What did I buy in Greece?

Too much or not enough? That is the question. After a 1.5 decade absence from the country of my father’s birth, I felt like I needed to stock up on enough souvenirs and supplies to last us until our return.

Our bounty can be divided up into two categories, food and stuff.

We purchased all our food souvenirs from my family’s island, because we could be sure to get things with authentic local ingredients. Pictured from the top going clockwise:

Teskou Mastixa, local spoon sweet made from Mastic gum

Muscato wine from Samos island next door

Thyme spice

Bergamot jam (2 variations)

Trahana, a dried porridge that we cook at home (a gift from my aunt)

Loukomia, local gummies

Lavendar honey (2 variations)

Dried mushroom 

In the stuff category, we further divide into a section of memorable Greek souvenirs, which were mostly gifts from my family. Pictured from the top going clockwise:

Ikaria mug

Evil Eye coaster (crocheted by my aunt)

Ikaria keychain

CD from a local artist

Refrigerator magnet

Ikaria shot glass

Evil eye to hang in our house

Also in the stuff category would be Korres beauty products. Korres is a Greek beauty company and I want to support local business. From top to bottom:

Mosquito spray

Body oil

Charcoal face mask

There is also a paper products category, which weighed my suitcase down plenty. From left to right:

Art book of the Ai Wei Wei exhibit in the Cycladic Museum of art

Greek island coloring book

A book of stories from my island (written in English)

A fiction book by my favor author (written in Greek)

A Ikaria travel book in Greek

Lastly, I got a couple cool totes from various museums. On the left is a tote from the Rijskmuseum in Amsterdam (ok, I know the title of this post is What Did I Buy in Greek, but come on, it’s the only souvenir from my layover), and one from the Cycladic museum of Art in Athens.