What we spent: Greece

Well, we’re nothing if not consistent. Our spending over the past several months has hovered right around $220/day.

Below is our spending for 21 days in Greece. We divided our time roughly between Athens and less populated but still touristy areas (Delphi and Meteora). Restaurant food was fresh, delicious and inexpensive so we ate out more in Greece than we otherwise might have been inclined to do. Even so, our food spending is likely a bit inflated since I lump all cash withdrawals into this category unless I specifically recall an expense (eg, the shady cash-only apartment in Athens); doubtless there are other charges lurking here (eg, another Covid self test, tolls, metro tickets) but I don’t think they much change the overall picture. 

Brian says I’m a sloppy controller to which I say: phhhhbbbbbt. 

21 days in Greece

Airfare from Zagreb to Athens was $572 and airfare from Athens to Istanbul was $278.

Small financial note of interest: now we’re in Turkey. You may have read in the news that the Turkish lira has tumbled in recent days. A year ago, the rate was roughly eight TL to the USD; today it’s nearly 14. 

This situation has resulted, obviously, in quite a lot of suffering here in Turkey but also in very confusing prices for us. Many things are unbelievably inexpensive right now. For example, our first meal in Turkey was a delicious multi-course affair in a sit-down restaurant that clocked in at $17 for the four of us. Right now we’re staying in a gorgeous three bedroom house for about $40/night. And we’re still scratching our heads about our first trip to the grocery store. The receipt is below but for anyone whose Turkish may be a little rusty: we purchased shampoo and conditioner for $0.46 each, 250 grams of butter for $1.13, a jar of pickles for $0.81, 250 grams of ground coffee for $2.09, a liter of whole milk for $0.54, 400 grams of honey/comb for $1.01, a package of local brand Laughing Cow cheeses for $0.49, a tube of toothpaste for $0.30 and 10 eggs for $1.00.