Greece hasn't strayed far from the headlines this year. Ever the economic sick man of Europe, severe post-credit crunch debt has meant the government has placed extreme measures of austerity on its people, including some massive public sector cuts. Among the things to blame: inadequate tax recovery, rampant nepotism, corruption, people employed in jobs that don’t actually exist and a popular custom whereby workers are paid 14 months salary per year. Having identified lawyers as among the worst tax dodgers in the country, the government introduced a new 21% tax on legal services.

Athens is a relatively compact city of six million people in a country of just ten million. It’s blessed with beaches, sunshine, orange trees on the streets and a proper Mediterranean vibe and is a delight for hellenophiles, historians and hedonists alike. Having successfully hosted the Olympic Games in 2004, the country sought to redeem some of its ancient glory through gradual gentrification and urban renewal. Significant improvements were made to the city’s infrastructure, including a brilliant new Metro that is cheap to use (€1 for two hours' travel across the network), clean and even has mini museums in some of the stations. Athens is stuffed full of ancient sites, of course, and there’s plenty to remind you that much of Western philosophy came from this very spot. On the downside, temperatures in the capital can reach 45°C in the height of summer, and there have been major problems with wildfires to the northeast of the city, some probably started by arsonists. Athens holds the all-time high temperature record in Europe - 48.0 °C; spring and autumn are much more comfortable.

Prices in Athens often match those in London, and yet the average monthly salary is far lower. Perhaps that’s why people feel so strongly about receiving a bonus two months’ salary each year and are prepared to join strikes and protests against the necessarily savage austerity measures imposed by European and other lenders. Greece has a hard core of anarchists and a track record of civil disorder. The death of three bank employees during demonstrations in May 2010 was not the first time innocent people have been hurt. And yet there's still definitely an element of having to show your wealth in Athens; for example, the city's marinas are chock full of superyachts.

If Athens is the cradle of civilisation, Piraeus is its hospital waiting room. The guidebooks would have us believe it's the sort of place you end up in if you're waiting for a ferry to take you somewhere better... or in this case if you're a trainee in a UK law firm. Piraeus is a port city, and although this means ships and less-than-inspiring architecture, there's also an abundance of sunshine, seafood and sailors. Athens is only nine kms away, and the blinding white sands of the Greek islands are at your feet. Whether it's weekend island hopping, the sleep-when-you're-dead nightlife, or the spectacular ruins of the Acropolis, a trainee seat in Piraeus or Athens is sure to be no Greek tragedy.

Work: With a passenger port without equal and a status as the third-largest port in the world, Piraeus is an obvious draw for a number of English shipping law specialists like Thomas Cooper, Holman Fenwick Willan, Ince & Co, Clyde and Co and Watson Farley & Williams. Depending on which firm you go to you may do finance or litigation in your overseas seat. Hill Dickinson trainees, for example, have more contentious work, particularly in arbitrations. Clydes offers a mix with “lots of charterparty disputes and dry work based on contracts.” In addition to shipping matters, some firms have also begun to pick up instructions relating to Greece’s nascent energy market or pharmaceuticals sector, though these don’t amount a sizable portion of business compared to the shipping work.

You can expect great coastal views from your office. On the down side, by many trainees’ admission Greek ship owners “can be very temperamental.” It’s not a requirement to speak Greek in the office, although we hear from our sources that some correspondence is conducted in the language. The hours in Piraeus usually begin at 10am and go on until around 8pm. Fret not as “there’s still time in the evening” to take in some of the late nightlife.

Rest and play: Trainees on their Big Fat Greek Secondment are almost always likely to land “a spacious apartment” with a balcony to admire a view or be serenaded from below. Unsurprisingly, several of the trainees we spoke to “had friends out to stay almost every weekend.” When showing your mates around, don’t forget the Parthenon on the Acropolis, which is the centrepiece of classical antiquity and a must-have Facebook-snap for any tourist. At the weekend your choices might include trips out to the Islands or into the mountains, or you could simply stay in the city and mingle with the expat community in Glyfada. Food, family and friends are priorities, and the quality of the food is excellent, especially in some of the rustic seafood restaurants where you can sample “oysters that are still moving so you have to squirt lemon juice on them to kill them off.”

For scholars of the classics or anyone who dislikes sand in their shoes, there is the newly opened state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum, though bear in mind that the British Museum’s retention of some of its marbles is a bit of a sore point with the Greeks. Football fans should head for Piraeus’ Olympiakos CFP where they can watch the hometown heroes. “Piraeus itself is not the cleanest of places; it’s working class and includes porn kiosks where sailors dock so they can buy DVD’s.” However you spend your time, a seat in Greece is a baklava-sweet deal. Earning a London salary, living rent-free in a vibrant city with easy access to the Greek islands every weekend leaves the Central Line and the occasional weekend in Stow-on-the-Wold flailing in its wake.