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Fira Hotels: 149 Reviews - 506 Photos
Kavala Hotels: 119 Reviews - 208 Photos
Corfu Island Hotels: 416 Reviews - 1216 Photos
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Alexandroupolis Hotels: 36 Reviews - 36 Photos

Greece Local Customs

Loggos harbour front

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Loggos harbour front
by Tracyden
Local Customs
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Me having a sip
by mickeyboy07
down in one?
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Greece

76.

People Crete Island

15 Reviews The evil eye is big in Crete, where I lived for four years, and possibly elsewhere in Greece. If you go into someone's home, don't look too enviously at their things and don't pass too many...

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77.

Byzantine Churches Thessaloniki

2 Reviews As Thessaloniki and nothern Greece in general became part of the modern Greek state just 92 years ago, its people have special ties to the Greek institutions that have been alive for over 1000 years -...

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78.

Food and Drink Crete Island

14 Reviews This tip is not about any one particular restaurant but a comment on our experience of several restaurants in the eastern end of Crete ( all in the Prefecture of Lasithi). All of these eating places...

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79.

Statues Thessaloniki

2 Reviews it's a miracle and a well kept secret among tourists, i.e. all tourists know about it, but the locals do not:) So, if you have a little wish... or a big one, you should touch the toe of Aristotelis...

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80.

Religion Crete Island

5 Reviews Crete became part of modern day Greece less than a hundred years ago, maintaining to a degree its cultural variety. There used to be a sizeable Muslim but Greek speaking minority in the island, now...

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81.

Strikes Thessaloniki

1 Review Strikes are popular in all of the greece, strikes of bus drivers (good for you if you are a student there, the schools are closed), of rug-collectors and of unic=versity secretaries, of post offices,...

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82.

Strange Things Crete Island

4 Reviews The story goes that the iron bars sticking out from the roof of many Greek houses are exemptions from taxpaying, as long as the house isn't yet finished but in fact they are exclusively there for the...

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83.

X-MAS in Thessaloniki Thessaloniki

2 Reviews Christmas is a great time to visit Thessaloniki. Although there aren't so magical as in Germany or Austria, you will often see the town full of snow. The town is very beautifully decorated. There is...

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84.

Little Shrines on the Road Crete Island

3 Reviews The miniature churches or shrines next to the roads are memorials for people killed in a car accident, at the same spot where the accident happened. The family of the deceased construct and maintain...

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85.

Fairs & Festivals Thessaloniki

1 Review Interational Film Festival of Thessaloniki. It's a must everyday, for as many films as you can handle each day and lasts for one week. Everybody you met the previous day will be there. Meaning every...

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86.

Music Crete Island

2 Reviews Lyra, Cretan traditional musical instrument. The one of the photo is totally a hand made one by Giorgos Tzagarakis; one of the best Lyra's artisan of Greece. Kissou Kampos Village. Prefecture of...

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87.

Flora and Fauna Crete Island

3 Reviews Platanos or Plane Tree, a tree that grows close to water. You can find it usually close to a river in gorges or in the central square of villages of Crete. It looks similar to the maple tree and it...

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88.

Raki (tsikoudia) Crete Island

3 Reviews This is the famous local drink of Crete. It is produced in late October or early November and it is distilled from grape skins. It is transparent, very strong and in the summer it is served cold. Raki...

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89.

Traditional Products Crete Island

2 Reviews A major draw to the Lasithi for the many buses of day trippers is to see the 'thousands of whiteclothed-sailed windmills' which irrigate the high plain ringed by mnountains. But there are apparently...

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90.

Children Crete Island

1 Review The Greek people love children, if you travel there with children, especially an angelic looking one who`s parents gave her a Greek name, little old ladies will stop you in the street to admire, kiss...

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Invited to a Greek home

by Balam

If you are invited to a Greek home, remember to bring something for the hosts. Flowers or chocolate is the most common. If the occasion is a name day, you must bring a present, which you deliver when you enter the house. The present will be put together with the rest of the presents on a table - unopened. The Greeks will open the gifts when all the guests have left. If he or she doesn't like the gift they don't have to pretend a lot of gratitude that they really don't feel. Actually it is a very practical habit.

Invited out by a Greek

by Balam

If a Greek invites you out for dinner or a drink, don't EVER try to make him "split the bill in half" as we often do here in Northern Europe. I know some tourists who wanted to be nice to their host for the evening, and they snapped the bill out of his hand and paid it. Never has a friendship been that close to ruin, and the Greek man was more embarrassed than you could ever imagine!

Entering a Greek Church or Monastery

by Balam

If you want to see a Greek church or monastery inside, you must be properly dressed. It's considered rude to enter a church if your shoulders and knees aren't covered. This rule goes for both men and women. So if you as a tourist wants to be polite against the country you're visiting, have this in mind.

GMT-Time

by Balam

In Greece you much live with the GMT-time, and in this case GMT is an abbreviation for "Greek Maybe Time". The Greek people have a very different attitude to time. When the bus is scheduled to come 10.30, it will come between 10 and 11, depending on the traffic, how many people the driver had met and felt he should talk with, and many other small things. Or a local might tell you that the bus will arrive AFTER 4 p.m.! Then he hasn't promised too much. The Greek people don't live by the clock. The Greeks also have a different opinion about when it's morning, afternoon and evening. You say Good Morning until 12. If you have agreed to meet in the 'afternoon', the earliest meant by this will be 6.00 p.m.! In Greece, the evening meal begins no earlier than 9.00 p.m. Also no one will think anything of it if you telephone at 10.00 p.m. in the evening. However, 'siesta' time, between 3.00 p.m....

Paying for a sun bed

by Balam

At most beaches you will have to pay for a sun bed and an umbrella. If you think that it is just people trying to get money out of the tourists you're very wrong. It's a job in Greece having a piece of a beach. A man seeks for a particular part of the beach each year, and he pays a sum of money, to be allowed to put up his sun beds and umbrellas. During the season it's now his responsibility, that this part of the beach is kept properly. The price you pay will depend on where the beach is situated, what kind of facilities (taverna, toilets, showers) there are. The tourist police checks that he does his job properly

The Greek priest

by Balam

You see the Greek priest - or pappas, as they are called - everywhere, as you can't miss them in their long, black dress and high hat. They are not obliged to wear their priest clothes all the time, but they do, as it's most practical and they are easier to identify this way. The Greek priests can marry and have children, just like in the Lutheran church. But you will never see a woman priest. This is not allowed by the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Greek men in the kafenio (cafe)

by Balam

You might get the impression that Greek men always sit on cafes and drink. They do often go to a kafenion, but not always, and rarely for a very long time. Often they have a cup of Greek coffee only. Most of them stay there for a short time, just enough to hear what have happened and also to make an appointment with for example the local electrician or the local bricklayer. Of course, Greek women can go to the kafenion as well, but most of them don't want to, and besides they hear all the gossip from the husband when he comes home. For about 20 years ago, you would always find at least two kafenions in a village, no matter how small it was, but with different colours. The colours indicated the political party of the owner of the kafenion. This way you avoided political quarrels. Rather practical! It can still be found, but it has become more and more rare as less and less people care...

The iron bars

by Balam

The story goes that the iron bars sticking out from the roof of many Greek houses are exemptions from taxpaying, as long as the house isn't yet finished but in fact they are exclusively there for the purpose of a later extension of the house. They have NOTHING to do with exemptions from taxpaying . (It's a good story though)!Unfinished buildings is a common sight in Greece. The reason is that greek people build what they need today and leave the rest of the building unfinished for the future. It may seem that the Greeks are constantly building houses - and they are. Most Greek parents build a house for each daughter, but not for their sons (as they are supposed to marry a girl who will get a house from her parents). Often it is also the daughter that inherits her parents' or grandparents' house when they die.

Eating and waiting alone at a taverna in Greece.

by Balam

A single person sitting at a taverna, can wait quite a long time for the waiter to show up. In Greece it's very unlikely that anybody eats alone. He/she must be waiting for someone. For the waiter it will be very impolite and bumptious, to ask for the order before all the guests have arrived. This has changed in the major tourist places, and especially for tourists, but you can run into this phenomenon in villages of Crete and Greece.

vibrant all night long

by Manyana

the greeks do not sleep. they obtain their power from the sun god during the day and so to remain vibrant and energetic all night long. at least this is what i experienced and so was told. i think i believe iti went to a club at 10 in the evening and they were just about to open it and set it up. i tried the next night around midnight, there were two or so. gosh! are these people already in bed? actually, no. they are on the way and will show up at 1:30 in the morning and dance the night out till 7 in the next morning, literally. i gave this a couple of tries; to live out a greek nightlife with all its lively vibes and cheerful energies. it was fun but i couldn't indulge it. they had work the next day and i was the tourist one who could wake up any time. even though, i couldn't.if this tells me one thing, it shows that the greeks are a relaxed nation, couldn't constraint themselves less...

Top 3 Hotels in Greece

Grand Bretagne Hotel Athens Athens

17 Reviews and 637 Opinions Every visitor to Athens cannot fail to notice this huge hotel. It's right on Syntagma Square,...

Hotels in Athens

Astra Apartments & Suites Santorini Island

1 Review and 404 Opinions My husband and I finished off our honeymoon at the Astra Apartments, an all-suite hotel. The website...

Hotels in Santorini Island

Marni Village Crete Island

1 Review and 219 Opinions Stayed in October 2006, and really have no complaints about the accomodation,Very friendly and...

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4,324 Hotels in Greece

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Reviews and photos of Greece attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Greece sightseeing.

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Questions and Answers

Q: Hi! Last holiday I had to give up on Greece but this year I ve decided to visit there. I am planning to go on mid-October , but I...

A: I have been to Athens during the winter months and it can sometimes be quite pleasant weatherwise but colder in the evenings even in October.. It is a capital city...

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