What You Can Bring From Greece - 12 Best Gifts

Everyone who managed to visit Greece - a country with a unique culture and very friendly people - wants to take a piece of it with them as a gift. To be more precise, from here I want to take away almost everything. So, what to bring from Greece, what souvenirs?

Olives

It turns out that olives are harvested at different stages of maturity, and their color depends on this. There are green olives of early and middle ripeness, as well as fruits of late ripeness - black, or rather, brown.

The most popular varieties of table olives in Greece are Konservolia (Conservolia), Kalamon (Kalamon), Chalkidiki (Halkidiki).

You can buy olives in any store where they are sold in metal canned goods, plastic containers and plastic vacuum packaging, as well as in markets, as a weighted product. The average cost of one kilogram is 3-5 €. As a gift, these fruits can also be bought in duty-free stores, but the choice there is not so extensive, and the prices are high: for a small metal canned food you will have to pay from 2.5 €.

It is important to know what else you need to be able to buy olives in Greece! When making a purchase, you need to pay attention to such points:

When buying olives in the market, try them. The pulp should not be very dense and not stiff, in relation to the bone it should be larger. The skin of the fetus should be thin and shiny.
Small olives are lighter than large ones. If the fruits are very black, then most likely they underwent chemical processing using food colors.
Bones are taken out only from green fruits, therefore, seedless olives should be light.
Pasteurized products are better preserved in transparent glass packaging, in addition, it shows the color and size of olives, which makes the gift more attractive.

Olive oil

What else can you bring from Greece - both for yourself and as a gift to friends? Of course, olive oil. It is sold in glass and plastic containers with a volume of 0.5-1.5 liters, as well as in tin cans of 3 and 5 liters. To take out a large canister of oil from the country, it must be packed in the main baggage.

There are such varieties of this product:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Premium oil, first cold pressed. It is characterized by a pronounced taste and smell, has an acidity of not more than 0.8% (the better, the lower the acidity). This is the most expensive oil - 1 liter will cost 7-11 €.

Fine Virgin Olive Oil. First grade oil, second cold pressed. It has a very pleasant smell and taste, acidity in the range of 1-1.5%. Price starts from 5 € per liter. The oldest and very popular company in Greece, Minerva, offers second-pressed oil in plastic bottles of Horio and Clasico at the following prices, respectively: 1 liter - 5.72 € and 4.99 €, 2 liters - 10.90 € and 9.55 €, 5 liters - 19.99 € and 19.90 €.
Pour Olive Oil or Refined Olive Oil. A mixture of first cold pressed and hot refined oils. The taste is weak, the aroma is almost not felt. The cost of a liter is from 3 €.
Pomace Olive Oil. Olive seed oil is obtained in the hot way and is the cheapest.

Olive oil is sold at any grocery store, but it is better to choose large supermarkets located far from the tourist streets.

Cheeses

Real Feta cheese made from sheep and goat milk can only be brought from Greece. This is a dense crumbly cheese of pure white color. It has a milky taste, giving off a slight sourness. It costs from 5 €.

"Graviera" is on the list of the most popular cheeses in Greece, and this gift can really surprise you. It has a hard but plastic texture with tiny holes, the taste is slightly sweet, with notes of fruit.

The traditional hard Greek cheese is Kefalotiri. It has a pleasant taste with a palpable hint of sheep’s milk and a slightly pungent aftertaste. Color can range from white to yellow.

Honey

In Greece, honey can be bought in city markets and in shops, as well as in monasteries and in villages in villages. Moreover, the higher in the mountains a monastery or village, respectively, and apiaries, the more delicious the honey will be. Especially tasty and high-quality is the beekeeping product, which is obtained from apiaries in Crete, Rhodes, Thassos.

You can also bring honey from sightseeing trips, for example, buying it directly from manufacturers in a store next to the Museum of Honey, located in the village of Pastida on the island of Rhodes. Such a product will be the best gift for people who know a lot about beekeeping products.

A liter of Greek honey costs 7-10 €.

Sweets

Baklava is something that you can buy in Greece both for yourself and as a good souvenir from a long trip. This national sweet is nothing more than a honey-soaked pie made of puff pastry, in which cinnamon and chopped nuts are added. This Greek pie has 33 layers of dough, which is a symbol of the age of Christ. The price of a sweet gift is 10 € per kilogram.

Kozinaki

Kozinaki - this treat contains many vitamins, because it is made from pistachios, peanuts, sesame seeds, almonds and honey syrup. From those gozinaks who sell with us, the Greek are very different!

As a luxury souvenir for chocolate lovers from Greece, you can bring "chocolataka". These foil-wrapped sweets are sold by weight, and it is very difficult to find at least two similar sweets. A kilogram of chocolate treat costs 10-12 €.

Alcoholic drinks

Rakomelo

Crayfish - strong and harsh grape vodka, similar to high-quality moonshine - this gift is not suitable for everyone. The price of the bottle is 15 €. You can buy rakomelo - these are crayfish infused with cinnamon, cloves and honey. In the summer, rakomelo is drunk as an alcoholic drink, and in winter it is heated and taken as a remedy for the common cold.

Ouzo

Ouzo is a unique aniseed vodka with a somewhat peculiar taste. Ouzo can be bought in a standard or in a small bottle depicting a Greek deity - you get a double souvenir. The price for a mini bottle is from 2 €, per liter - from 10 €. The most popular ouzo brands in Greece are Samara, Varvayanni, Plomari, Smirnio, Giannatsi, Mini.

Metaxa

Metaxa is a strong alcohol, for the preparation of which was used wine and brandy from grapes, as well as an infusion of herbs. Metax is sold in all grocery stores - the assortment always has drinks of a different aging term and, accordingly, at different prices. Metax can be bought for that kind of money: an elite 7 * and 12 * - from 22 € per 1 liter, 5 * - from 19 € per liter bottle, economy option 2 * and 3 * - from 12 €. For friends, as souvenirs from Greece, it is best to bring small 200-gram bottles with this alcoholic drink.

Wines of Greece

Malamatina retina

Ancient Greek wine, which is now produced in almost every region of the country, is retsina. This wine has a strength of 11.5% vol., It is characterized by a strong smell and a bitter tar taste, making it an original gift. The most famous producer of retsina in Greece is the Malamatinas family, their famous "Rezina Malamata" 0.5 liter costs 1.15 €.

Another Greek producer, the Kurtaki family, produces more than 30,000,000 bottles of wine annually. The most popular were Kokkineli Kurtaki, Retsina Kurtaki, Retsina Attikis - they cost 1.55 €.

Boutari, Grande Reserve Naoussa

Almost all over the world they know such a producer of Greek wines as the Butari family. Their assortment includes more than 40 vintage wines - among such a variety you can always choose a good gift for both a friend and a girl. The cost of wines of this brand starts from 6 €, and ends in the region of 53.10 €, you can take a gift wrap "Grand Reserve Naussa" for 200 €.

In Greece, any wine can be bought in a supermarket or in the store of the Kava retail chain.

Fur coats

In the city of Kastoria, there are more than 1000 factories and salons where they sew fur products. Every year in this city an exhibition-sale "EDIKA" is organized, during which trading pavilions are arranged on an area of 5000 m². It is at this exhibition that tourists who want to bring such gifts from Greece as a high-quality and beautiful fur coat from natural fur try to come.

The famous tourist company in Greece, Mouzenidis Travel, organizes special fur tours for a very nominal fee of 1 €, while the Kastoria Association of Furriers pays for air travel, customer accommodation, and even for an interesting cultural program. Under the terms of such a tour, the client is obliged to buy a fur product, the cost of which is from 1100 €. If such a purchase is not made, then the client is obliged to reimburse all funds spent on it.

Prices for things from fur:

short fur coat from whole mink skins - from 2400 €;
fur coat from whole mink skins - from 2700 €;
short fur coat from mink skin pieces - from 1200 €;
classic model of a fur coat made of mink skin pieces - from 1200 €;
short fur coat made of whole raccoon / silver fox / Canadian fox / astrakhan / beaver skins - from 1200 €;
fur coat from whole raccoon skins, silver fox - from 1400 €;
a fur coat made of crystal fox / karakul / beaver / karakulchi fur - 1400-1700 €.

The choice of men's fur coats is also quite extensive, so men can also go on a fur coat tour.

Jewelry

Greece is known for its gold and silver jewelry, accessories with pearls and precious stones.

Gold is sold only as a product, and there is no point in calculating how many grams of metal it contains. The cost of very simple rings, which are quite suitable for souvenirs, can start from 100 €, and then go up to 350-500 € and higher for handmade products with sapphires and diamonds. The largest selection of jewelry is offered by the Ilias Lalaounis and Kessaris stores located in Athens, Ioannina, Delphi and Santorini. Nevertheless, the most interesting gifts can be brought from Thassos, where craftsmen make gizmos in the form of flowers or with original local patterns, and from Crete - jewelry in the form of bees.

Silver is also offered in a rather extensive assortment. It is most profitable to bring silverware from Ioannina and Delphi - there handmade earrings and bracelets can be bought for 20-30 €, which makes them quite affordable souvenirs.

Cosmetics

What else can I bring from Greece as a gift? A worthy souvenir will be cosmetics - it is based on natural oil from olives, and artificial components are completely absent.

The simplest gift is a soap with a wide range of natural aromas, for example, orange, honey, lavender, jasmine. It is sold in pieces at a price of 1.5 €, and sets worth about 10 €.

Natural cosmetics can be more expensive: cream, shampoo, balm and body scrub, shower gel. Famous Greek brands: Venus Secrets, Apivita and Korres, Oliveway, Bioselect. As a souvenir, it is quite possible to choose products from Bioselect:

set: gel, balm, shampoo and sponge - 20 €;
set: toner and milk for makeup removal - 8 €;
moisturizing cream for combination skin - 16 €;
anti-aging night cream - 18 €;
hand cream - 15 €.

High-quality cosmetics in Greece are sold in pharmacies, as well as in perfume and cosmetics stores. One of the most widespread networks of such stores in Greece is HONDOS CENTER - there are shopping centers in every big city, and the largest is located in the center of Athens, on Omonia Square. By the way, in small shops specializing in the sale of natural cosmetics, you can buy good products, and for much less money. Although the local prices cannot be called low, in our country much more will have to be paid for such goods.

Souvenir products

When planning what to bring from Greece as a gift, one should not forget about various souvenirs: figurines, fridge magnets, ceramic products.

Ceramics in Greece are of amazing quality and very beautiful. Original souvenirs with special ornaments can be brought from Crete, a huge selection of ceramics on the Halkidiki peninsula, pottery from Santorini is highly praised. But the largest souvenir markets, where ceramics are most represented, are located in Athens: at the foot of the Acropolis in the Plaka area and not far from Monastiraki Square. For a medium-sized painted plate in Greece you need to pay from 3 €, for a mug - from 2 €, for a vase - from 7 €.

From Greece you can bring absolutely unique souvenirs - amphorae imitating ancient products and painted in the same style. To take them out of the country, at the time of purchase in the store you need to take a certificate to confirm that this is not an artistic value.

People who can appreciate paintings can bring canvases on which sights or simply beautiful landscapes are depicted in oil or watercolor. Prices for paintings by local artists are determined by the technique of execution, size, the presence of a frame - the minimum cost is 20 €.

Icons

Pilgrims and tourists visiting the holy places hardly think about what to bring from Greece - they buy icons both for themselves and as a gift. Icons of the simplest execution can be bought for 5-7 €, folding in the form of a book - for 12-25 €, handmade icons or in a silver salary will cost 50-70 € and more.