Combing Out the Travel Knots...Part I

Returning to Austin late last week was as arduous as getting to Greece a few months ago.  Both ways, I had completely new itineraries.  While there are no assurances that I have learned anything recycleable during our milieu of Daily Fruitbasket Turnover,  I'll drop the dime anyway and see if you can use any of my experience.

First night back in Austin (the first 'day' according to my ruffled circadians) I serendipitously met a young hellenophile. We wound up having coffee at 4 a.m. to talk about Greece.    His questions spurred this blogpost, since it seems I might know one or two things worth sharing.

As my friend Wu pointed out yesterday, there is a difference between a tourist and a traveler, and I hope my readers consider themselves the latter.  Not a tourist, nor a refugee or ex-pat, but like me, willing to spend the time and energy to actually dwell (albeit lightly) in the faintly bedazzled sweetness of an unfamiliar sky.

[Full disclosure: I will probably affiliate this blogsite with some of the services mentioned herein, so if you do get to clickin', please look for the clutter on the margins of this post. Inelegant, yes, but perhaps helpful for both of us...]

First, let's talk about dates.  People, you want to be in the Eastern Mediterranean from late September until early April.  Maybe until Easter.  No later.  I have now experienced ellenikaApril and the onset of tourist season in early May, and it isn't pretty.  Not only are there a welter of very confused UK drivers on the road (who wind up in your lane on a regular basis), prices for many things rise about 25% every week in April.

Now, on to transportation: Buses, cars, ferries, metro.  The bus system in Greece is KTEL/ΚΤΕΛ (no that V has not tumped over, it's an L). Each prefecture and state has its own website.  Thus ~ ktelioannina, http://ktelattikis.gr/, ktelprevezas.gr/... etc.  Each website is designed differently, so you'll have to poke around a bit, but there's an English option on most.  Every site has a schedule of local destinations and an itinerary for buses to Athens and Thessaloniki, the two 'largest' (cough) cities in the country.   They almost never publish prices, but I can tell you to expect 8-15€ for local, 35-50€ to Athens or Thessa.

When traveling across Greece, you may realize that a roundtrip bus ticket is more than the price of a car for a couple of days, and reconsider public transport.   In the cities you'll need a particular kind of sensibility to deal with Greek drivers (I have it in spades), but the countryside is less obstreperous. If you are not in a hurry (try not to be) the state highways run alongside the expensive toll road system (Etnikas); otherwise budget another 20-25€ to get to your destination.

Roadwool

I reserved a car through Sixt before starting this journey, but found upon arrival that the major rental companies are charging a 900-1400€ deposit.   The lowest deposit was Europcar at 500€.   It took a while, but I found a mainland company --carNmotion-- that rented with NO deposit.   While the daily rate was not the 8€/per diem broadcast by Hotwire, Expedia, etc. it was quite reasonable (<20€ a day), and served my purposes perfectly.  But you should know that carNmotion subleases from Enterprise, so you have to go to Enterprise offices, which are usually in town, not at the airport.  And they do NOT provide cars at any of the 'local' depots shown in their list until April.   Call or write and ask where the nearest pickup might be.   And add the bus rides to and from those offices into your budget.

The islands are another story.  Just walk in, hand over your dab of money, and drive away.  Don't bother to reserve anything, there are dozens of little rental agencies.  Yes, you can also rent scooters and bicycles in the same way.  Cash works.

The Metro system in Athens is very good, as are the bus systems in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina.
A week's pass on the Metro system --which goes out to Piraeus and the airport-- is 9€, an excellent deal.  Otherwise the day pass is about 2€.  City buses are between 1-1.50€.

You're gonna wanna keep this map.  

The cheapest ferry to the islands is the Blue Star out of Piraeus port.   And they have terrible terrible food on board, so bring your own.    Routes are 25-50€ each way.   Their wifi is an additional 5€ charge for 24 hours, and if you don't pony up, expect your dataplan to burn like fatwood otherwise.   There is free parking right by the ticket offices, or you can pay another 20€ and bring your car, but most rental companies prohibit ferry transport of their automobiles.

Lodging is abundant & cheap.  I haven't used couchsurfing yet, but will as soon as I have a place to trade into that network.   There is, of course, the hostel system.  Air BnB continues to delight and amaze.  I have also had really good luck with Booking.com over the last couple of years, not sure how they do it, but their prices are consistently 25-30% lower than otherwise published.

Food is something of a splitscreen.  In the South (Attika, Pelepponese, Boeitia, islands) food is more expensive across the board. 1/2 kilo cheese ~ around 8€; in the North, same cheese, 5.   By 'North' I mean anything north of Preveza or Volos - Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia.  I was able to put together a kitchen list with coffee and table wine for about 35€ a week in the North; closer to 50 in the South. There are grocery chains owned by Germans (LIDL for example), and others owned by Greeks (My Market or AB). Try to stick with the Greekgrocers.   Oh, and most food would qualify as 'organic' if it was being sold here in the States.

Now that you have an idea about how to move around, where to stay and how to eat - what to do. There is a robust music and drama scene throughout Greece, antiquities under each step, a lively and quite mantic geography, a kebab & café scene that will leave the inside of your mouth wondering what took you so long; not to mention Crete, Turkey, Egypt less than a half-day's travel away.   In 2015 I was invited to Cyprus to write;  went back in 2016 to mourn; and this year to resuscitate my creative life, so I wasn't in the 'entertainment' stream very often.   But it is out there, especially in Athens and Ioannina.  Oh, and Dodona... 

Next post: Language and Data/phone plans.