A recap of what we’ve learnt in Greece

The following is a quick summary of what we’ve found in Greece:

1. Google Maps allows you to save locations offline onto your phone. This is a godsend when you’re out and about with no idea where you are and with no internet connection available. You can load the maps, use the GPS, and even search for streets or important locations and they’ll come up without any internet access.
2. We read on some websites that tipping is expected in Greece. We found that people were more shocked when you tipped and everyone immediately provided the correct change when we paid. We tipped a taxi driver a couple of euros and it looked like we told him that we saved Christmas from the Grinch.
3. The water is potable but we stuck to bottled water to be on the safe side. You can get a 1.5L bottle of water for around 60c (~$0.90AUD).
4. Not everyone understands and speaks clear English so it would be helpful to know some basic phrases like ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, and ‘a small Cappuccino with milk and one sugar’.
5. On the topic of coffee, the phrases we use for coffee don’t seem to mean the same thing here. When asking for a coffee you need to be very clear what you want in your cup. Instead of saying black coffee you just ask for a coffee with no milk. If you want a coffee with milk you just ask for a coffee with milk. I ended up asking for milk even though the type of coffee required milk to begin with.
6. We’ve found that some places charge different taxes. We tried to work out ourselves why it varied between places but after a quick Google search we found that there are different categories of goods and services which are taxed anywhere between 6% and 23%.
7. The WiFi hostspots can be excruciatingly slow but 99% of Australia lives with slow internet so that’s not a new experience.
8. All places have such a large range of foods available. You can walk past a café and see at least 5 foods you’ve never seen before. You should definitely just try some foods even if you don’t know how to pronounce them. We did this at a patisserie in Athens and weren’t disappointed.
9. The traffic seems chaotic but remarkably no one seems to get hurt. Everyone is very alert on the streets despite the obvious disorganisation. When people cross the street in front of oncoming traffic, the cars just slow down and let the person cross with no horning or abuse. It seems like the roads are properly shared between cars and pedestrians.
10. The people of Greece are genuinely friendly and where they can speak English, are more than happy to help.