Your lane is my lane: Driving in Greece

We’re told Greece has the highest car accident rate in Europe — and after a couple days of driving here, believe it. There are no rules of the road here, at least no rules that anybody bothers to follow. People pass on corners, hills, wherever. It seems like half the people drive very fast, and the other half very slowly, which is a combustible combination. The small towns are packed with double-parkers, and people trying to get around. There are intersections with four to six streets converging, but with no stop signs, or lights, for anyone. It’s just a free-for-all. There are no bicyclists, at least no living bicyclists, that we can see, other than the occasional old man riding slowly through a small town. There are towns, such as Argos, where the streets just go willy-nilly, in all directions, suddenly changing from two-way to one-way. It doesn’t help that nearly all the road and directional signs have been so defaced with graffiti that they are almost unreadable. We didn’t get lost today, or seriously lost anyway, thanks to my trusty map reader and driving advisor, Courtenay. Will spent the whole ride blissing out to Scooby Doo on his video player. Tomorrow is another day — and a long drive over the mountains to Ancient Olympia. So look out Greeks: Here comes an Oregon driver.

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