Visiting Greece now as a Muslim – I was nervous and excited

 By Stefanie Danopoulos, 28 years old

The last summer I visited Greece was in 1999. That time I was already reading about Islam and did a lot of thinking. When I came back to Holland I decided to convert to Islam. And after a few months I started to wear the veil, hijab.

I lost contact with my family for almost two years. When I had my first child the contact slowly became better.

My parents always told me that it was not possible to go back to Greece with my hijab. And my biggest problem was that I don’t speak Greek.

My father is from Greece (Korinthos) and my mother is from Holland. I was born and raised in Holland but we traveled to Greece every year in the summer. I think that it is really important that you can explain to the people in their language why you dress that way.

A few months ago we had a conference in Holland and then I met Anna, a Greek Muslim sister. I was so happy and I even took her to my mother’s house to show her that there are Muslims in Greece. My mother was very surprised.

A few months later, they had a meeting in Greece for the Muslims Association of Greece. My parents and sisters were all in Greece and Anna told me that I had to come. And I told my parents I had plans to come and they said that I was welcome. So I booked my ticket and finally after 11 years I came back to Greece.

I was very nervous but also very excited.

The first two days I spent at the conference in Athens meeting other Greek Muslims, alhamdulillah! I had a very nice time.

And I thought that everybody would look at me in a bad way but they did not even care. 

Then I met my family in Ancient Korinthos. I was very, very nervous about the reactions. When I arrived some friends of my parents were waiting for me. They were very happy to see me and one friend of my father asked if I came from dancing because of my clothes. So my mother told him that it is a new fashion. I spoke to some relatives and nobody said crazy things.

I noticed that most of them speak English, so thank God, that was very nice. I didn’t really have the chance to tell them something about Islam because I was there only one day and my parents wanted to show me everything. They were so happy that I came.

I had a great time. And, God willing, next year I will go back to Greece with my husband and kids.

I spent my last day in the island of Andros. It was very beautiful and I even swam in the sea.  Also the people there were very nice and I did not feel left out or something.

In Holland, people look at you in a different way, but I think that it is because of the negative media attention. So most people in Holland see Islam in a bad way and they feel threatened by veils and beards and long dresses. In Greece I felt very relaxed.

I had a great experience and I will go back again for holiday, God willing!