Back to Preparing, Part 1

For Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology, or other related majors: You may be able to order a pass that lets you get into all the sites and museums for FREE, but only if you are a student studying ancient Greece (the Ministry of Culture will go over your application with a fine-toothed comb).  I waited till I got there to get mine; big mistake - 5 day wait.  Try to get it before you go.  What you have to do:  Bring (or send) a letter from your department head at school (on school letterhead) informing the National Museum and Cultural Ministry that you are a student of said major who is studying Greek History, Archaeology, etc. and that you would like to obtain this pass.  You must also provide two passport sized photos of yourself.  Unfortunately the person who processes these applications (one which involves dealing with foreigners daily) only knows Greek.  I had to use a telephone relay to someone else while there in order to communicate with her.  If in person, you must go to the back gate at the National Museum from 12pm to 2pm weekdays, and expect a few days' wait if it does get approved.  It saved me a bundle though, so I am still glad I got it. - Sidenote: It was taken (though often suspicously) everywhere I went except at the Museum at Delphi.  One person who does not think you are on the up and up can throw the whole thing off.  A stubborn lady at the museum was intent on making me pay the expensive entrance charge (she swore I had faked the entire pass, though all the stamps showed the correct dates), but finally the director was informed and she called Athens to substantiate the pass.  She apologized profusely and even threw in some free booklets (though she was very friendly and not at fault at all).  I did not make a big fuss, but the ticket-taker was so furious at the thought of me trying to fake a pass that she brought the director's attention.  I hope this type of situation does not happen to you, but such misunderstandings are possible (just do not get too upset about).

Letters & Packages home: Since I was saving so much from not paying entrance fees, I bought quite a few tourist books.  I usually stuck with the nice gold and black ones when there were no actual archaeological site guides.  They have them for most places and you can usually find them cheap if you look around. They are not the most scholarly things and they tend to fall apart after a few years back home, but the pictures are usually really good and they are of some use.  I had so many books that I sent them home in a package and to my surprise they arrived around four days later.  Please do not expect this when you go though.  From what I have heard, this was an exception.  On my second trip, one of my four packages home never arrived and one was opened and some books removed before they made it back to me.  Needless to say I was quite upset, losing about $50 worth of books.

The Language Problem:
I really do not know much modern Greek, but if you know Ancient Greek it can still help you out quite a bit.  Reading things is only possible if you know the Greek alphabet, so at least get that down.  I would really recommend getting some language tapes and trying your best to learn some if your staying for more than a week and a half.  Since I was there five weeks I tried to learn as much as I could, but only got the most important phrases like "where does this bus go?", "where is a cheap hotel/room?", "do you speak English?"  Though on a whole I was not impressed with the general behavior towards foreigners of most of the big-city Greeks I met.  I know that will offend some people, but I cannot say that I was around too many Greeks who were not tourist-hardened.  My experience with people in smaller towns was entirely different.  Regardless, it really will help their attitude towards you if you know some Greek.  This is especially true in the mountains of northwestern Greece where fewer people know English!  Also always remember if you really need someone who can speak English, ask a child.  Children will invariably know English better than adults.

Buy this book today! Ok. This is not really a legitimate phrasebook, but it is fun.  You can pick up numerous handy phrasebooks, but Wicked Greek for the Traveler is particularly funny and under $4.00.  Here is an example from it:
 

Food!: Unfortunately I didn't care too much for the Greek cuisine.  I've tried to make myself like it, but no matter how delicious some people claim that Greek food is, I don't think I'll ever be too fond of it.  Whenever I decided to treat myself to a better meal, I wound up eating Italian.  You can get bottled water very cheap (it helps to always have some with you), and sandwiches at grocery stores or little shops are inexpensive also.  I always kept something to snack on in my backpack since often you are nowhere near a place to buy anything, and it costs way too much at the little stands right next to the touristy places.  Try getting a Coke (or even some water) halfway up the Acropolis and you'll see what I mean.  In most restaurants (some great ones on Aegina were the ones I remember best) you actually go into the kitchen to see what there is to choose from. This is good since most Greek menus are notoriously inaccurate. To make matters worse, many of them are in Greek.

(Questions to ask at supper from the Wicked Traveler: What is this? An eggplant-related item? Lamb and lamb by-products? What mythical creature lurks beneath the surface? How recently was it captured/killed? I'll take one of these and two of those.  Please remove the head/eyes/squid parts. Make sure I get absolutely none of that substance right there.      Other meal-time statements for your waiter: Hey Hermes! Get those winged feet in motion! This fish is cold. Throw it back into the wine-dark sea. Bring us something hotter than room temperature. We'd like to eat before the rosy-fingered dawn.)

On the way back, you will probably want to get rid of all the change that you don't want to keep as souveniers since most exchange services will not take anything but bills.  This is really not too much of a problem since there's not much change with high value, but it will save you from having a lot of jingling as you walk through the airports.  Also you might even want to keep a few small denomination bills so that you can laminate them when you get back and make some nice bookmarks out of them.  I've seen these for sale fairly high but if you find somewhere to laminate them cheaply (hello Walmart) you can even give 'em to friends.  I waited till I got home to process all the film that I had used while in Greece.  If you want some photos now, try this photo album of Rarely Seen Greece.