Driving in Greece

The picture above is not a stop sign. Be not deceived. No local driver will stop. It is curiously placed before a roundabout, which is common in Greece even though the point of roundabouts is to not force incoming traffic to stop. If you treat the ‘STOP’ sign as ‘YIELD’ then all is reasonable. Cars approach on your left and you can clearly see if there is traffic coming or a pedestrian crossing the road. Almost all stop signs in Agios Nicholaos are not meant to be stopped at, but there are TWO in town that you MUST STOP at.

One is INSIDE a round-about. Normally in a roundabout you have the right of way against incoming traffic…..but not here. The traffic entering at the point to your right has priority, and they will not stop. This stop sign is surrounded by red flashing lights. This is a reminder that this is a serious sign.

There is another where 2 roads merge, one road is coming up a hill so there is no visibility on either road. The STOP sign for what looks like the main road (you would expect a right of way) must be obeyed as the other lane has no stop sign. I have seen some local cars cruise through here and have seen 2 very near collisions.

Obviously when I first arrived I stopped at all the stop signs, which is correct if you are not a local (you might surprise someone following you but they already know you are foreign). Now I drive like a local. You must be very careful here….the roads are narrow, there are no visibly followed parking rules (park anywhere except you must leave enough space for a small car to just barely squeeze through); scooters are everywhere and zoom around like they want to donate organs; pedestrians often walk in the middle of the road (the sidewalks are in places impassable….sometimes from damage and sometimes from parked cars); the roads are very poorly lit at night (usually no lights at all) and stray cats are everywhere. A few weeks ago I had to pick something up from a local store and I bravely parked illegally: double parked on the side of the road and blocked in 3 other cars….and almost blocking the main lane (leaving just enough room!). It was just for a minute but I felt very local.

The policing is very Greek. If no-one is complaining then it is fine. I’ve only seen Greek police giving 2 tickets in town (in Toronto I could see 2 tickets written every hour): once a lady had parked in a clearly marked no-parking zone in front of a grocery store. As the officer was writing the ticket the lady said “But I’ve only been here for a minute'” without looking up, and with a bored look the officer told her that they had been called about her car over an hour ago. Too funny. Another time I was speeding a bit on a local highway and a cop stepped out from hiding to pull me over, but as soon as he looked at me he knew I was not Greek and he waved me along. How awesome is that!

One of my favorite local intersections is here:

Just leaving town there are 3 major roads merging. There are traffic lights hanging in the middle….but they have never worked. There are no stop signs, no lights, no official guidance just 3 big roads merging in a complicated way…..but traffic flows. I have gone through here a dozen times. I slow down, go into full driving hyper alert combat mode monitoring all other car actions and intentions. Your full attention is commanded. We have found evidence that signs and signals make driving easier. Our local area of Traffic Anarchy is the proof.