Shopping in Athens is a favorite pastime for tourists and Athenians and one of the best places to buy just about anything is the Flea Market at Monastiraki. OK. It is not really a flea market except maybe on Sunday when some of the stores close and people bring tables and carpets and sell all kinds of stuff from junk to antiques. The rest of the week it is more like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul though not so grand and not so bizarre. Most of the shops are pretty conventional and sell the same stuff you find in the tourist shops on the islands, some of it made in Greece and some made in China or other cheap labor countries. You will find the same designs on GREECE T-shirts as you saw in Aruba or Mexico, as well as some you might actually classify as art or somehow unique. There are good jewelry store with handmade gold and silver pieces and fake jewelry stores with “handmade” gold and silver pieces, and most people won’t be able to tell the difference.
