One thing to beware of for solo male travellers - around the base of the Acropolis and towards the Temple of Zeus there are middle aged men that come up to you and start to make conversation. They seem friendly enough and say that they are from so and so and visiting Athens and start to make conversation and get to a point of saying 'why don't we go for a quick drink?
Best thing, just say you're on a time constraint and walk away ASAP within your own politeness scale. I went with one that approached me outside the the Acropolis Museum. He was Italian and seemed nice enough and was walking in the direction I was going so I went with him to this little place called the Hollywood Pub I can look after myself so was not concerned. The next thing, an older woman walks over and introduces herself to the guy and sits down and then a minute later younger girl came over and did the same to me.
After the usual introductions she asks if she can have a drink. Obviously I'm onto this now and say no and she gets up and goes, then the bar guy comes over and asks for payment for the drink - 5 euro for a small glass of Fanta. To avoid any trouble I paid, got up and left.
The next day, at Hadrian's Gate, another older guy came over and when he asked to go for a drink I said no and walked. Definitely the right way to deal with these types of situations. This scam has been pointed out in the past here in the forums. It happened to me too. There were about eight policemen around the corner and I told what happened inside.
In a normal country police would help you if you were threatened and ripped off. They just kept talking to me and said I could report it at the station and were reluctant to help me in a way you should expect. The guy from the bar and police talked friendly further. At the hotel I stayed, they said this has happened many times in the past. The police doesn't do anything against them. It looks very easy to collect evidence and put them in jail, but in Greece they're quite reluctant to do this.
