This is the second installment of my series: ”That time I got stranded in insert place”, unfortunately.

How I got stranded in Greece

It was a long day of exploring Athens, Greece, with my partner in December 2024. In particular, we visited Kerameikos (Κεραμεικός)¹, a major archaeological site. Tired and hungry, we decided to try out greek baklava (mπακλαβάς) in a dessert store called Zuccherino² located along the Mitropoleos stretch, because it had good Google reviews at the time. The store featured bar stools which were taller than your typical restaurant chairs, which meant that if you put any belongings on the floor, they’d be hard to reach and out of sight.

Deep panic ensued, as I had my wallet, my passport, and items of irreplaceable sentimental value in my bag.

Now, you probably see where this is going, and in hindsight, it was extremely half-baked of me to, you’ve guessed it, put my bag on the floor where it was out of my sight. I remember vividly as we settled down in the store, a group of men whom we thought were run-of-the-mill customers entered and caused quite a bit of commotion, which distracted both me and my partner. We didn’t think much of it, and continued to eat our baklava. When we decided to leave the place after finishing the cloyingly sweet baklava, I realised that my bag had been replaced by a similar looking bag, which was empty!

Deep panic ensued, as I had my wallet, my passport, and items of irreplaceable sentimental value in my bag. Fortunately, my partner with her ever-present sangfroid was there to help calm me down, and without her, I probably wouldn’t have handled the situation as well. I requested the store staff to help call the Hellenic police regarding this theft and in about 5~10 minutes, they arrived at the scene. I saw that the thief (or thieves) had spent money on my card via my app and I as quickly as possible told the police officers on-site where they had spent the money: it was in a mall in Ermou, which is not too far off where we were. I also suggested the use of CCTV in the dessert store to help identify the thief, but unfortunately, the store owner said that there were none positioned well that could’ve captured the thief’s face. Furthermore, after informing the police of where the thief had spent money using my card, they were not successful in catching them even after waiting about 20 minutes. Whilst waiting, I also as hastily as I could, cancelled and blocked all my cards. Having failed to catch the culprit, the police officers had instead instructed me to report the case to the tourist police (this was the first time I’ve heard of a separate police force for tourists), and left the scene. As disappointed and still in shock as I was, my partner guided me the way to the tourist police centre³ which involved a 15-minute but what felt like eons travel on foot, and we had to meander our way through a sea of people in Omonoia (Ομόνοια) coupled with chaotic Greek traffic to get there.

Upon reaching the tourist police centre³, I was told to fill in a form which formally reports that my belongings are missing. Upon finishing filling in the form, I was informed by the officer there that I would have to show this form to the embassy of my country in order to obtain what is known as an emergency certificate, so that I can return home and obtain a brand new passport. Moreover, reporting the loss of passport to my embassy also meant that this loss would be reported to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)⁴ to prevent identity theft. However, to add insult to injury, it turned out that I had lost my passport at the worst possible time: a Friday night, because the Malaysian Consulate in Greece is closed on the weekends, which meant that I had to wait in dread for over 48 hours until I can go to the Malaysian consulate. I pleaded profusely with the tourist police officers to please leverage the CCTVs in the Ermou mall to catch the thieves as I had in my app when exactly they spent the money. Unfortunately, I was replied ”No, CCTVs can only be checked for serious crimes only, such as murder”, and finally informed me that they would call my number if anyone ever returned my belongings to the tourist police centre. In the end, I left the centre disheartened, feeling completely powerless in the foreign country that refused to check the CCTV. My partner and I continued to walk around the place of incident for another ~2 hours in hopes of finding my bag, perhaps thrown in an unsuspecting rubbish bin, but our efforts were futile. In the end, we returned to our place of stay and had to plan what to do next, as we were supposed to have another flight on the next day (but can’t anymore because I don’t have a passport). This is where it finally dawned on me, that ”I am stranded in Greece“.

Grief, acceptance, and lesson learned

During the 48 hours wait, I was initially grieving deeply, but eventually I had to come face-to-face with the fact that I had lost quite a substantial amount of money, and I will never be able to see my belongings again, especially those with sentimental values. The AirBnB host at the time found out about my predicament, offered food, and helpful words which cheered me up ”Hey, at least you’re still alive!” — and he’s right, I was and still am indeed alive and breathing. Slowly, but surely, I began to accept my loss, and continue to enjoy the rest of our time in Greece before our flight back to Singapore in another 1.5 weeks. Below are some of the adventures my partner and I partook in before our flight.

Exploring places

Flisvos Marina

As I was still passport-less during the weekends, the plan was to limit the places of exploration to nearby our AirBnB, and not stray off too far. Luckily, there is indeed a place worthy of exploring for us, i.e., the Flisvos Marina⁵. We only had to travel a relatively short amount of time via public bus and tram in order to reach there. We strolled around the serene area under the twilight sky, with gossamer breeze against our faces, and enjoyed our time in a cozy and quiet environment. As we further strolled the piers, we discovered that there is a floating boat “Neraida” (Νεράιδα)⁶ musuem in Flisvos Marina itself that is dedicated to a notable Greek business magnate, John Latsis. We felt like we’ve hit a jackpot as this was not on the original to-do list, and a friendly lady was there to explain to us the intricate history behind Neraida and John Latsis. Needless to say, we had a good time learning history, and exploring the musuem, which happened to be free of charge.

Philopappos Hill

We hiked the Philopappos Hill (Λόφος Φιλοπάππου)⁷, where we explored the plentiful number of interesting exhibits, both modern and ancient. For example, we visited the National Observatory of Athens⁸, the Pnyx Monument⁹, the Philopappos Monument¹⁰, the Themistoclean Ancient Wall¹¹, the Prison of Socrates¹², and finally, with much courage I also visited the infamous Triforce Shaped Stone¹³. The monuments on the hill coupled together with bird eye’s view of the city made this adventure definitely worth it.

National and Botanical Gardens

There were two botanical gardens which we visited, namely, the National Garden of Athens¹⁴, and the Diomidous Botanical Garden¹⁵, both of which were free of charge at the time of visit. The former was easily accessible via public transport, and we had a great time there admiring the ubiquitous animals casually wandering about, especially the relentlessly honking ducks, cacophonous green parrots (consisting of monk and ringneck parrots)¹⁶, and chill tortoises. There were also goats and rabbits, albeit their movements were limited by a cage.

The latter is a botanical garden, which is a little bit harder to get to as it is further away from the city centre. Regardless, we were able to reach there via public bus and a lot of walking. This botanical garden is huge, and because of its sheer size, we actually had trouble locating the singular entrance to this botanical garden, where a warden actually actively keeps track of how many people are still in the garden via a smart contraption. This is understandable since the botanical garden is massive and people could easily get lost whilst inside. What made it even easier for people to get lost is the lack of proper signage around the garden, especially when you venture a little bit deeper. My partner was actually a little bit scared when we did so, and thus I led us back to safety nearer to the singular entrance/exit. Whilst there, we were able to enjoy nature and the biodiversity of the garden to the fullest, away from civilisation as practically no one were there besides an occasional jogger beaming by.

Lake Vouliagmeni, Posidonos Bay, and an unnamed spot

We decided to head down south of Athens to check out the surrounding attractions. We opted to alight at the bus stop Α’ Λιμανακια¹⁷ due to its proximity to the locations of desire for us, namely the Posidonos Bay¹⁸, and the Lake Vouliagmeni¹⁹. However, we noticed that there is a pathway albeit rugged towards an unnamed cliff near the bus stop. Without hesitation, we went through the difficult journey of getting to the unnamed cliff²⁰ to witness some of the best views in our lives. After admiring the unnamed cliff, we walked towards the Posidonos Bay, where we unfortunately witnessed vandalism and were saddened by the unkempt condition of the bay, contrary to some of the top Google maps review were saying at the time. Finally, we visited the Lake Vouliagmeni and admired its natural beauty, which we finished quite quickly because the lake was much smaller than I had initially thought.

Exploring food

Gyros platter and skepasti

What good is exploring if you’re out of energy? This is why we’ve researched and went only to restaurants serving the best food in terms of both taste and price. When in Greece, it goes without saying that one must try gyros (γύρος), and plenty of gyros we tried indeed. Each and every time we’ve ordered a gyros from a different restaurant, not once was it ever disappointing, as the savoury meat hits your taste buds, firing the yummy neurons in your brain, along with several slices of meticulously baked pita.

Traditional homemade Greek food

While we’re in Greece, we’d also like to try traditional Greek food. It is this curiousity that drove us to discover a place called The Markopoulo (Το Μαρκοπουλο)²¹, featuring some of the best food we’ve ever tasted in our lives prepared by an awesome 80+ year old lady along with her children and grandchildren. The dishes were like nothing I’ve ever tasted; onions, cabbages, and lamb which all just melts in your oral orifice, coating your tastebuds in heavenly flavours completely out of this world. In fact, they were so delicious, that my partner and I came back multiple times to taste their daily dishes, which differ from day to day. On our final day in the restaurant, I told one of the chef in Greek ”ήταν φανταστικό!”, which means it was fantastic, to which he replied “Ευχαριστώ πολύ” which means thank you so much.

Ending the journey and learning an important lesson

As we enjoyed Greece, I was able to apply for an emergency passport at the Consulate of Malaysia in Greece²² located in Kallithea, which cost me 100€ as they had to use courier service to deliver my emergency certificate all the way from the Malaysian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania. Initially, I was worried that I would have to buy a completely new ticket that flies straight from Greece to Malaysia, as my current ticket at the time was towards Singapore. However, Eva, a staff at the consulate, reassured me that it is possible to land in Singapore first, then fly back to Malaysia, which was what I ultimately did — this relieved a tonne of financial stress. Using a Malaysian emergency certificate to perform a non-direct flight to Malaysia is unheard of before this, so hopefully this experience can help someone else in need in the future.

The day had finally come for us to return to Singapore after ~2 weeks, and for me to also return to Malaysia to get my stuff sorted out. Greece was amazing, and while enjoying your time as much as possible during a holiday is important, it is just as important to keep your belongings safe at all times as you travel around in a foreign country. In particular, I’m going to share the specific lessons I’ve learned, which hopefully can inform future travellers who are also interested in visiting Greece. I know some of these are common sense, but regardless, here they are:

1. Keep your belongings, in sight, at ALL times. I’m talking about not even 1 second out of sight.
2. A backpack bag is simply not optimal for lesson #1. Ideally, you should get a robust slingbag, preferrably with multiple slings, for you to keep your belongings in front of you the whole time. A regular waistbag is also not sufficiently robust against theft, based on what I’ve read online.
3. Travel as mininally as possible. Do not bring unnecessary things overseas, especially if they are in anyway valuable.
4. Never put all your eggs in one basket.

After returning back home in Malaysia, I made my journey to Putrajaya to make official police report, and to settle the replacement of all my lost documents. From now on, hopefully there won’t be a third installment to my series: ”That time I got stranded in insert place“.

Footnotes

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerameikos ↩

2. https://maps.app.goo.gl/bpPEiHcmiFjMAckL9 ↩

3. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gKMNiZPTYLjKisEf7 ↩ ↩²

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpol ↩

5. https://www.flisvosmarina.com/ ↩

6. https://www.flisvosmarina.com/el/facility/ploto-mousio-neraida/ ↩

7. https://maps.app.goo.gl/AhkoBLU79ATqDbuX6 ↩

8. https://maps.app.goo.gl/aztFnDxec5ErEVQe6 ↩

9. https://maps.app.goo.gl/e54r614wbSq7kvJv6 ↩

10. https://maps.app.goo.gl/TrcRj2vLTixdPk177 ↩

11. https://maps.app.goo.gl/iQ6vpb12cU7EhvkN8 ↩

12. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Dpw4ETnyEoT1we6k7 ↩

13. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ypwXToCFViwpdkvE7 ↩

14. https://maps.app.goo.gl/iPNdLdPdrJL72V8T7 ↩

15. https://maps.app.goo.gl/s6GNZgBnMLYSvVDu6 ↩

16. https://www.snfcc.org/en/snfcc/stavros-niarchos-park/life-at-the-park/parrots ↩

17. https://maps.app.goo.gl/b7ugGAnKgbtcRJDX9 ↩

18. https://maps.app.goo.gl/yxkTgTcDCAPd2QzE8 ↩

19. https://maps.app.goo.gl/c361Q4Emizqs5B22A ↩

20. https://maps.app.goo.gl/k5k2DZFd3YP64NKy7 ↩

21. https://maps.app.goo.gl/APsFo1kXqyZwg9Kj7 ↩

22. https://maps.app.goo.gl/6Nminn9PScQy46rB6 ↩