Hi b4es and bo0s
Checking in on our Greece trip and can report what a fabulous place it is.
We stayed overnight in Piraeus when we first arrived, but got there quite late and left before the sun was up so didn’t see much of the area. We ventured out for some food and struggled quite a bit with regards to wheelchair accessibility. There were more cars parked along the kerb than fit and the kerbs were high and broken ground. There were a few lowered parts of the pavement but they were few and far between, and only on one main street.
We went to a street food restaurant which had vegan options – travelling with 3 vegan, absolute foodies, picking places to eat is the focal point of most days haha. I’m full time veggie, part time vegan coz I ❤ chocolate and will sometimes have cheese on a pizza if it’s the only option or if it’s in something someone has made. Piraeus is a port town, the waiter didn’t speak much English and we had to do a lot of pointing to order. We all ordered from the vegan page, some wrap things that I have no idea the name of and out they came. They looked delicious tbf, we all had variations of pretty much the same thing – granted it was meant to be different coz they got the order wrong but we just went with it. Next thing I know I bite into this big belter of a zucchini (corgette) ball wrap to bite into A FUCKIN MEATBAWWWWWWW!!!!
I didn’t think I’d be able to tell if I ate meat again, but let me tell you, I could! Just after my one year veggie anniversary whit. LIVID. I spat the rest out and tried to take it back but the language barrier just resulted in us being assured this ball of beast was corgette inside ahahahah. FML. Minor blip and the vegans said it was ok coz it was a mistake.
Next up we went to Mykonos. The ferry there (and back) was excellent service. They could not have been more helpful. They were called Hellenic Seaways, booked through Blue Star Ferries and I didn’t have to get out of my chair at all, there was ramp access on board and they took me through the kitchen to the lift up to our deck.
Mykonos was a bit more of a difficult story, it’s such a beautiful island but it’s a giant hill that is 50% steps and 40% shitty, bumpy ground – the other 10% is the one good main road they have around the island to drive on. If you have to use a chair permanently then a lot of research would be good to make sure you don’t get dropped at your air bnb at the top of 30 hill steps downwards then round a path and up another set. I/we do normally check but because I am able to walk, sometimes it’s an oversight. At least it was a work out. I fell quite a few times in Mykonos from having flight legs and uneven surfaces. Might also have had a few jars too, which wouldn’t have helped.
To get around the island and see as much as we could, we rented a car. Me and one of the vegans are the only ones who can drive, and I had a car at home/have been driving for longer so I was nominated to drive. It was soooooo weird being on the other side of the road and car! It’s always something I’ve wanted to try, but I don’t know if I could’ve done it anywhere busier than on the small island as a beginner. We had a few oohs and ahhs but overall a success. I’ve put in some pics below of the things we saw in Mykonos.
Lastly we made our way back to Athens. It’s such a cool place, again I’ll add a few pics below but just a few things I wanted to mention. The pavement/kerb situation was marginally better but still not great. Quite often the ramps didn’t line up so we had to detour over the road a bit and also a few of the roads had unavoidable islands with a giant step in the middle. Also I think every cafe and restaurant we went to, the toilet was downstairs. Usually they were narrow and windy and most only had one bannister. If there is no bannister, I literally have to crawl up them like a dog or hold in a pee until we could find somewhere without as many steps. Also for both Piraeus and Athens, both apartments had small lifts but there was about 10 or 12 stairs up to the lift so it wasn’t accessible without walking.
Below I have included a bizarrely laid out table of where we ate and stayed. I’m not really a foodie so food reviews are minimal and are either good or bad haha. But I have briefly commented on how accessible and easy I found experiencing them. Who doesn’t love an easy life. It’s the first table I’ve included so apologies if it’s an eyesore haha. You can click the links to see where we stayed for each Air b&b too.
| CITY | PLACE | ACCESS | SERVICE/AMENITIES | EXTRA COMMENTS |
| PIRAEUS | Big Bad Wolf | Outdoor seating, was in wheelchair and there was room, didn’t go inside | MEATBALL -_- | |
| PIRAEUS | Air b&b 1 | Lift inside building but 10ish stairs when you first enter to access the lift. Narrow pavement outside, had to get out the chair at the end of the street Shower over bath | Stayed here one night, v comfy beds, did the job, close to main street, other details mentioned above. | |
| MYKONOS | Rustic Grill | Car park outside, step upto the booth where we sat (optional) toilet on same floor, accessed walking, not a lot of room | Limited vegan options – grill house was the only place open haha. Such nice staff, taught us a lot of Greek | |
| MYKONOS | Obatti | Couple of steps inside, toilet on same floor, not much room inside | Delicious food, v beautiful staff. | Terrible at ringing up a bill, missed at least 3 things |
| MYKONOS | Notorious Pub | One step inside, small and cute, toilet on same floor accessed walking | Excellent mulled wine | |
| MYKONOS | Air b&b 2 | Not accessible ***does NOT claim to be. There isn’t any information about the access but you can see the picture above of just some of the stairs. This isn’t guessable from the air bnb pics. Huge step-over to enter shower | Greeted by an apartment assistant, slightly overpriced transfer but they helped carry our bags. More Mykonos info above. | |
| ATHENS | Veganaki | Close, small cafe, not room for the wheelchair inside and a step up. Toilets down a flight of curved narrow steps. Only one hand rail. | A lot of choice, all plant based, excellent food all round. | Had my first vegan omelette – how!? |
| ATHENS | Bamboo | Toilets downstairs, no handrail | WOW – JST WOW | Best food so far – vegan cheese and ham toastie |
| ATHENS | Peas | Downstairs toilet Narrow cafe but did have room for my chair to fit in at the table | Super nice staff and food was ok. | Fab location for eye-spy |
| ATHENS | Air b&b 3 | Weird lift thing with stairs up to it. Large living space Shower over bath | Really close to a lot of things, easy to get a taxi from | Lovely host. |
In Athens we went to the Acropolis:
I had seen on reviews online that they had a lift and I was a bit sceptical, but they did! It was ridiculous but also pretty amazing, I’ve been to many tourist attractions and was very impressed there was a lift at this one. When I say a lift:
There was a metal wire attached to the side of the mountain and we went in two sections. One up like a stair lift type thing and then one straight vertically to the top. In a semi-enclosed metal cage. Mad but massive props for this service being available. It made my legs very happy.
At the top I was able to get out and have a wander around – I did fall about 3 steps into it then had to double arm for the rest of it but it’s no the first or last haha.
I felt OK about getting out of the chair when we were up the Acropolis but I do very often, if I’ve been sitting in it for a while, get chair fear.
Thankfully not as bad as beer fear but still not pleasant.
Chair fear for me, as an ambulatory wheelchair user, is when I become so consumed by preconceived judgement that I feel I can’t get out and start walking – which I am capable of, for pure fear of what people will think.
I never use a wheelchair at home, unless I’ve been on a sesh and my mates push me to the shop for some fresh air to help the hangover haha. Even at home though, I would still experience this, so it’s not location based, and I know it’s probably quite a common thing.
When I don’t have chair fear, I am able to rationalise and know that I’m never going to know what people are actually thinking, nor would it be of any advantage to me to have this information so why am I even worrying about it, but at the time it’s ANNOYINGGGG.
I also don’t get it all the time, it is usually mood dependent. Sometimes I can jump in and out (can’t actually jump LOL) absolutely care free, asking people if they would like a picture or an autograph if they are staring. Other times I wonder if they think I’m faking my need for using the chair or worry about them judging how I walk when I get out the chair.
Chair fear is defo something I hope to improve on on this journey of giving less fucks about worrying what people think about my disability and having the confidence to not need to reserve any part of me.
Thanks for reading. There are a few new ideas and concepts in this post which I hope you enjoyed. I have said a few times I’m not really sure where or what will happen in the upcoming posts as I don’t really have a current theme. Let me know if you have any feedback, or anything you’d like to see more of.
Efcharistó xoxo
SPLINT UP, LOOK SHARP 