DIRECTORY A-Z
SAFE TRAVEL
May Day (Protomagia) 1 May
Whit Monday (Agiou Pnev-
matos) 50 days after Easter
Sunday
Feast of the Assumption
15 August
Ohi Day 28 October
Christmas Day 25 December
St Stephen’s Day
26 DecemberSafe Travel
Adulterated & Spiked
Drinks
Adulterated drinks (known as
bombes) are served in some
bars and clubs in Athens and
resorts known for partying.
These drinks are diluted with
cheap illegal imports that
leave you feeling worse for
wear the next day.
At many of the party re-
sorts catering to large budg-
et-tour groups, spiked drinks
are not uncommon; keep
your hand over the top of your
glass. More often than not,
the perpetrators are foreign
tourists rather than locals.Touris t Polic e
The tourist police work in
cooperation with the regular
Greek police. Each tourist
police offi ce has at least
one member of staff who
speaks English. Hotels,
restaurants, travel agencies,
tourist shops, tourist guides,
waiters, taxi drivers and bus
drivers all come under the
jurisdiction of the tourist po-
lice. If you have a complaint
about any of these, report it
to the tourist police and they
will investigate. If you need to
report a theft or loss of pass-
port, then go to the tourist
police fi rst, and they will act
as interpreters between you
and the regular police.Smoking
In July 2009 Greece brought
in antismoking laws similar to
those found throughout most
of Europe. Smoking is now
banned inside public places,
with the penalty being fi nesplaced on the business own-
ers. Greece is home to some
of the heaviest smokers in
Europe, so it is a challenge
for these laws to be enforced
and they are often imposed
in only a nominal way in re-
mote locations.Telephone
The Greek telephone serv-
ice is maintained by the
public corporation known
as OTE (pronounced o-teh;
Organismos Tilepikoinonion
Ellados). There are public
telephones just about every-
where, including in some
unbelievably isolated spots.
The phones are easy to oper-
ate and can be used for local,
long-distance and inter-
national calls. The ‘i’ at the
top left of the push-button
dialling panel brings up the
operating instructions in
English. Note that in Greece
the area code must always
be dialled when making a call
(ie all Greek phone numbers
are 10-digit).Mobile Phones
There are several mobile
service providers in Greece,
among which Panafon,
CosmOTE and Wind are the
best known. Of these three,
CosmOTE tends to have
the best coverage in remote
areas. All off er 2G connectiv-
ity and pay-as-you-talk serv-
ices by which you can buy a
rechargeable SIM card and
have your own Greek mobile
number. The use of a mobile
phone while driving in Greece
is prohibited, but the use of a
Bluetooth headset is allowed.
For details on using your
mobile in Greece see p 16.Phonecards
All public phones use OTE
phonecards, known as
telekarta, not coins. These
cards are widely available at
periptera (street kiosks), cor-
ner shops and tourist shops.
A local call costs around
€0.30 for three minutes.
It’s also possible to use
payphones with the grow-ing range of discount-card
schemes. This involves
dialling an access code and
then punching in your card
number. The OTE version
of this card is known as
‘Hronokarta’. The cards come
with instructions in Greek
and English and the talk time
is enormous compared to the
standard phonecard rates.Time
Greece maintains one time
zone throughout the country.
It is two hours ahead of GMT/
UTC and three hours ahead
on daylight-saving time –
which begins on the last Sun-
day in March, when clocks
are put forward one hour.
Daylight saving ends on
the last Sunday in October.Toilet s
» (^) Most places in Greece have
Western-style toilets, espe-
cially hotels and restaurants
that cater for tourists. You’ll
occasionally come across
Asian-style squat toilets in
older houses, kafeneia (cof-
fee houses) and public toilets.
» (^) Public toilets are a rarity,
except at airports and bus
and train stations. Cafes are
the best option if you get
caught short, but you’ll be
expected to buy something
for the privilege.
» (^) The Greek plumbing sys-
tem can’t handle toilet paper;
apparently the pipes are too
narrow and anything larger
than a postage stamp seems
to cause a problem. Toilet
paper etc should be placed
in the small bin provided next
to every toilet.
Tourist
Information
Tourist information is han-
dled by the Greek National
Tourist Organisation, known
by the initials GNTO abroad
and EOT (Ellinikos Organ-
ismos Tourismou) within
Greece. The quality of service