Maybe you have heard that the internet penetration is in low level at Greece. That’s true! But thankfully this also creates some business opportunities for providing internet. Greece has thousands of internet cafes, really organized.

In the cities you can find spots with 100 or more pc’s that offers connection at very cheap price. The average price is 2 euros per hour, but most of these spots offer special prices for the members. Generally speaking becoming a member is free.

Be aware of the internet cafés which work only with tourists. There are a lot of them especially in the tourist places. You can recognize these places by the price and the customers. If you see an internet cafe whose price is 4 or 5 euro per hour, go away, I am sure that you can find much cheaper and organized places.

The good internet cafes are created to satisfy the needs of the youngsters for gaming. Because of the low speed of the Greek internet connections, these shops offer very advanced pc’s which is used as playing machine for internet games. Search for this spots. Don’t be afraid to enter any of these places and ask for the price e.t.c. I am sure that you will be served the best way.

Another way to find internet connection is in public wireless hotspots. Some of them are located in Syntagma (the centre of Athens), or in Airport of Athens. In the private area, many cafes offer wireless internet connection (Starbugs, Flo Cafe etc…), many hotels or rooms in tourist areas (a search in google can reveal some of them).

Technorati Tags: tourist guides, internet connection, greek vacations

The rules are the same in all countries and Greece makes no difference. Many people in a room, common toilets and kitchens. People around the globe can be found in there. The youth hostel “industry” is quite new in Greece. You could hardly find youth hostels in Athens or other greek cities 6 years before. This makes the owners be more competitive but more amateur as well.

You can click the “youth hostels” link on the main menu on the right side of this screen and access a list and a map of youth hostels in Athens. The prices mentioned there concern the wintertime season. I will update the prices before summer reaches us. Expect them to be about 20% elevated. Prices are per person.

All the hostels in Athens have a 24 hours desk and this is quite nice because you can go back anytime you want.

In wintertime always ask for heating and the summer a functionable air-condition. In summertime mosquitoes may attack you as well, so be well prepared with sprays or body lotions. Avoid sleeping on the beaches. It is illegal (tourist police may get you) but then also, may turn dangerous.

Tourist police tel. number is 171 and Police Emergency number is 100. For an ambulance you call 161 and if you set fire in your room call your receptionist or directly to 191. Drugs use is illegal (even soft drugs).
There’s no restriction on walking the street with a bottle of beer. Greece is quite free in alcohol questions.
While drunk try not to be noisy and provocative.

Be gentle in the nightclubs, don’t fight! Avoid touristic areas, you’ll get charged more than normal for lower quality of services. Giving all these advices I have no other choice than to mention that a european or international insurance is needed as well. Many get drunk and need a hospital, accidents happen, you know… c’est la vie!

Technorati Tags: backpackers, Athens, youth hostels, tourism

Briefly the story begins from the old tavernas, small restaurants where people were gathering to eat, drink, listen to music and dance. In these tavernas, they used to be real musicians and singers. Nowdays this type of amusement has decayed into bouzoukia. They pick up some singers made by tv-factories like star academy and other realities, they put them sing and they dance. Wine has been replaced by whiskey or vodka, steaks have been replaced by peanuts and almonds. And the music is modern greek .. shit!
Take my advise and go to such a place. Since you are foreigners, you probably will have a nice time, as the performance will look like an ethnic bazaar to you.

Things to be prepared about :

There are girls around the place who hold some plates full of carnation-buds and they sell each plate for about 15euros. When you buy some you can start the flower-throwing. Throwing a bud to a girl means, “I like you”. If she doesn’t correspond throw to another one. You have to throw it, not give it. Do not throw on girls who are accompanied by boys, misunderstandings may rise up. If she corresponds then buy her a drink, call her to dance, tell her that you have a really expensive car and you want her to jump in or that you own five houses around the globe or even that you are the Prince of Zamounta (kidding). Just try not to overdo it. Hehe! Greek girls love those who show off. Do not let yourself be mistaken!
I mean to show off your money and wealth. If you are a girl, you can also throw some flowers. The most usual though is to have them be thrown on you. Either you like the guy and you flirt with him or you don’t like him and you ignore him. Just like you do in a chartroom! Oh! You can also throw them to the singer!

Most of the times you need to reserve your table. Prices are from 60 to 250 euros for one bottle of alcohol, depending on in which place you go and what day it is.

Dancing is quite simple, you put the hands on air and do a little “menear”, las latinoamericanas me entenden! Menear is the spanish word for hips-moving. This hips-dance is known as tsifteteli. There is also zeimpekiko and hasaposerviko. We will sometime write more extensively about these dances but briefly in hasaposerviko you grab each other from the shoulders, form a circle and move your feet as the others do. In zeimpekiko you have to dance alone. You open widely your hands, you look on the floor (it is a dance for those who are sad) and you move your feet like others do. Check out my links in this page to see what I mean!

Drink a lot, but then do not drive!

The best bouzoukia places are in Thessaloniki and in Athens. Islands don’t really have much to show. In islands there are tavernas (most of the times with no live music) and nightclubs with international hits (british, american, spanish etc) and some greek music. If you are in one of the two big cities and Vasilis Karas is on stage try not to miss him. He along with Terzis Pashalis, are (in my opinion) the best ones! In a later article I will write about tsipouradika, tavernas and kutukia, the real places to have fun!
These three are the traditional greek nightlife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIsLqJuDQ74

[tags]bouzoukia, greek nightlife, greek music[/tabs]

The most Greek taxi drivers do not follow the greek law or the rules made by their association. On the other hand using a taxi in Greece is a cheap way to move yourself around.

For the same distance a British taxi driver could charge 30 euros, a Dutch even more, while a Greek driver will ask about 6 or 7 euros.
I strongly recommend the means of public transport but we will write about it in another chapter. Stay tuned!

So, first, you have to enter the taxi and ask in simple english the destination you want to reach. If you are not sure on how to spell it, it would be a nice idea to have it pre-written on a small piece of paper that you will show to the driver. After the driver has understood the place to go, he must switch on ther counter machine. Most of the times this machine is put on an easily seen place close to the gear box. If he does not, ask him to do it. You must be sure of what you say and no matter how much he may insist he has to switch it on. If not, he has the right to ask you a creepy amount of money when you reach your destination.

There are though some prefixed prices, most of them concern moving from or to airport (talking about Athens or Thessaloniki) or by a village to another (talking about islands). Ask him if your destination has a prefixed price. Of course it can’t be prefixed a hotel-to-any-bar destination.
There is also a price list in the taxi, you can ask for it.

He is not allowed to smoke, but you neither. If he smokes and you feel your well-being disturbed, you can ask him not to smoke. On the other hand you have to ask for his permission if the one who wants to smoke is you.

He is not allowed to pick up other people from the road (even if they go to the same direction as you do) without your permission. Really don’t expect anyone to respect this rule. He will just stop an pick them up. Don’t be annoyed. It’s the way it works. Only in the case that you are in a terrible hurry, let him know from the beggining.

Another thing you can do is to ask another person (a friend, your receptionist, a walker) the approximate amount of money that a taxi will ask (given the destination). Then enter to the taxi and ask the driver the same. If the amount is about the same, then go on. Otherwise let him know that a friend of yours has advised you about it. You can also ask him to stop and get out if you smel the creepiness around you.

Girls! you have nothing to fear. The driver will take you safely to the place you want to be. Don’t flirt with them; they are not the right persons to flirt with. If you really like him you can ask his mobile phone number while getting out. Boys, dont be amazed if he comments on the girls on the road.

He may be a swearing guy, using bad words, of course in greek, so you just don’t care.

Most of them speak a few words of english. They listen to woeful greek music and have a nihilist view of life. Hey! just think of driving 8 or 10 hours per day for all of your life in the horrible trafic jam. Best times to use a taxi are the night hours. Definately not the traffic hours! If you use a taxi at 8 in the morning when everybody go to work, prepare for a British charge!
You can call a taxi by phone, in this case you have to pay more. You can get telephone numbers by any hotel around.

I think I have given you all the tips already. But don’t be afraid. Most of the times they will be useless. But you must be prepared for the worse if you really want to hit something in the right way!