A DULOCH mum and her daughter endured holiday hell as they were mugged at knifepoint within hours of stepping foot in Greece.

After checking-in to their Athens hotel, Ruth and Rebecca Cottis walked to the Acropolis not knowing they would soon face an “almost unreal” encounter with three armed men.

“We took a different path back but missed a turning that we should have taken so we were retracing our steps when three young men leapt out in front of us,” Ruth told the Press.

“The first one smashed a bottle at our feet and the second one had a knife. They demanded our money and gold. We stood there passively while they took our phones, my daughter’s wallet, and my camera.

“It felt like something unreal was happening.

“My camera saved me as I think they thought it was my wallet.

“When we got home we phoned a doctor and told our friends and family what had happened. They were shocked and didn’t expect that to happen in Athens.”

Ruth said they had originally planned to visit Dubrovnik in Croatia for a short break as Ruth’s husband, Alan, was receiving respite care.

They decided against visiting Dubrovnik after reports of pick-pocketing in the city.

Following the traumatic incident in Athens, which has shattered their confidence, they found a man who could speak basic English and he phoned for the police.

During the wait, they spoke to locals who told them the incident was a “common occurrence”.

Ruth continued that Rebecca, 26, was able to cancel her bank cards after speaking with the tourist police in the city.

She said: “They said that we could not make a report if violence was involved.

“The duty policeman tried to persuade us to log the theft without mentioning the violence but we both wanted it noted that it was a violent crime so that they might police the area better.

“We were told that we needed to go to the Acropolis police station with our passports.

“The policeman said that he would phone ahead so that they would expect us.

“Before we left he handed us a leaflet, ‘Being safe in the city of Athens’.

“It said nothing about no-go areas in Athens but, ironically, on the cover there was a photograph of two policeman on bicycles in the place where we were mugged.”

They took a taxi back to the hotel to collect their passports and another taxi to the police station.

After more than three hours of waiting, they were finally able to record an incident number for their insurance company before returning to their hotel at 10.40pm, having not eaten since 6am that day, March 14.

Ruth, retired, added: “The next day we told the hotel receptionist that we were leaving. The deputy manageress told us that tourists were okay as long as they kept out of parks and woodlands and “certain parts of Athens”.

“She asked us why we were leaving. She didn’t understand my daughter was so traumatised that she didn’t want to leave the hotel.

“We bought tickets at a local travel agent and caught a flight to Edinburgh via Brussels. It wasn’t until we were through security that my daughter started to relax.”