Driving in Greece

Driving in Greece needs either great courage or such a great sense of inner peace that not even the madness of Greek roads will disturb you. Because it is madness. Theoretically, Greeks drive on the right side of the road. And, again theoretically, are supposed to follow the same rules as everyone else in Europe (though the Greek driver probably doesn’t know or has forgotten or believes, like with any law imposed by the government, that it doesn’t count for him.

Don’t expect anyone to obey rules like “priority from the right” or “forbidden to pass another car on the right side”. Be alert and expect anything and everything - from cars driving against you on your side of the road (probably taking a short cut or having got lost), cars passing you at traffic lights and cars trying to push you into the ditch because you don’t drive fast enough (in that case – give the driver the finger, he’ll understand what you mean!). Having said that, keeping well into the right side of the road, even into the road shoulder, normally is a safe option. Just watch out for cars parked there (especially if it is forbidden)

STOP signs don’t mean stop. At least not always. You’ll soon find that many Greek traffic signs are put up for decoration only and if you actually stop where it says STOP you’re unlikely to see if there is coming any traffic. STOP means “take it easy and watch out”.

Especially where there are road work (road work always take place in the summer, when traffic is the busiest) there tend to be signs put up that will drive you mad if you should follow them. I do suspect the person responsible simply grab the fist signs he finds in the storage room. They go like this “30”, “One Way”, “80”, “Forbidden to pass”, “Steep curve to your left”…Best thing is to ignore them.

Talking about signs: In the crossroad up on the mountain outside my village, I frequently see foreign cars where the driver is standing outside scratching his head and looking bewildered. As the kind person I am, I use to stop and tell them where to drive – in most cases they’ve missed the connection to the highway to Thessalonica. The thing is, you need to know where the connection is to find it. Following the signs you’ll end up in the mountains, on a windy old road that also will take you to Thessalonica…...eventually.

And don’t think you can follow the map! Any road map of Greece is inaccurate. For instance, on the last road map I bought our neighbouring village is called Panagia while in reality the name is Agios Andreas. I bought the map a few years ago, when it had been decided that the new Egnatia highway would be built – so the highway was already placed on the map. They’re still building it and I’m curious to see whether the map and the road will resemble…

What can I say – driving in Greece is a true adventure. And you’re an adventurous person, non??

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