Greek Melbourne, 2026

Who knew? Greek identity is huge in Melbourne It has largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece and Cyprus.

88% of Greek Australians (regardless of country of birth) speak Greek and 91% are members of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Greek Australians had the lowest rate of intermarriage (marrying outside their ethnicity) than every other race in the first, second and third generations.

Generally, children born to mixed marriages are much less likely to marry someone of a similar background and the original culture is completely lost within just two generations. However, children born to mixed-marriage Greek families tend to embrace Greek culture. This phenomenon allows the community to grow rather than shrink.

Of course, that meant seeking out a special Greek restaurant for dinner as we overnighted in Melbourne.

Luckily, we came across Astoria Bar Ke Grill, a new terrific restaurant owned and operated by Nik Pouloupatis, also the head chef.

They housed us in a special area which worked great for us and them as we were quite noisy. We told them just to make us a banquet.

The food was fantastic and just didn’t stop.

As a special treat, daughter Jessica is joining us tomorrow for the 18 day segment from Melbourne to Mali.