Greece Travelogue, Part 1
Jun. 26th, 2010 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michiexileI'm in Ναύπακτοϛ for the International Conference on Topology and its Applications; and that is as good a reason as any to write a little Travelogue. For now, let me tell you about cars.
My beloved![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
amerikabrev came down to Athens just after me, so that she could enjoy our hotel while I'd be conferencing, and then join me for a bit of Touristing In Greece once the conference is done. So I've booked a rental car through this one awesome Swedish car rental site that deals with insurance all-inclusive, and STILL manages to get you a complete and utter bargain. We pay about €250 for 9 days rental, effectively without ANY deductible. (if we DO need the insurance, we get the deductible back afterwards).
And then the surprises started coming. We first got upgraded from mid-level Economy class to a 7-seat big-as-a-bus Fiat; with the caveat that if we didn't like that one, we could ask for a different car in the lot. Once we saw it, we IMMEDIATELY decided to opt for a different car - it wouldn't fit all our luggage, and had WAY too much space for the 2-3 people we'd have in the car.
So, the rental guy says, if the Fiat was too big, maybe this one won't do either? This one Alfa Romeo? Hightech-y? Gadget-y? HUGE trunk, the typical Alfa Romeo rotated speed gauge (you think you're doing 50kmh, based on the angle? Think again - π radians means you're doing 100kmh...), speed, acceleration, handling....
We took the Alfa.
And Oh my GOODNESS. She's SUCH a joy to drive you'd hardly believe it. Except for you, dad, I know you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Suited up with the car, we took off. And most of the time, had a rather leisurely drive along the 4, no 3, no 2 lane wide side of the highway. Until we decided to stop for food, andamerikabrev tried to figure out where we were. She could find a place that looked right, but we couldn't POSSIBLY be there.
Yeeeeah. We were almost at Tripoli. Smack in the middle of the mountains of Peloponnesos. Far, far away from where we were headed. Time to backtrack 50km and get it right on the second time through Korinthos.
Which reminds me of the speed. The glorious speed. We gave up on speed limits early on, and decided instead to follow the traffic flow. Doing this put me at about 130-150kmh all the way back to Korinthos, so the 50km backtrack was about 20min before we were back on the right way again.
And then 2 lanes became 1, and the separation between directions vanished. At which point we realized one fundamental difference between our earlier car vacations and this one. Greeks drive like f*cking insane crazy psychopaths. Luckily, I spotted the VERY crowded passing that one guy tried to do as we approached from the other direction; it was a bit of a shock to see us go three wide on what amounts to a standard country road. And as it turns out, all the cars who try to stick to the speed limit drive almost exclusively on the shoulder. Why? So that everyone else can squeeze past no matter how much traffic is coming at you from the other direction - duh!
Eventually, the highway widened again as we were approaching Patras and the bridge over from Peloponnesos we needed to take to get to Nafpaktos. So we stopped at a Shell station, and unsure of whether the car turned off the lights automatically I turned off the headlights. One restroom visit later we pulled out and got going - only to IMMEDIATELY get waved down by a police patrol.
At which point the friendly policeman wielding the alcotester wrote down Roland under Patronymikon. Oh well. I blew clean, and was told to, please, turn on my headlights, mm'kay?
City driving turned out to be about as much fun as country highway driving - narrow, overcrowded dark streets with cars and pedestrians coming at you from all directions and not all that much clues as to where you're going, why, and how you'll get there. We'll let the car rest for a while during the conference, me-thinks.
More later, including - once I get a good shot of it - a night time shot of the gorgeously lit bridge we drove across. (for €12 bridge toll - no taxes means a constant paying of tolls all over the place for us...)
My beloved
amerikabrev came down to Athens just after me, so that she could enjoy our hotel while I'd be conferencing, and then join me for a bit of Touristing In Greece once the conference is done. So I've booked a rental car through this one awesome Swedish car rental site that deals with insurance all-inclusive, and STILL manages to get you a complete and utter bargain. We pay about €250 for 9 days rental, effectively without ANY deductible. (if we DO need the insurance, we get the deductible back afterwards).And then the surprises started coming. We first got upgraded from mid-level Economy class to a 7-seat big-as-a-bus Fiat; with the caveat that if we didn't like that one, we could ask for a different car in the lot. Once we saw it, we IMMEDIATELY decided to opt for a different car - it wouldn't fit all our luggage, and had WAY too much space for the 2-3 people we'd have in the car.
So, the rental guy says, if the Fiat was too big, maybe this one won't do either? This one Alfa Romeo? Hightech-y? Gadget-y? HUGE trunk, the typical Alfa Romeo rotated speed gauge (you think you're doing 50kmh, based on the angle? Think again - π radians means you're doing 100kmh...), speed, acceleration, handling....
We took the Alfa.
And Oh my GOODNESS. She's SUCH a joy to drive you'd hardly believe it. Except for you, dad, I know you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Suited up with the car, we took off. And most of the time, had a rather leisurely drive along the 4, no 3, no 2 lane wide side of the highway. Until we decided to stop for food, and
amerikabrev tried to figure out where we were. She could find a place that looked right, but we couldn't POSSIBLY be there.Yeeeeah. We were almost at Tripoli. Smack in the middle of the mountains of Peloponnesos. Far, far away from where we were headed. Time to backtrack 50km and get it right on the second time through Korinthos.
Which reminds me of the speed. The glorious speed. We gave up on speed limits early on, and decided instead to follow the traffic flow. Doing this put me at about 130-150kmh all the way back to Korinthos, so the 50km backtrack was about 20min before we were back on the right way again.
And then 2 lanes became 1, and the separation between directions vanished. At which point we realized one fundamental difference between our earlier car vacations and this one. Greeks drive like f*cking insane crazy psychopaths. Luckily, I spotted the VERY crowded passing that one guy tried to do as we approached from the other direction; it was a bit of a shock to see us go three wide on what amounts to a standard country road. And as it turns out, all the cars who try to stick to the speed limit drive almost exclusively on the shoulder. Why? So that everyone else can squeeze past no matter how much traffic is coming at you from the other direction - duh!
Eventually, the highway widened again as we were approaching Patras and the bridge over from Peloponnesos we needed to take to get to Nafpaktos. So we stopped at a Shell station, and unsure of whether the car turned off the lights automatically I turned off the headlights. One restroom visit later we pulled out and got going - only to IMMEDIATELY get waved down by a police patrol.
License? Registration? Where are you from? Father's name? Really? Father's name? Yes. Father's name. Well, my father is named Roland Johansson.
At which point the friendly policeman wielding the alcotester wrote down Roland under Patronymikon. Oh well. I blew clean, and was told to, please, turn on my headlights, mm'kay?
City driving turned out to be about as much fun as country highway driving - narrow, overcrowded dark streets with cars and pedestrians coming at you from all directions and not all that much clues as to where you're going, why, and how you'll get there. We'll let the car rest for a while during the conference, me-thinks.
More later, including - once I get a good shot of it - a night time shot of the gorgeously lit bridge we drove across. (for €12 bridge toll - no taxes means a constant paying of tolls all over the place for us...)
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 12:31 am (UTC)Greece is beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 12:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 06:42 pm (UTC)On the other hand, if you drive through Sparta (that's just behind Tripoli), you'll see crosses all along the mountain road. Road heroes had died there.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 04:57 pm (UTC)Sources:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Road_safety_at_regional_level#Further_Eurostat_information
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Transport_safety
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 09:35 am (UTC)"The Germans like to drive one inch in front of your front bumper, but they're very predictable. The Italians like to drive one inch behind your rear bumper, but they're very skilled. The Belgians like to drive exactly where you are, but they're neither skilled nor predictable".
The number of wrecks you'd see on the highway testified to the kernel of truth in the joke.