Tourist Opens Hotel Curtains on Vacation, Nothing Prepares Her for the View

There aren’t many better feelings than arriving at your hotel on vacation and taking in the view.
On a trip to Greece, you might be expecting a sparkling sea or ancient monuments in your line of vision. But one woman didn’t exactly get the views the southeastern European country is world-famous for when she checked into her hotel in the capital city of Athens.
And the woman’s reveal of what she saw when she opened her curtains has led her to go viral on TikTok, with a video shared to her account @redcharlottexoo racking up over 3 million views.
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Posted on August 14, the TikTok user, Carlotta, walks up to the window in her hotel room. The caption reads, “The view from my hotel in Athens, Greece,” along with a heart emoji.
However, as Carlotta pulls the curtains across, rather than looking over sea and sun, she instead sees a billboard advertising Shrek the Musical, with a person in full Shrek paint—bright green and including the ogre ears—grinning back at her.
Shrek is the smash-hit animated comedy released by DreamWorks in 2001, which featured a celebrity cast including Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers.
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It went on to spark multiple sequels and spinoffs, and in 2008 spawned a Broadway musical, later shown at the West End in London, England, and other international productions.
Shrek’s legacy has continued, thanks to countless memes across the internet, with the ogre becoming a genuinely iconic character—and TikTok users responded to Carlotta’s video in their droves.
Commenting on clip, which has over 421,000 likes, the official DreamWorks account wrote: “Athens is known for its stunning views.”
Another commented that the video “has no business being this funny,” while a third asked: “Did you get that upgrade for free or did you have to pay for it?”
“Out of all the things I was expecting, it definitely was not that,” one viewer wrote.
And one comment read: “The way I would pay extra for a room with a Shrek view.”
Shrek is so widespread online, having moved far beyond a children’s movie character, that one man went viral last year for getting “petty revenge” on his landlord using the green ogre.
Dylan Holson from Delaware was evicted from his apartment, and while demanding answers, projected the animated movie onto the building at full brightness and full volume, every night for days.
And in 2021, a man took inspiration from Little Free Libraries, where people take a book and leave a book, when he made a “Shrek box” for the city of Philadelphia, where people left art and notes about the character as a sign encouraged them to “Leave a Shrek, take a Shrek.”
The film franchise is now preparing for its big return, as DreamWorks Animation confirmed that the fifth installment, Shrek 5, will be hitting theaters on July 1, 2026.
The first Shrek film was the first-ever recipient of the Academy Award for best animated feature, and grossed almost half-a-billion dollars at the global box office.
Newsweek has reached out to @redcharlottexoo on TikTok for comment.
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