοίο τα μεσάνυχτα για Πειραιά.
  • Πάτρα, 2022, Review 5G-Solutions
  • Σπήλι Ρεθύμνου 1992 (ήσουν μωρό)
  • Πλακιάς Ρεθύμνου 1993 (ήσουν ενός έτους)
  • Ζάκυνθος 1994 (Ο αδερφός σου μωρό)
  • Λευκάδα 1995
  • Άγιος Νικόλαος 1996
  • Νάξος 1997
  • Σύρος
  • Σκιάθος
  • Κύθηρα
  • Σούγια Χανίων 2001
  • Αγία Φωτιά Ν. Λασιθίου 2002
  • Φολέγανδρος 2003
  • Σκόπελος 2004
    
    Υπέροχη θέα και κάναμε ωραίο μπάνιο στον Αη-Γιάννη, όπου και πιάναμε και ψαράκια. Στη Σκόπελο δεν κάτσαμε πολλές μέρες, καθώς με το που γυρίσαμε από το πλοίο, η μητέρα μου πήγε κατευθείαν σχολείο. Αξιοσημείωτες και οι σκοπελίτικες πίτες!
  • Σκύρος 2-3 φορές με Μάρα+Μανώλη
  • Θάσος 2005 // we had seen that island in its maximum green forests, before people burned it, as always in Greece!
  • Σίφνος 2006
  • Άγιος Νικόλαος (Πλάκα) 2007
  • Παλαιόχωρα Χανίων 2008
  • Κάλυμνος 2010
  • Σάμος 201..; δεν θυμάμαι … 2011 ή 2012;
  • Τήνος 2013
  • Γιάνενα -Ζαγοροχώρια -Μέτσοβο 2002 Γενάρης
  • Θεσσαλονίκη -Σέρρες- Ξάνθη 2002 Μάρτης, 2009 πενθημερη
  • Χαλκιδική 2002 Πάσχα
  • Κατερίνη-Βεργίνα -Δίον -Καστανιές -Έδεσσα-Λιτόχωρο 12ος 2002
  • Κοζάνη-Φλώρινα-Πρέσπες 2004
  • Γιάννενα-Ζαγοροχώρια-Μέτσοβο-Κόνιτσα 2005
  • Τρίκαλα -Καλαμπάκα- Περτούλι -Ελάτη-Λίμνη Πλαστήρα 2006
  • Ρέθυμνο Αυγ 2018, Πηγές Αργυρούπολης, Φράγμα ποταμών, Φαράγγι Δρυμός. Ο Θοδωρής βρήκε σπίτι στο Ρέθυμνο και εγώ στο Ουλμ. Φωτο από ταβέρνα “Σαμαριά”, η καλύτερη στο Ρέθυμνο.
    
  • Λεβίδι 2α λυκείου, 3ήμερη
  • Πάρος 2010 (μετα τις πανελλήνιες)
  • Μύκονος 2011 ή 2 (DIT)
  • Ίος 2014
  • (Πάος Αρκαδίας a.k.a. Σκούπι) Χωριό (κάθε καλοκαίρι+αρκετά Χριστούγεννα+Πάσχα)
  • Ηράκλειο Κρήτης 2015, Χερσόνησος + Ανισσαράς 2016 για τη παρουσίαση Κρήτη.
  • Ύδρα, The tree that I had a memory from the trip I organized for my school, as the Student President.
  • Κως, Ιανουάριος 2021, παρουσιάστηκε φαντάρος ο Θοδωρής

• Egypt (history, giant Pyramids, when I first show them, it was foggy and they appeared dark in the background, like the movies when a huge monster comes by for the 1st time, that was unique).
  
  Sphinx guards Pyramids at Giza

• Tunisia (two worlds in one country, south a traditional Arabic one and north a European Tunisia. At every country, we would stay in a 5-6 stars hotel, but in Tunisia’s ones, the food was superb. Moreover, one night we stayed at the Presidential Suite. Also the village in the middle of nowhere in the desert, built only for the Star Wars movie was nice (you could see the light swords, etc.) .)
  
  Star wars movie village

• Spain: Barcelona – nice architecture & visited the best so far restaurant for me, named 7 Portes, where I had the honor to sit at Maria’s Kalas favorite spot. Paella was also there, but it was ok. Salvadore Dali’s museum was pretty nice. In the aquarium there, I saw the most bizarre fish in my life, despite the several years of underwater fishing and such, the Sunfish, which was in the same area with sharks and I remember myself scared that it was half-eaten by a shark!
  
  A Sunfish in Barcelona’s aquarium
  
  La Sagrada Familia
  • Madrid, Winter 2024, for a work meeting. The riches of the past Spanish empire are evident. The Egyptian temple is the most refreshing monument in town – so different! Guernica painting was also awesome. Chocolatería San Ginés: best Churros in Madrid – not as sweet as in the Mexican restaurants in Greece.

• Monaco (the most rich “village” you will ever go. Most unique cars I have ever seen in my life, casinos and the F1 track. Been there thanks to Eirini, who I didn’t even know before our date for travelling to Monaco.)

Eirini and me and Monaco

• Turkey, at Constantinople (aka Instabul) (Hagia Sophia, Topcapi palace, Bosporus (the river) and the biggest diamond in the world, who was at that time in an exhibition there, maybe in Dolmabahçe.)
  
  Hagia Sophia from inside

• Switzerland : Talk in ETH Zurich, while I was in the army.
  Jan 15 2018, backyard of ETH.2012-2013 (my story here, great friend Hugo there and the Chinese couple Hao Hu and Liang Zhou, where the former had eaten all the Melomakarona my mother had sent me (not mines, the ones I gave to them).

  Great Greek guys there too, Kokosioulis (perfect roommate), Vassilis Papapanagiotou and Triglianos(TA at web development), Thodoris Myrilos and Panos Cheilaris (lectured us in Algorithms) were the most important, along with some Greek girls (Vicky Mazzei who was willing to help me when I had a problem with my teeth). Also the Italian teacher was really nice. Moreover, Juxi Leitner was another TA we discussed a lot.)

  A sweet Christmas story was unveiled at that time, when my mother made some Melomakarona and shipped them from Greece to Switzerland. They were really nice and I treated some of them to my friends around.

  The Chinese couple could not be an exception of course, so I gave them some. The next day I asked them how they tasted and Hao laughed…Liang explained that “the biscuits” as they called melokarona were so delicious, that she couldn’t resist in eating them all, leaving Liang without a bite, eventually leaving as all with a big smile! 🙂

• France (Paris, Monaco, Cannes, Nice and Sophia-Antipolis) : 2014 (The dessert cremes were superb. Internship in research centre Inria, where I got great Greek support by Dora, Christos, Alisia (Fr.), Netko, Alex (bf of Dora) and Aiman(Djibouti), Devdeep and Darsh (India) were nice colleagues in the office.

  At CIV, Matias(Chile) and Mohssine(Marocco) were great company, along with Nima(Iran), Liang(China), Marc(Fr.), Osama(Yemen), the Senagal and the Elephant guy (Ivory Coast) and last but not least, Mourjo (India). Romain(Fr.). Also Sara(Tunisia) was the girl in our company!

  Also the people of Mediterranean days were important too, like Costas Ioannou, Alex Sibetheros, John Chronis(Gr.), Meriam and Amal (Tunisia).

  
  Students from all over the Mediterranean visit Inria, 2014

  Film festival at Cannes was nice. Nice people there and a necklace of 167.000 euros, displayed in a store like a normal product.

  The second departure from France was for sure the most unique of all the departures I have ever lived. Firstly, I thought that I was flying from Nice at 18:00, then from Zurich at 20:00 and I land in Athens at 00:40. However, the first departure was at 06:00, which meant that I had to go to the airport from the previous day.

  So three days, three airports and me, going to Greece on Monday to play a Cage match, since it would be the only common day of me and Stathopoulos, before summer. The plan was that I leave CIV at around 7 and taking two buses.

  However, the guys suggested that we go after launch to Nice, to see Mohssine’s new apartment and visit the beach. Finally only me and Mohssine went and instead of the beach we went to see the Champion’s league final (Real Madrid vs Atletico Madid). That meant however that I should take the night bus, which had three scheduled routes and we got the final (at 01:10), since we also went for a kebab (the first one traditional kebab I ever tasted).

  Mohssine insisted to come with me, since the bus would not stop out of the airport and I would have to walk a bit. It turned out the bus was intended to stop out of the airport, so I said Mohssine to disembark and go home, in order him no to have to arrive alone and sleep at 2-3 o’clock at the night.

  The bus however had something different from all the other buses I have travelled with in other countries. Three policemen (or bus security), which stroke my attention. It wasn’t long since I got why. People, explicitly black immigrants, were drunk (and as informed after “had smoked weed”).

  After some time, the people on the back of the bus were screaming and making noise for fun, so the three policemen were scolding them. However, at some point the situation was too bad and the bus stopped. A police car arrived and some policemen jumped in the bus and made -violently, since they were resisting- some guys disembark the bus. These guys were so high, that they had to get slapped twice by the police to actually realize that something was down.

  We continued. However, the situation was becoming again noisy. At at some point, the situation became too noisy, so the bus stopped and many police cars arrived, making the night blue. Many guys were forced to leave the bus. The bus accelerated, but a guy from the back was saying something. I went near the driver, because I wanted to ask about my stop.

  The bus driver was of course really frustrated with all this situation. He stood up and starting yelling to the guy and vice versa, until the driver had too much and took his bag and say that the bus will not continue and I recall him hitting a button in the bus and all the police cars(+some more) were all over the place again(the also had a tog (like Rex), which probably was useful to smell drugs).

  I told the police I had to go to the airport, so they put me and another girl in a police car and started to get going. They drove the girl home and then we headed for the airport. The driver asked me if I was late, I said that I have 4 hours left and he said “ah you are late”, but I think we knew that I wasn’t.

  Suddenly he accelerated, initiated the blue lights of the police car and was going really fast to the airport. We arrived, shook hands and here I am, writing this story, with the Wifi of the airport to be unlimited free I think (without a time limit) and Eirini, despite being drunk, sending me the photograph of Monaco, that one can see above.)

  
  Matias, Mohssine and I in front of the Red Carpet in the Film Festival of Cannes
  
  Aiman, Darsh, me and Deevdep in our office in Inria
  
  From left, Marc, Nima, Sara, me, Mohsinne and Matias in our first breakfast in the balkony of CIV

  Paris is the new destination, visited at mid January 2015, just after the week of the Charlie Hebdo incident, in order to participate in the Winter school “Combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of convexity”, where the two main lecturers were Mr. Vempala and Mr. Bárány. Institut Henri Poincaré (I.H.P.) fully supported (financially) my trip. I was able to have a discussion with Mr. Vempala about my project which aims to search for Nearest Neighbors in a high dimensional space.

  
  Before a talk.
  
  Above: Vangelis, Silouanos, me and below: Chasapis, Psarros and the only Greek girl around, Lambrini!
  Vissarion was somewhere else in Paris at that moment.

  We tried to see as many places as possible, but Paris was too big. A beautiful city and I felt sometimes why it is called the City of Light. Except Eiffel tower, Notre-Dame de Paris was spectacular for me, especially because I could see the “monsters” that I had seen in the movie (a Gargoyle for example). The bridges over the river Seine (Sikouanas for Greeks), combined with the medieval buildings and the light emitted by the Eiffel tower was something nice too. And many more..

  An interesting night was when Psarros and Vangelis had to accompany Nemparis to the metro station, but we should get going too, but I was hungry, so I stepped into a Kebab shop which was about to close (thus it was empty). I figured out that the guys were Turkish people, so I asked them if I was correct and they said yes and they asked me back.

  Then we were laughing and mentioning how many things the two nations share, such as soutzoukakia, raki, tsifteteli and more. The point is that we had such a good time and I am thinking about the hate that lies in the minds of some people, that is cultivated. The more I travel, the more I admire this quote: “Fascism is treated reading and racism is treated traveling. (Miguel de Unamuno)”.

  I met Benjamin (Austria) who had visited Greece and Cyprus and Joe (Ohio, US). Last but not least comes Marjorie, who was my financial secretary for that trip. Her step father is Algerian, who decided to go back home when he had exams for the Math uni, in order to focus on studying. However, when he tried to return to France, Algeria did not allow him to do so, because his military service was still pending. He was really good in Mathematics and managed to become an officer. When he was done with the army, he went back to Paris.

  When she saw my surname she knew already I was Greek and asked why. One of the reasons was that her family has a home in Mani, which they visit every Summer. Then she was telling me that she bought online two watch straps from Greece, but they send her one and they didn’t reply to her e-mail. So I decided to offer my help and go to the store in Athens if needed. 😉

  For the first time in my life I was the major photographer of the trip, so here are some selected pics. Moreover, another unique event took place in Paris. I watched (via webcasting) my last lecture as an undergraduate student in DIT. The lecture was the OS course with A. Delis.

  
  Eiffel tower by night
  
  Eiffel tower by night, as seen from the river
  
  Notre-Dame de Paris. If you look closely, you *may* see Quasimodo. 🙂

• USA, California, Silicon Valley + San Francisco: Summer 2016. Yahoo! gives me the chance to come here, both as a tourist (funded by Yahoo!, in The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square hotel; Union Square has events every weekend, open to the public and free, really cool, like music, dance, karate, movies, etc.) and later as a Software Engineer Intern, in big data, image processing, deep-learning and distributed computing.

  San Francisco (SF) being foggy most of the time, is a port that brags about its geological location. San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto’s 2nd city must have been San Francisco, since I can see many places in common (however GTA really beautified the bad neighborhoods of SF, which are very dirty and with many homeless people lying on the streets). The Russian hill, Pier 69, the Tram, the steep slopes in the roads, Bay Bridge is the bridge that is near the garage of CJ, and Golden Gate is the bridge above a club (the building also exists), that CJ did some missions there. The city has many companies, most of them doing cutting-edge technology improvements, especially in the Bay area, where I live. There are many skyscrapers, which hide the sun that comes out usually around the middle of the day, such a catastrophe…On the other side, it’s expected to see building like these here, it’s a relative small space for the people that want to be here, so skyscrapers might help in squeezing more people in this city.

  SF is a multi-cultural city, without question. The most bizarre people, are the Chinese, so tiny..Some females also do some weird moves with their hands, it must be something related to religion, like a pray. Notice that a century ago, massive Chinese moves were a thing, causing an uproar against them from the workers in the port, similar to what we see today with the immigrants. As a result, the Chinese element is very vivid here, and a part of the city is named Chinatown (that’s where I go and eat fried rice with shrimps), where 10k people are literally zipped in it, living probably in tiny places. It appears that some Chinese are the corresponding Gypsies of Greece, searching the trash, probably for bottles. However, Chinese seem to be respectful, they won’t steal from you…

  Streets can be unpleasant here, with homeless people lurking around, and they are the more violent ones I have ever seen, most of them are black, or white crazy people, that scream at their own, for no obvious reason- really frightening. They will ask you for money and/or try to sell you something they just stole. For example, the place in Market St., where the tourist trolley starts gathers many tourists, thus many homeless people and street “artists”.

  One of them tried to sell me a liquid detergent (!?) and I ignored him, but he wouldn’t give up that easily, he followed me and literally shouted to my ear, until I turned and looked him, telling him that I am not interested! Surprisingly enough, they are allowed to walk into clothing stores-the other day one stole something, but I was asking the security guard for directions, so when the beep sound and the guard talked to him, he stormed out of the place, risking a car crash!

  Yahoo’s headquarters are in Sunnyvale (part of Silicon Valley), which is hotter than SF, but the Machine Learning & Computer Vision (ML & CV) Team is here, so I work in SF. Sunnyvale, has superior food than the office here, it also has baristas, something that’s expected, since the campus there is huge, and far, far more people work there than here in SF. In general, many popular and strong companies are here, and their funders too. For example, in the San Francisco Marathon, Marc Zuckerberg was running along.

  A very important achievement for me was the fact that I was the one behind the main Greek Yogurt supplier for Yahoo!, with Chobani (it said to be Greek Yogurt, but it’s Turkish) being all over the place when I came in, now FAGE replaced them. The Business Manager of FAGE in New York answered back to me, after I contacted FAGE and I set up a communication bridge between him and the food department here in Yahoo!, the ML & CV Team also supported this shift from Chobani to FAGE! 🙂

  This trip had its unpleasant surprise, not as big as the one in France with the wasted black guys, the police and the airport, but still, something remarkable. I was with Yannis Kalantidis, colleague in Yahoo, outside of the Falafel place at 5th and Market. A homeless guy was messing with the store owner and on their vocal fight, he called him Nigga. A black pedestrian interrupting him- lecturing him on that, I guess.

  All this, got us distracted, but as soon as it got over, we were standing, while Yannis wanted to show me something at his brand new corporate phone (he dropped his previous corporate phone in the sea the previous weekend). Out of a sudden, a hand grabbed his phone, Yannis screamed “hey, that’s my phone” and started chasing them.

  Despite the fact that I know that chasing the thieves is always wrong, due to the instinct that we have, I stormed behind the thieves-group, two black males and one black female, which I targeted, since it seemed to be the easiest target. It didn’t take me long to come into a position of taking her down. However, just as I made the final stretch to smack her down, my body refused me this action, since it understood that I didn’t have support from my shoes (turns out my shoes cords were not tight), which resulted in my body simulating a controlled fall, and 6 years of Cage football, has teach me how to fall in hard terrains, so I wasn’t hurt.

  However, my favorite Billabong jacket, mama and brother had bought me, was torn apart during my fall. Yanks (which had two black males in the case), fortunately, stopped when he saw me falling, I stood up right away, we wondered just a bit, to see them gone, and since we knew that what we did was wrong, we stopped chasing them. What is important to remember, is that my favorite jacket won’t be returning home with me. Fortunately, that was the only loss (including the phone), but who cares? We were safe and healthy after that, and that (and only that) is what matters. What would be the situation if we caught them? I am pretty sure these punks would have some kind of weapon, and we could have been severely injured!

  During this trip I learned that giving a gentle slap to the back of the neck to the person that’s just got a new haircut and telling him “Me Yia” is something Greek (or maybe Turkish? Since we share a lot…). Americans, Germans, Chinese, Ghanaians and Netherlanders don’t do it. I do not remember to who I did it first, probably Dylan, but it was obvious he wasn’t aware of the concept..Another nice incident was on a Friday, when Clayton, Blake and me were having desert and I got my hands dirty (too much vanilla cream!), and said: “I eat like a gypsy!”. Lot of laughing that afternoon, with the narration of several stereotypes..

  I told them that in my village, we were threatened to be given to the gypsies if we didn’t eat all our food, then they told me about the “White people can’t dance”, and so on. We also discussed about the chicken game and how amusing did Clayton find that we would be able to park his car wherever it could fit, when he was in Greece. He also found Athens cheap, but not Santorini. Blake is going to Mykonos and Santorini this Thursday (on my last week here).

  The last Sunday in San Francisco was also the best one for me, the weather was so sweet, it almost felt like Greece! I went to the Coit tower, where I had to walk through several steps, surrounded by beautiful flowers and much green. That tower was built from a rich lady, which after her death left enough money to build that beauty, just like leaving her jewelry for the neighborhood. I also visited the Aquarium, just across Alcatraz. Children would be amazed by the fish that are like Nemo and Dory, saying there names loud, since they have obviously see the cartoons. It was fun, there was one fish to stand up, as pictured below, the California sheephead (all sheepheads are born as females, but eventually transform into males…). However, the amazement was not as much as the one I had in Barcelona’s Aquarium with the Sunfish! Moreover, the videos displayed here were of lower quality than the ones displayed in Crete’s Aquarium. A unique feature of that Aquarium for me though, was the fact that we were able to touch baby sharks and stingrays. The skin of the sharks was so rough.

  An important fact is while in San Francisco, you can sense that large companies that are active in the Computer Science area are located around, such as Google, Yahoo, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and many more. Moreover many smaller companies exist here and there is much Tech going on in the Bay Area.

  Nice people during my trip were the guy from Nestle as I first took the BART to go to my hotel, the Chinese guy that I helped reach the airport the day I was leaving (he was about to take the wrong train!), le petit Ivan in the airplane, and last but not least, Pedro, the researcher from Portugal, which was an Intern in MemSQL at the same period as me, but hadn’t a paid vacation as me, that’s why he came a week later in SF.

  “A little less conversation, a little more action”, thus I am listing some images below, and you can see all my 1205 images in Flickr.

  
  My hotel (Westin St. Francis) and the lovely Union Square.
  
  Harry Mavroforakis, Antonia Saravanou, Orestis Polychroniou, Stratis Karatzas, me and Anna Persis, in my first night out (of course, I had forgotten my ID and was denied access, went back home to get it – I learnt nothing in Switzerland!)
  
  A church, view behind the waterfall of that park near my home, often closed for private parties.
  
  Machine Learning & Computer Vision Team, Yahoo! San Francisco office. (Jack Culpepper was missing) Spencer Cappallo, Saurabh Kumar, Rob Hess, Kofi (name given to males born on a Friday, in Ghana) Boakye, Blake Carpenter, Tobias Baumgartner, Bart Thomee, Gerry Pesavento, Stacey Svetlichnaya, Yannis Kalantidis, Samaras, Stevie Chancellor, Marissa Connor, Clayton Mellina, Pierre Garrigues, Dylan Paiton, Huy Nguyen and Frank Liu.
  
  California sheephead, San Francisco Aquarium, last Sunday of my trip, 2016.
  
  Nike (νάικι, από το νίκη), just do it!
  
  Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption
  
  My office at Yahoo, SF. On the left my Turbo-X, on the right my MacBook Pro, on top the Mac of Yahoo and its monitor. Notice my favorite cranberry juice and choco-cookies, as well as the Fage yogurt, which I accomplished to get it to Yahoo’s fridge! The Stack Overflow swag is also something notable.
  
  Palace of Fine Arts, a nice lake, Greek-like architecture and many birds!
  
  The Golden Gate
  
  Transamerica Pyramid — a bank!
  
  Sunrise from the tail of the A380, I was on its 2nd floor when going to Paris!

• Malmo, Sweden: Spring 2017. Traveling for the EuroCG 2017 conference, to present my Master Thesis and DOLPHINN, I first went to Copenhagen and then took the train to Malmo, same as E. Papadopoulou, my professor back in Switzerland. The first talk was from her student, Elena, which was my TA back as USI.

  Malmo had nice buildings, reminding old cities from central Europe, but the colors were not so bright. The food was good and my hotel perfect. The city had lakes and sea, which made water birds appear occasionally and it was nice to hear them as you were walking in the centre of the city. The ducks were common, probably the most of the countries I have visited by now.

  My talk was at the same day with the museum visit, where the aquarium was the most interesting part, where 3 ancient crabs were alive there! These crabs have blue blood. It had also some dinosaurs and modern animals, as well as art. I also met a Cuban guy, which was part of Spanish team. The interesting part is that he also felt bad for Cuba and the situation Fidel Castro had brought the country so far, “forcing” him, and many others (I had met similar people to USA), to leave the country. In general, it’s essential to hear the story from the people of Cuba, rather than the Facebook posts. With Cuba for example, everybody was praising Castro for his acts (somehow forgetting that he gave the presidency to his brother without elections), which in theory were nice (such as resisting the capitalism), but in practice – as usual with such regimes – the people of Cuba were extremely poor and starving.

  The weather was relatively good, like the autumn in Greece. It is quite remarkable though to remember what happened when I arrived. A guy didn’t find his luggage when we were waiting for them. When all the passengers left, except him, there was a luggage that nobody took. As a result, he assumed that this luggage was taken by someone else accidentally. He then went to the Information kiosk to fill a report, where they told him that they will track the luggage and then send it to him, in 24h. However, I am pretty sure this will not be that easy. So, what one should remember is that (s)he should rush to the luggage area and as soon as the luggage start coming out, to be alert for his/hers.

  
  The Niagara building, where the conference and my talk took place.
  
  Walking by the river.
  
  Ancient blue-blooded crabs.
  
  Ducks were all over the place, but Swan is my favorite.

• Vienna, Austria: Spring 2017. Palaces and aristocratic stuff, museums; don’t forget Gloriette, where the couples did secretly meet. Schnitzel was the main dish. It snowed, despite the fact that it was Easter. In Cafe Central, my very expensive (but broken) umbrella was stolen, but thankfully this happened on the last night. Opera Vienna State Opera. For Wiener schnitzel, go to Figlmüller.
  
  Austria’s Parlament with Athena been the main attraction!
  
  Belvedere palace: Great gardens, but poor interior design.
  
  Schonbrunn Palace Ballroom that features in Princess Sissi’s movies.
  Almost all museums had something Greek, do not forget; museum is a Greek word!
  
  Vienna State Opera.
• Genova, Rome, Italy: Summer 2018, Spring 2023.
  • Rome; Grecoroman style, Corinthian order, Greek inscriptions in churches too (4 days enough, stayed 5, 2 people 1025€, Hotel Why not Roma, πρώτη Ανάσταση με την Εύα):
    • Fontana Di Trevi (throw a coin with your back to the fountain in hope to return to Rome one day). The fountain depicts Triton, Oceanus and Aqua Virgo: main theme water purification. Vincenzo and Anastasio church.
    • Column of the Immaculate Conception, Piazza di Spagna, Spanish steps.
    • Colosseum (named after the Colossus statue, and not because of the Amphitheatre’s size), Roman Forum, Palatine Hill. Buy tickets online in advance!
    • Pantheon (linked with Greek Panthea and the Pythagorean universe; built from materials around the world – symbolizing power and unity).
    • Temple of Asclepius Villa Borghese (Ionic order).
    • Piazza Navona: 4 rivers fountain symbolizing the Pope’s power (Nile Africa, Ganges Asia, Danube Europe & Rio de la Plata Americas).
    • Trastevere (otter couple).
    • Vatican Museums. Buy tickets in advance online, 3h queue! Capella Sistine (Pope election) ceiling, School of Athens, Apollo Belvedere & Laocoön (Troy). St. Peter free entrance and the square where the Pope speaks. The artworks of Botticelli, which my mother adores, are also remarkable and perhaps more elegant than Michelangelo’s.
    • Altare della Patria, Campidoglio (Capitoline Wolf), Obelisco della Minerva.
    • Castel Sant’Angelo, Il Tempio di Adriano, Colonna di Marco Aurelio, Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
    • Pythagoras, Plato (depicted as Leonardo Da Vinci), Aristotle, Eucleides, Ptolemy, Raphael. Notice how Plato points to the sky (Ideal City), whereas Aristotle points to the ground (he was the 1st scientist).
• Genova: Whales!!! Hearing them breathe and communicate talk, is just magical, a lifetime experience.
  
  Whales shadowed everything, good or bad. I stayed in Genova for one week, for the Deep Learning Summer school, under full financial support by Stavros Niarchos Foundation. I saw many palaces and other places, but whales just dominated everything. Second place gets the sea elephant, in the aquarium of the city. Notable was the fact that all the bike drivers were wearing helmets.
  A bad first-experience, was that I got stabbed by an insect in my sleep, which caused an allergic reaction. I went to the pharmacy and got some pills.

Colombus is the most non-ancient person I have seen to have some many monuments around the world. I have seen statues of him in Barcelona, San Franscisco and Genova. Hugo, my friend in Lugano, had informed me that Colombus was Italian.

Sea Elephants, the Mermaids Lagoon, Aquarium of Genova.

The penguins were very playful, jumping into the water from one rock after another, just like kids would do. That penguin though was not interested in playing, rather than collecting the most beautiful beach pebble for its female mate. Males would occasionally fight for a pebble. I was surprised that I understood that by observing their behavior, and I when I asked the stuff there (the common stuff that works there), they had no clue. It seems that they were just working there, not really loving these sea creatures. I confirmed via internet.

• • Munich, Manching, Nuremberg, Ingolstadt, Germany: Summer 2018.
    I first came for an interview in Airbus Defense & Space, which became my next job (and is my dream job) in that October, after the fellowship from Stavros Niarchos Foundation for a PhD.
    
    Danube.
    
    Walking by Danube.
    
    The Stonehead in my house’s yard. His and mine’s first German winter…

    The Greek girl and I went to Nuremberg on a winter Saturday, and roamed through the Christmas market. We also went to the castle, where you could get an overview of the city. The city is romantic, with all its classic central European-style buildings, its churches, bridges and rivers. To some is like a poem. We ate at Alex, which was fairly descent.

    
    One of the numerous Cathedrals of Nuremberg, foregrounded by some festive hats.
    
    Gluhwein. The hot wine Germans typically in a Christmas market.

    The Air Taxi of the City Airbus concept, at Ingolstadt town square.

    
    Rafael Goncalves Martin, Airbus Air Taxi and me, Spring 2019.
    
    Exclusive close-up look of Airbus Air Taxi, 2019.

Probably my last trip while working for Airbus Defense & Space in Germany, I went alone (I had a day off, but everybody else was working..) to Deutches Museum (a Science & Technology museum) and the Christmas Market of Munich, in Marienplatz. Worth the effort.

The museum was big (not enormous, nothing like the colossal British or Egyptian museums), and I went to the High Voltage (too loud, not for kids – it felt like Zeus himself was there) and the awesome Microcosmos Theater (must see if you go there) demonstrations – both were in German. I saw Enigma, the cryptographic mechanism used by Germany in WW2, and the first airplane, by Wright brothers. The Planetarium was closed, due to maintenance.

The Microcosmos demo was just from another planet! I mean we go and explore space (and for a good reason), but have we analyzed & understood everything down here, at our very own planet? After seeing the Microcosmos through microscopes there (and the Deep Sea with David Attenborough), the answer is surely no.

We started by taking a look in a small piece of wood. I could see at least 3 distinctive animals (you can imagine microscopic insects), in a small piece of wood, which in our eyes seems barren – when the demonstrator told me to check that piece of wood with the microscope, I expected to see something like microscopic plants, or something..
Then we analyzed other samples he had collected from his garden and such, such as a drop of water from a pond, and so on. We saw a plethora of difference species of microscopic organisms, every single one having its own mechanisms and characteristics. We saw a well established life diversity in just a drop of water!

The discussion skyrocketed when we started categorizing organisms based on the number of their cells. We focused on the monocell-organisms, which did not have a brain, and started to think on how do they achieve relatively complex activities, such as feeding in a plethora of ways, joining forces when the prey is too large to be eaten by a single organism, hibernate for 30 years when their environment become too dry and then wake up, once the environment is good for them again! They have perceptrons and they can smell their prey (since some of them didn’t have eyes).

Moreover, we discussed on how some of them create their own shells (like a microscopic snail) – how the crystalize and control their chemical reactions to create the correct plate for the particular spot of their shell, how to know where should the hole be (so that they can go out of their home). Well, the answer is that we do not really know.

Then we talked about reproduction, how they split themselves (so they reproduce alone), and sometimes build the home (shell) for the new organism – but again, how to know where to start building, which is the mouth, which is the back? Many questions to answer, especially when you have no brain! Interestingly enough, the same organisms can reproduce with each others too (so they can do it by themselves, but they can also mate with another organism). In that scenario, the merge, and their plasma becomes one (so romantic), forming a larger organism, where a transformation happens.

Reproduction starts with a hard kiss, in this form: back-mouth + mouth-back = back + back => mouth-back! Amazing! How do they know which parts to transform and which not? Why for example make the one back a mouth? And how to know that now I have to make my back a mouth? Something in their DNA maybe? We don’t know! Cool stuff!

It is remarkable though, that when looking for a mate, they won’t mate with a clone of them, which means that they can identify if another individual is descended from the or not – again without a brain!

So, do you need to think do all these (relatively) complex processes? They don’t have a brain! We concluded with a philosophical discussion on how research tries to understand the microcosmos and eventually incorporate those mechanisms (organisms) in production of microelectronics – getting rid of waste (since the organisms will do the work, we, the humans, will not “do anything”, thus we won’t produce any waste). As a tourist from Norway asked, don’t the organisms produce their own waste after they eat? Of course yes, but that’s organic, and food for other organisms.

A micro organism producing the home of its baby, which has been born after the parent split itself. Observe how beautiful the crystal plates shaping its shell are, so elegant! Microscopy Theater, Munich 2019.
Demo video: Deutsches Museum Demonstrations

Then I went to the Christmas Market in Marienplatz, the central square of Munich, which was fine, I ate a bradwurst (oval bread, in the middle two sausages and mustard) – practical, the same but in its hotdog version I think – unpractical, Gluhwein (hot wine, pretty much like the Κοινωνία we drink at the Orthodox church, but warm) and a crepe with Kinder chocolate.

Gluhwein, Christmas market, Marienplatz, Munich 2019.
Museum & Xmas Market pics: Deutches Museum & Xmas Market in Munich

• • London, UK: Spring 2019.
    My first business trip with Airbus Defense & Space, in Thales at Gatwick for the Atlas Flight Simulator, with Daniel Lopez Quintana. I managed to visit the British Museum, the museum of the world, free, for the world. Below is the mail I sent to my family:
    Αγαπημένη μου οικογένεια,Σήμερα επισκέφτηκα το Βρετανικό Μουσείο, το πρώτο εθνικό και δωρεάν μουσείο στο κόσμο.Τα εκθέματα του είναι από όλο το κόσμο, και περιέχει κάποια από τα καλύτερα εκθέματα ανά τη κάθε χρονική περίοδο.Τα Ελληνικά είναι τόσο κομψά και μου φάνηκαν από τα πιο όμορφα, μάλλον επειδή ήξερα την ιστορία τους, και μιας και βιαζομουν, διότι μετά έπρεπε να πάω στη δουλειά, δεν κάθησα και παρα πολύ, τρεις ώρες μόνο.Σχετικά με τα γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, θεωρώ πως πρέπει να μείνουν εκεί, μιας και το πλήθος των επισκεπτών είναι τεράστιο.Οι επισκέπτες βλέπουν εκθέματα από όλη την ιστορία της ανθρωπότητας! Λογικό και να συγκρίνουν άρα. Είναι σαν να αγωνίζονται οι ιστορίες στο Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο Ποδοσφαίρου… Κάθε χώρα πρέπει να στείλει τους καλύτερους της αντιπροσώπους, εάν θέλει να ξεχωρίσει…Και τα δικά μας ξεχωρίζουν! Τα έχουν σε περίοπτη θέση, και σε τεράστια αίθουσα.. ήταν ίσως η αίθουσα που είχαν επιτρέψει να αναπνέει τόσο πολύ (δεν ήταν πυκνή με εκθέματα), έτσι ώστε να μπορεί ο επισκέπτης να απολαύσει το μεγαλείο υποθέτω.Γενικά ένιωσα ότι τους φέρονται όπως τους αξίζει. Στο μουσείο της Ακρόπολης έχουμε και άλλα πολλά που φτάνουν και περισσεύουν για να έρθουν οι επισκέπτες!Μου φάνηκε περίεργο βέβαια που τη Καρυάτιδα δεν την είχαν στη τεράστια αίθουσα του Παρθενώνα. Ήταν νομίζω στο κομμάτι του μουσείου που ονομαζόταν: ο κόσμος του Αλέξανδρου. Μάλλον και πολλα σχετικα με το μαυσωλείο της Αλικαρνασσού είχε εκεί κοντά.

    Εάν κάποιος έχει κάποια γνώμη γιατί το έβαλαν εκεί, ας τη πει… Διότι οι Καρυάτιδες ηταν πάνω στον ιερό βράχο της Ακροπόλεως στην Αθήνα, μαζί με τον Παρθενώνα…

    Φωτό: https://photos.app.goo.gl/G33bcg5XZRQumjjz7

    Βίντεο κάποιου τυχαίου: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkWTK8nbmo

    Αύριο μεσημέρι πετάω για Μόναχο, καληνύχτα.

    Σας αγαπώ πολύ,
    Γιώργος
    Προφανώς ένιωσα ένα ηλεκτρονικό ρεύμα να με διαπερνά όταν έφτασα στο Ελληνικό κομμάτι του μουσείου..

    Αλλά άμα το δω το θέμα με τα γλυπτά με παγκόσμια ματιά, τότε νομίζω έχω δίκιο στην αποψη μου πως ανήκουν εκεί, στο παγκόσμιο στίβο, σε απόσταση αιθουσης από τις άλλες ιστορίες του πλανήτη Γη.

    Σε ότι αφορά την οικουμενικότητα των ανθρώπινων καλλιτεχνικών δημιουργημάτων, προσωπικά με βρίσκει σύμφωνη. Είναι έργα του ανθρώπινου πνεύματος. Βεβαια, δεν νομιμοποιείται η “αρπαγή” έργων τέχνης.
    Ξεχασα να αναφερω πως το μουσειο εξωτερικα, οπως ειδατε και στις φωτογραφιες ειναι Ελληνικης τεχνικης… Στο αετωμα δειχνει την εξελικη του πολιτισμου.
    Επισης, στο χαρτη του μουσειου, το εξωφυλλο εχει ενα και μονο εκθεμα, τη σεληνη απο το Παρθενωνα.

    Απάντηση από το μουσείο, για το μέρος που εκτίθεται η Καρυάτιδα:
    The Caryatid is not on display in gallery 18 as this gallery is dedicated to the sculptures from the Parthenon specifically and not the Acropolis as a whole. Gallery 19, where the Caryatid is displayed is dedicated to Athens as a whole and also includes material from the Erechtheum.

    We are glad that you enjoyed your visit to the Museum and thank you for taking the time to contact us

    Kind Regards
    Charles Arnold

    
    British Museum 2019. See all photographs in Google Album. I sent this photograph as a postcard, to my family – a gift by Google Guides.

Corona Virus: The year 2020 COVID-19 resulted in a global pandemic, forcing people to minimize their trips, and as a result the only trip made by me, was to Hellas, to my family, where I watched my brother, Thodoris, e-graduating (courses & exams were online too). On the bad side however, I also watched him getting his right knee X alignment fracture in Filakouris 5×5, from which he is currently recovering – he was fortunate in his misfortune.

I remember that I was thinking of staying in London, despite the incoming pandemic. Office was empty, everybody was Working From Home (WFH) – “You are on mute” probably became one of the most common phrases of the year, due to online meetings. However I would continue going there, since I was 15 minutes on foot away, and food was still served in Spitalfields Market (UK wasn’t – surprisingly – in lockdown yet).

Every day though, the number restaurants of open restaurants was decreasing – the Market actually worked with the plethora of business Skyscrapers there – with all people WFH, they didn’t have enough customers. Moreover, it was announced that on Monday, Greece would close its borders to UK – and for a good reason: Greece was brave enough to enforce a lockdown quick (Το προλαμβάνει καλύτερο του θεραπεύειν – Ιπποκράτης), while in UK the lockdown was “too little, too late”. For the record, Greece was excellent in handling the pandemic during its first phase, while for UK it was the other way around.

So, it was Friday, I went for fish, but the restaurant was closed. I had a meeting with my manager after lunch, I told him that I was thinking to go to Greece, he approved, and right away I started looking for a flight ticket, ideally for Saturday morning (since as my father says, you should avoid going/operating a system to its limits). I remember everything was booked – even Ryanair who operated in Stansted Airport, an airport further than Heathrow for Londoners (but Ryanair likes cheap airports as a low cost airliner).

Anyway, so I was refreshing the airliners pages, hoping for a moment that somebody wasn’t looking to a ticket, so that I’d become available to me. Indeed, I found one with Ryanair – its price was enormous for low cost, but everybody wanted to fly to motherland. My father suggested that I shouldn’t fly with a low cost airliner, because the cleaning crews are not as good as the standard ones (low cost airliners try to cut cost from everywhere, except safety of course for the big ones). Only available ticket with Olympic and BA was with the former on Friday night (same night as we speak!), book it, leave office, pack your bag, give your food to the neighbors and head to the airport.

My fridge was full (everybody was stacking up for the pandemic), and I had so much food and juices to give away. Upon arrival on home, I saw a stack of food supplies – I asked the reception and they told me that everybody is leaving and they are giving away their food. I did the same, and I headed to Heathrow.

The airport was dead empty, only our gate was open, maybe another one somewhere there too. All passengers were Greeks returning home. I didn’t have a mask, since when the pandemic arrived in London people panicked and bought them all, leaving none – and since China was in lockdown, no new masks were being produced at that time. I went to all the airport’s terminal pharmacies, but they didn’t have any – I was only able to buy gloves and wet wipes. I had antiseptic gel with me. I remember I had tried to buy a surgery plastic mask in Munich’s airport too before I fly to London, but they were all gone – only the big ones with a conical shape were available, but I thought it’s too much and didn’t buy any – what a bad decision.

We board the aircraft, it was full, take-off at around 22:00. Everybody was nervous, sanitizing their seats, wearing a mask, and generally didn’t speak much. I sat in the middle seat, left to me a guy, right a woman – I think both were the same age as me, most probably returning to their family home, like me. However I didn’t ask, nobody was talking much, everybody was super cautious. And there was I, a guy with no mask. I felt uncomfortable, both for my co-passengers and myself.

And then an arm reached to me. It was the passenger on my right-back. He didn’t speak to me, he just offered a mask – now that’s what I call quality in a human being. I told him to pay and he waved no. He was a bit old, maybe 55-65. He offered me other sanitizing-supplies, but I thanked him and told him I was equipped. What a touching gesture though. He gave me his mask in a period where mask supplies were short and countries were literally demanding them, with the strong ones taking deliveries that were supposed to head to weaker countries, one a last-minute change of plans.

We were given food, but I guess a bit less stuff than on a normal flight. That day was the first day that people arriving in Greece needed to fill a locator form (it was standardized next week). We didn’t know, I didn’t even have a pen, and neither did the woman. The guy had and lent us his pen – I felt this is so wrong, corona spreads with touching, but I had to fill that form. The ink of that pen was overflowing, my finger was painted blue, or most probably black.

It was also the first day that medical(?) stuff would check people on arrival to Greece for symptoms. We arrived at 03:00, so nobody checked us – I guess the “400 Greeks returning from London” that were on the news that day and were tested was from earlier flights. I took the bus, went to Glyfada, taxis were scarce in the piatsa, never seen anything like it. I took one (out of three I guess), and told him my address, and then shut my mouth – everybody was shutting their mouth with the pandemic, but the driver was friendly and started asking me where I come from and so on. We discussed also about the “400 Greeks”. Anyway I jumped out of the conversation on the first opportunity. However he didn’t know the details of the streets when we were approaching to my parents’ home, and I had to guide him. Feeling embarrassed that I cut the chat that he started and thinking that our destination was minutes away, I started speaking about more details than needed, and he was trying to bend to the car’s steer wheel, like trying to maximize his distance from me. On the last meters he interrupted me and said “Here in Greece everybody is afraid of the pandemic, you came from London, one of the worst cities in the world for Corona and you keep talking, please!”. I felt so awful. Initially I was the one that didn’t want to speak a word, but now I did so out of kindness, but he was right. That was a bitter end to my arrival at home, where however the family was waiting for me, and told me that the taxi drivers are very anxious and afraid for their own safety, nothing personal to me. I had to stay 14+1 days in quarantine – on the last day government called to check on me, that I was staying home. I think the fine for those who didn’t was 5k€.

Perhaps the most interesting question I received so far: “Why do you (Greeks) are so passionate with food? This is certainly not the case with us (British)” – colleague.