Poland safe for a Greek?

Hello,

my name is Marino and im from Greece. I work as fitness animateur and do live blogs both in english and greek channels and i got a 2 week contract in Krakow in Poland.

It would be in April and from what i heared i´m kinda nervous. Our foreign ministry says that we must hold our gurd up there because lots of racism against foreigners. I only speak greek and english so how big can the problem get there? Are there areas to be avoided? Im happy for any advice.

No, you won't have any problem. As long as you stay away from drunk people, you'll be fine. In Poland, trouble, especially physical violence, almost always comes from drunk people. I guess it's the same in Greece. Avoid them like the plague. A bigger problem is thieves and pickpockets, so be on your guard and keep your money and valuables in a safe place that is hard for them to get to. In short, behave like you would in a touristy area in Greece, and you'll be fine.

Poland's safe from a Greek.

He will if he is very dark skinned, moves away from tourist areas, and is not prepared to put up with such nonsense. But Dominic is right - just stay away from drunks, especially the British groups of drinkers:)

Have a great time in Krakow. You will have trouble finding anyone Polish though in the centre.

Not really. He is at greater risk in tourist areas because of pickpockets. Poles rarely go looking for trouble unless they are drunk.


I took one of my Polish students to Kraków for the weekend. We were in Nowy Targ, a small square off the main square, and there was a troupe of acrobats performing. My student was rather short, so he climbed up a lamp post to get a better view over the crowd of spectators. After a while, he jumped down and whispered to me, "I think I'm the only Polish person here".

Greeks have no dark skin. :D

But what i meant is, it sounds pretty drastic on the website so i was unsure. Of course you can get trouble evrywhere.

No! Poles are lovely people and you will get a warm welcome. Don't expect much smiling until you are introduced and taken into the circle (which happens spontaneously) People will be very interested that you are Greek, especially when they have visited there themselves.

While such incidents remain extremely rare, there was an incident of that kind in Warsaw in March 2017, however.

A Greek man trying to get on a bus in Warsaw was pushed back by a group of young Polish men and next beaten up on a bus stop. As a result an ambulance was called in and took the victim to hospital. The attackers ran away immediately.

Despite their quick getaway, the police caught all the offenders in several days. There were seven of them aged: 20, 17, 21, 32, 24, 19, 23.

Are we entitled to say that those "true Polish patriots" were defending the (in)famous concept of "Polska dla Polaków" mentioned by Dirk in another thread?

Yes, we don't do gay, fake smiling for no reason, nor Greeks do.

Well, always dangerous to generalise, but in comparison to some other EU countries, I think the people tend to appear more tired/worried and gloomy, are not that courteous on the streets/shops, not to mention aggressive (especially on the roads). And this is actually what a Greek friend of mine pointed out after visiting Warsaw recently...

By far most violence is a result of aggressive drunk idiots as Dominic pointed out.

There is a growing gay awareness, especially in Warsaw.

Overall, I thing Poles have a soft spot for Greeks in general, so you should be fine.

Enjoy your stay.

I agree with dougpol1 on this one. Polska dla polakow is becoming a problem nowadays :( . And yes, Poles love Greece so that's an advantage.


Come on, there is a LOT of fake smiling here, not even close to Greece.

Haven't travelled around the world too much have ya?


Who should be Poland for if not for the Poles?

IF you are white, you don't have to worry at all.

You are on a wind-up right? The bloke wants to come to Poland, and you are giving him the 'mares instead of hosting him? WTF is this?

why don't you shut the F up, what do you mean dark skin? polish people dont care about skin color( mostly) they care about cultural background... if you're a muslim/hindu they hate you, if you're pagan with pagan deeds, they feel disgusted, as far as I know Polish and Greek people get along really fine, and this is how they should be... go eat a donate randy you smell like ugly cigars

Its pretty far dude

No argue please ha ha.

Is there anything to do there? Some advice?

since when have Greeks had 'dark skin' anyway...?
OP you will be fine, just stay away from drunk people that is all, as others have said.
Xairete.

Plenty of Greeks are dark skinned and Italians also.LOL esp in summer and latest influx of immigration.

Dark skin, as in heavily tanned. Daughter's boyfriend Catalan; dark skinned. So some Greeks can be too? Never been there.

It depends on how you looks like if you have a dark skin it's definetely not safe.

↑ has dark skin and coming to Poland 18 years every month never had a bit of problem except from few,online only:)

@Marino_Kat

Poland isnt to welcoming against foreigners only from certain countries, namely sh1tholes. Greece isnt in that category. Youll be fine. If in doubt wear a golden dawn shirt and youll make plenty of friends.

I meant few online expats in Poland:)

What exactly do you mean with dark skin? Greeks have no dark skin, we are not africans.

Here is what i look like:

i.imgur.com/8me4f78.jpg

We look like all other europeans i think.

Out of interest whats the general opinion about Greeks and Greece in Poland?

To be honesty we dont learn very much about Poland here. I know its very catholic

Kali spera, Marino_Kat!

I trust you've learned some bare minimum Polish for your stay? Apropos, I've known many Greeks who are both light as well as darker-skinned. Possibly, those from the mountainous areas, like Thessalonika for instance, have a different appearance from those in Athens.

Having unfortunately never been to Greece, I wouldn't really know:-)

Best of luck, or in Polish, Powodzenia!!

Greeks are safe now among Poles. But, if Greeks continue to rudely molest Slavic Macedonia, it might happen that Slavs start to have negative feelings on Greeks. I mean, let us not forget that in fight against Macedonia, Greeks don`t hesitate to repeat Anglo-Franco-Germanic lie about late arrival of Slavs in Europe. See, Poles are also Slavs, Poland is big Slavic country and bottom line is that denying Macedonia, the way how Greeks doing that, Greeks also deny Poland. It is rather sad that Greek interests so openly overlap with Nazi German and in general western European anti-Slavic interests. Sad, yes, but, not surprising.

I dont think someone from Poland should interfer in this discussion between Greece and FYROM. Macedonia is a greek province. FYROM has nothing to do with Macedonia and just took the name. We dont allow that for obvious reasons.

1. FYROM tried to make claims on our norther provinces, which are the true Macedonia. Of course we fought that.

2. Slavs arrived in the area they live now in FYROM only in the year 600 after christ. That is a fact. Our emperor Maurikios ended their settlements and kicked them out, so they settled in what is now FYROM

We want them to stop to try stealing our fame and history and we make zero compromise regarding that. And it works. They now stop to name their places after our Alexander the Great and if we push more they will also give up the name Macedonia. The region they live on i called Carantania. Thats the name they can use.

And no, i speak no polish. aybe someone can teach me a few words?

How would i introduce myself?

In this case, it is someone from Serbia.


At the time Greeks didn't consider Macedonians to be Greek, nether consider Alexander a proper Greek. Funny how perception are flexible.
Anyhow what had happened to the Byzantine Empire and Romans?


Go with English, I'm sure someone will teach you a few words once you're there.