Hello there! We are the founders of ‘Be a Greek’, Dimitris Moutafidis and Antonis Chatzis, and this is our long story short. We are cousins. We grew up in Athens living in opposite houses on the same street. We used to call each other from outside our windows to arrange meeting at the local playground. Our favourite game was called ‘making plans to travel the world with an air-balloon’.
Dimitris started traveling a lot at a very young age because both his parents worked for Olympic Airways, the legendary Greek aviation enterprise. His mom was the definition of a traveller and Dimitris was lucky enough to join in the joys of exploring the unexplored quite early.
Antonis used to enjoy most of his summers in the Greek island of Tinos, as the son of a local keen marble artisan, having the chance to develop a strong passion for the sea, marble, and the local culture and arts in general. His passion for discovering human diversity through travel, stems from his grandpa who used to welcome each and every passer-by who visited his village into his home. Travellers from all over the world, re-visiting the village, still search for him.
There are a few key moments that inspired us to create our experiential traveling company, ‘Be A Greek’.
At a trip to Moscow In 2011, Antonis participated in an off-the-beaten-path experiential guided tour, which made him feel like a local. This was it! A couple of years later, he started organizing some tours to share the magic he had experienced. Dimitris returned to Greece from Italy, where he studied medicine and lived for 16 years, having the chance to dive deeper into the signature Mediterranean traveling culture that later helped us add depth, identity and value to our own signature vibe.
It took us 2,5 years of constant traveling together all over Greece, in order to educate ourselves firsthand. We left no little corner unexplored. We met with authentic people and understood how it really feels to indulge into pampering traveling services that stimulate all the senses. This is what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives, offering the best the industry has to offer to our travellers.
We launched ‘Be a Greek’ in 2016 and it’s a magical journey and success story ever since. We accommodated thousands of requests and travellers. Our Team grew up significantly. We thrived. We soon became one of the leading companies in tailored travel all over Greece. We started sharing our knowledge and experience with young entrepreneurs in different countries. We spoke at TEDx events and hosted international workshops.
We are still us, Dimitris and Antonis, easy-going, optimistic and full of dreams, sometimes unconventional, sometimes old-fashioned, always into adventure. We believe that we are natural born travellers and love to not just guide but co-travel with our travellers. Anything is possible when you see the world as your playground; from two opposite houses in the same street of Athens, to everywhere. No matter how big your dream is as a traveler, If there is a way, we can do it; you, us, and our family.