Sharks in Preveza, Greece!

[nimbusgb]

Be warned there are sharks on the prowl in Greece and tourists are their meal of choice!

Just got a note from a pal who parked at Aktio airport to pick someone up. Parked in the same place everyone else was parked and always does park.

€80 fine, not far off a UK fine! Seems the Greeks are out to balance the books with the aid of tourist Euros.

With all the helmet less motorcycle riders riding 2 and 3 up with mobile phones cigarettes and cheese pies in hand, double and triple parked cars in Preveza and Levkas, overtaking on blind corners and all the other regular traffic infringements one can only be somewhat cynical about the attitude of the local cops to target the airport.

Golden goose for lunch anyone?

Oh and don't get me started on why on some traffic circles the traffic ON the circle gives way to incoming traffic. It's hilarious the way the circle at the top end of Preveza high street can snarl up in seconds when the traffic load gets to a certain point! Everyone ON the circle stopped waiting for others to drive in too! The Greek psyche takes over and the situation is addressed with horn honking and lots of cries of 'Malakas'. Should be grandstand seats around that circle. Better than watching football!

 

[little_roundtop]

The poor Greeks can't win. People moan when they don't collect taxes and then they moan when they do!

 

[Retired in Crete]

Oh and don't get me started on why on some traffic circles the traffic ON the circle gives way to incoming traffic. It's hilarious the way the circle at the top end of Preveza high street can snarl up in seconds when the traffic load gets to a certain point! Everyone ON the circle stopped waiting for others to drive in too! The Greek psyche takes over and the situation is addressed with horn honking and lots of cries of 'Malakas'. Should be grandstand seats around that circle. Better than watching football!

Could this possibly be because the Greek equivalent of the highway code clearly states that you "give way to traffic from the right unless the road signs say otherwise"? This rule also applies to the majority of Europe.

John

 

[fastjedi]

Phew .... you had me going for a second. We have a week of Sunsail Beachclub booked for the end of June ..... I was thinking we would be stuck on the beach too scared to enter the water ... especially the way I sail dinghies!

 

[dulcibella]

What do you expect in the third world? Actually, my experience of third world countries has generally been much better than Greece.

 

[lefkasman]

Just got a note from a pal who parked at Aktio airport to pick someone up. Parked in the same place everyone else was parked and always does park.
€80 fine, not far off a UK fine! Seems the Greeks are out to balance the books with the aid of tourist Euros.

I would be willing to bet that your pal parked either on a taxi rank or a pick up/ set down area reserved for taxi cabs, the airport police are notoriously touchy about that, I made the same mistake a few years ago, the cop got so aggressively over the top that I thought at one point that he was either going to at the best arrest me at the worst shoot me, in the end some of the policeman's colleagues intervened calmed him down and I was sent on my way lesson learned, looking back on it I sometimes wonder if the whole thing was not their idea of a joke, the Greeks do at times have a strange sense of humour

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Could this possibly be because the Greek equivalent of the highway code clearly states that you "give way to traffic from the right unless the road signs say otherwise"? This rule also applies to the majority of Europe.

John

+1

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

What do you expect in the third world? Actually, my experience of third world countries has generally been much better than Greece.

Form a retired University Professor, I would have expected a more decent comment than this

 

[dulcibella]

Perhaps I was somewhat immoderate in my utterance (for which I apologise), but a post-war history of a civil war, a military coup, fomenting a civil war in Cyprus, telling lies to get into the EU then awarding themselves a free ride at the EU's expense doesn't strike me as the behaviour of a modern European democracy.

 

[nimbusgb]

Was going through Aktio airport yesterday evening and the flight was delayed an hour so I thought I'd get a meal. Rather than use one of the truly atrocious taverna's next to the airport I reckoned on popping back to Panos's, relaxing with a cold beer and a plate of one of the specials.

Taxi drivers at the airport wanted €15 ( each way ) for the 2 kilometer trip!

The young lady at Europe car rentals loaned me a car ( just returned and 'still dirty' ) for 2 hours for a tenner!