Faking at acting like a local

While in Chalkida, we decided that we would buy some nominal foodstuffs.  We had an apartment and it had a real refrigerator and an induction stove.  There was also an oven, but...no.  

Now, we have been to grocery stores in Greece before.  There is a perfectly lovely one on the walk from where we normally park our car in Nafpilo to where we stayed during our second visit.  Something like a small Shaws.  All the basics, labeled aisles, nothing too fancy.  

This time we stopped a Lidl.  We had no idea what this was.  We walked inside, and immediately, I recognized that we needed a cart, except all the carts were outside.  Leaving the store, however, requires one to go through a checkout lane, and the empty lanes are blocked by a metal gate.  Somehow, I get out.  

Now, I am confronted by the cart system.  You need a coin to unlock the cart.  I have no coins.  Randall has been the holder of the money, except for tolls, and those coins are in the locked car, for which Randall has the keys.  So, I go back inside, find Randall and get a coin.  You can see where this is going, right?  Because I couldn't read the instructions on the cart to understand that there was a minimum coin value and that this wasn't a rental fee.  This was merely incentive.  

So I go back outside, slipping through the gate, again, with a 20-cent coin which will not work.  Now, having seen someone return a cart and another person get a cart, I understand.  Back inside.  Get the 50-cent coin.  Back outside.

Success!  The 50-cent coin allows me to unlock the cart from the chain of carts, and it is encouragement for me to return the cart and re-lock it in order to release my coin.  Otherwise, I suppose it is payment to the store for the employee to herd the carts, or maybe a gift to the beggars if they are willing to do the work, which I don't think they do since I missed grabbing a cart that was unlocked before someone else snatched it, and there was some Roma mother begging at the door for the coins, who stopped hitting me up after my 2nd unsuccessful attempt to get a cart.

Ok, so after 10 minutes of getting a cart, we were finally able to shop.

Lidl is like Costco at 1/10 the size and Target.  Could also be Walmart, but again it is no larger than an a normal grocery store.  There were large sizes or items that could only be purchased in bulk, as well as clothing and toiletries along side power tools and appliances and beach supplies.  We assiduously went up and down each aisle, examining the offerings.  The bread dispenser and loaf slicer were a hoot, like a game with a shovel behind glass.  Ice cream bars in packages of 8 some of which we knew we would leave as a gift to our Airbnb host.  The dairy aisle had cases and cases of cheese in a variety of types (mostly local, but some imported), size, pre-sliced or wedge, but milk is only sold in a one-litre plastic-coated "juice box".  Palmolive makes shampoo.  Quaker Oats sells cereal.  Bulk soda is 6 1-liter bottles.  Yet paper towels are only sold one roll at a time.  No fruit or vegetables.  No fresh proteins (only frozen).  Eggs are shelf stable for 10 days.  It was surreal and enlightening.

We made it out only 42€ in debt, which seemed an astronomical number considering our previous grocery store run in Heraklion for eggs, milk, cereal, bananas, toothpaste and some other random items was 22€.  But at Lidl, I could also buy a cross-cut mitre saw or an espresso machine for 79.99€ or an inflatable paddle board for 299.99€, so who knows!