Stretching Our Budget & Still Having Fun - Meeting Athens' Mayor During Open House Athens 2026

Since we had all our valuables stolen on the second day of our holiday in Greece, we have to change our travel itinary. Instead of travelling around to different cities in Greece and going to other neighbouring countries, we have to limit our activities in Athens while waiting for our new passports.

It was a good thing that a buffet breakfast was included in our hotel therefore, we didn't have to spend anything on breakfast. It was a Saturday and we were wondering where we could go to spend this day without spending too much money as we were still awaiting emergency funds from our relative back home in North America.

We left the hotel heading towards the hill and saw some people lining up for something outside a building in a square close to our hotel. Curious, we went to see what was drawing the crowd.

Lucky for us, this weekend was Open House Athens 2026 weekend! Many government and some famous buildings were open to the public for free!

 

 

  We just needed to line up, got a number, entered the building and had a tour of the place.

 

 

 

 

 

  The first building where we had a brief tour was the National Bank of Greece with an imopressive open space on the main floor.

The tour guide gave us a talk about the history of the building which started out as a hotel and over time, it evolved into other uses and currently is the home of the National Bank of Greece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The second building we toured was the Athens Municipal Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The building has many beautiful rooms adorned with many manificent artwork such as colurful stained glass windows, huge wall murals depicting the history of Greece from its glorios past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to see where the city employees work, and receive their guests as well as the mayor's office too.

And lucky for us, the Mayor of Athens was working this weekend and he was in his office while we visited the building.

He was gracious enough to receive us and spoke with us briefly about the future plans for his city. He was friendly, down to earth and approachable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I even had my picture taken with him!

 

 

  It was a great day for me and my husband as we didn't have to spend too much from our 40 Euros to have a good time in Athens!

RT, Open Day, Athens 2026, Greece

Stretching Our 40 Euros for 4 Days While Vacationing in Athens, Greece, Part 1

Whatever could go wrong while on holiday has gone wrong for us in Athens, Greece. All our valuables - passports, bank cards and cash were stolen on the second day of our vacation in Athens.

We thought we were lucky as my husband still had his credit card in his pocket but that card was swallowed up by the ATM machine when we tried to withdraw some cash from it!

After searching everything we had in our possession, we managed to scrape together a total of 40 Euros! Because we were in Athens at the time of the western Easter holiday duration, we would not be able to get our replacement passports until after the 4 day long weekend!

Determined not to have our vacation ruined by the theft in Greece, we needed to stretch our 40 Euros for at 4 days! We had to be creative and thrifty so that our money would last! We faced the challenge head on.

First, we called our loved ones, E. assured us that he would use his credit card and book hotels for us for the rest of our holiday in Greece. Thank goodness, our accommodation has been looked after and we would not become homeless in Athens!

Athens is an ancient historic city, full of history with lots to see and visit. We would try to look for FREE things to do and visit places with FREE admission in this lovely city so that we would only need to spend our 40 Euros on food and transportation.

Since we bought a 2 day city bus tour the day before, we still had one day left on our pass.

We hopped onto the tour bus by the Omonia Metro Station and tried to enjoy the rest of the city tour. It took us around and we completed the part of Greece we didn't see from the last time.

In fact, a number of attractions were close to the hotel where we were staying for the first two nights in Athens.

We went to the famous Fish Market (no admission charge ) where many vendors selling fresh seafood inside the building.

 

  Near the Fish Market, there were many other stalls and shops opened selling spices, fruits and vegetables, arts and crafts and many other things.

 

 

 

 

  We were kept busy looking and trying to decide what food items we would purchase and taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  In the evening when we walked back to our hotel, we rediscovered the Omonia Sqaure and the Hondos Centre at night.

The Hondos Centre - a building with six or seven stories for retail where you could shop til you drop. What we liked most was the roof top restaurant, nicely furnished with a relaxing atmosphere where we could rest our tired feet, sipped our beverage and had a bite to eat.

 

  The best part of the Hondos Centre's roof top restaurant was the view! We had a lovely view of the area and the many buildings below us as well as the lighted up Acropolis in the distance!

Zooming in the Acropolis, I could even had a decent view of this building at night!

 

  With only 40 Euros with us and stretching over four days, we could not order a meal at the restaurant but We enjoyed our coffee and the view there. The restuarnat closed at 9p.m.

  As for dinner, in a eatery nearby the Omonia Square, we were able to buy a chicken with roasted potatoes for 6 Euros! It was delicious and a good dinner! An enjoyable day without spending too much from our 40 Euros!

  RT, Athens, Greece

The ATM Machine Swallowed Our Only Credit Card While Vacationing in Athens, Greece!

After we had all our valuables - passports, bank cards and cash were stolen on the second day of our vacation in Athens, we searched everything we had in or possession for some loose change - every pocket in our shirts, jackets, pants and all the clothes we were wearing. We scraped together a total of 40 Euros plus my husband's credit card!

  Having some loose change and a credit card meant that we still could buy food and would not starve! Neither would be sleeping on the street as we could still book our hotels using the credit card for the next two weeks. We were so happy and relieved!

  As we were heading back towards our hotel, we walked past an ATM bank machine. We took a look and saw the Plus icon on the bank machine which meant that we could withdraw cash from this machine. Very excited!

With only 40 Euros in our possession, we would need a little bit more cash buying street food and beverages from the convenient stores. So I stepped up and inserted our only bank card into the ATM machine trying to withdraw some cash. A few seconds after the credit card was inserted, the ATM screen flashed in English and Greek - FOREIGN CARD! Then the machine swallowed our card and the door on the machine window lowered and it closed up the machine!

It was around 7p.m. on a Friday evening. My husband tried to retrive his card but to no avail. All the staff at the bank had left for the weekend and there was no one around to give us any help. We were stunned; our only credit card was eaten up by the bank machine and we were left now with only 40 Euros!

  My husband called the number listed on the ATM and told them what happened. They said there was nothing they could do and neither could they give him back his bank card as he had no identification to proof that he was the owner of that card. Very stressful indeed!

The next morning, we went straight to the Canadian Embassy to report our passports stolen and try to get a replacement. The Canadian Embassy staff was most friendly and helpful and tried their best to help us. However, since this was the Easter Friday, the Athens' Embassy staff told us that the staff in Canada were off and not returning to work until after Easter Monday which meant that the earliest we would get our new passports would be Wednesday the following week.

 O, My goodness! even though we have asked our family to send us some emergency money, how are we going to get it without any government ID to proof our identities?

  We just couldn't believe what has happened to us; whatever could go wrong has gone wrong for us on this trip!

  RT, Athens, Greece, 042026

What to Do When All Your Valuables Have Been Stolen In Greece? (or Wherever You Are While Travelling )

For the past few days, it has been an extremely stressful time for me and my husband. We have just landed in Athens, Greece for a two weeks holiday and we have plans to visit other countries after Greece.

Unfortunately, aLL our valuables including our passports, bank cards and all our cash were stolen from us on the second day of our holiday in Athens, we would not be able to carry on with our initial itinary as we must take time to deal with the most urgent matters.

  To limit our financial loss and to be able to continue with our European vacation, we did the following within the first 48 hours after our passports, credit cards and all our cash were stolen from us:

 

  1. Seek help from the local police and obtain a police report. There were a couple of police vehicles stationed around the Acropolis area and we approached them for help. However, they sent us the run around to a nearby police station to report the theft and to obtain a police report. Because we didn't have much cash with us, we dared not spent whatever we had on taxi and took the public transit which took us a little while to get to the police station which we were told to go.

However, upon our arrival at the station, we saw the notice on the door informing us that if we reported to this police station, we would need to wait for about 10 days for a police report. We couldn't wait for this long therefore we had to go to the police station set up speficially for dealing with tourists who have experienced thefts or related problems. It took us sometime to get to this special tourist police station and we were able to obtain a police report right away.

But I wondered why didn't the police at the Acropolis tell us about thie toursit police station right at the beginning so that we could have avoid the running around and hassels.

  2. Call your banks to cancel / block all bank cards - We had three bank and credit cards with us in my wallet but since my wallet was stolen, all three bank cards were gone too. Calling our banks and cancelling all the bankcards were urgent to prevent the thief from using our cards for unauthorized purchases. This task took us quite sometime but it must be done asap!

 

 

  3. Sought help from the Canadian embassy in Athens - In order to check in hotels, obtain cash from banks in Greece or boarding a plane we must have some kinds of phot ID or passport. The next day we went to the Canadain Embassy in Athens and applied for a temporary passport for each of us.

 

 

 

 

4. Assess financial situation and needs - Since my wallet was stolen, all our cash in the wallet was gone too. We searched all the pockets in jackets and clothes and we found a total of 40 Euros! That was all the money we had for the next few days before help could arrive! Therefore, we needed to be careful in using these 40 Euros for food only!

 

  5. Get help from family back home - With digital scammers being so common nowadays, we knew that if we sent a messagae to our family asking for finanical help, they would most likely think that it was a scam. Therefore, we asked our family to call us on our cells ( we were lucky we still had our cells!) and explained to our loved ones what happened and asked them to send us some emergency funds.

 

  6. Adjust travel itineraries - We have planned to fly to other Greek cities and another country, but without any passports or money, we modified our plans in order not to have our holiday runied by this theft incident.

 

7. Enjoy the city and the free things it has to offer - Athens is a historic and cultural city. There are lots of things to see. As we needed to stay around for our replaced new passports, we would try to enjoy what this city has to offer for free!

  RT, Athens, Greece 042026

A Very Stressful 2nd day in Athens – Nobody Wants to Experience This While on Vacation!

We are staying in a hotel near the downtown area in Athens. Our hotel staff informed us that the bus stops were just a two minutes walk across the street.

After exploring our hotel neighborhood on foot for an hour, we bought a 2 day Hop on Hop off bus tour pass in order to see and learn about the history of this great city.

We did the hop on /off bus tour in Lisbon, Portugal two years ago and enjoyed it, so we did it again this time in Greece.

Each passenger on the bus tour was given a pair of earpieces. We could plug it into the bus' sound system and listened to the explantions about the different points of interest as the bus was passing by them. We sat in the red line tour bus for the entire ride to get an overview of the city of Athens.

There were about 15 bus stops on the red line. After going through the bus tour once, we decided to get off at the foot of the ACROPOLIS to visit this world famous UNESCO site!

There seemed to be a lot of visitors heading up to the Acropolis. We thought we would go there a little later in the afternoon when it would be less crowded as a lot of curise passengers would have gone back to their cruise ships by then.

We took a walk in the Acropolis area and saw many restaurants, cafes, souvenir, handicrafts and gifts stores lining both sides of the street. It was lively and filled with visitors.

We stopped at a store selling lots of Greek souvenirs. I was looking at the gifts while a woman dressed in a long skirt and a scarf in her late 50’s approached me trying to sell me a big white tablecloth.

It was a nice handmade one but I didn’t want to buy anything and declined politely. This lady kept following me for a little while but I said no. Then she disappeared into the crowd and we continued to turn into some alleyways leading up to the hill.

We also stopped at a couple of jewelry stores browsing over the beautiful necklaces and rings made by local artisans. The weather was pleasant and the climb up to the hill was gentle.

We continued our walk and passed by a children’s park and came to an area looking like a village with some traditional Greek houses.

Some houses were a little modern while some looked like the houses we saw in children’s book. That was a special area in Athens.

We coudn't believe that we discovered this village like quiet living quarter in the middle of Athens. This scenery was enchanting!

I was captivated and I lost myself in the beautiful sight of this delightful and rustic neighborhood.

These houses looked so cute! Who would expect these little rustic houses in the middle of a big city!

 

 

  I couldn't stop taking pictures of these adorable houses and I was enjoying myself so much!

 

 

Then all of a sudden, as if being awoken from a trance, I suddenly felt something was wrong. I turned around and looked at my backpack; I was horrified! Both the outside and the inner pocket zippers of my backpack were opened!

The inner zippered pocket was where I kept my wallet containing both of our passports, credit cards and all our cash. My wallet was stolen which meant all our valuables were stolen too!

  We were beside ourselves, O NO! This was only our second day in Greece. How were we going to survive without anything?

  RT, at the Bottom of Acropolis, Athens, Greece

  042026