Greece: language, street and other signs
 

We'll be on a cruise with 4 port stops in Greece. Are street signs in Greek only? Should I prepare in advance something like a vocabulary with the names of the sights in Greek/English to ask for directions?

Of course, we'll know please and thank you, the common words. How much more than that will we need?

I only looked at the Greek alphabet, and scared already :)

The best thing I ever did before a trip to Greece was to memorize the Greek alphabet. Then you can at least sort of sound out the names.

The rest of it can be done with pantomimes.

We found that everyone spoke English in the ports we stopped at. I think if you are traveling on your own throughout the country to smaller towns you may need it. English is taught in schools and we didn't meet one person who didn't speak it. Although it is always nice to know the common words like you say just to be courteous but other than that you will not have a problem.

We were in Greece 2 years ago and I was dissapointed to find so little Greek signage. Just about everything was in English and just about everyone that a cruise tourist is likely to encounter speaks satisfactory English. Even the menus we saw were in English.

This is comforting to know, as we'll spend a few days in Italy before the cruise, and to learn 2 languages can be too much for me, they will mix up in my head :)

Thank you, all!

It really does pay to know the Greek alphabet, even if you have to spell things out slowly in your head. Especially outside of Athens, and if you're driving I suggest buying a map in Latin beforehand. But finding English speakers to help out on the street is easy.

No, we won't be renting a car - either walk by the pier, take a local tour, or a ship tour - didn't get there yet, our cruise is in May.

Learn the Greek alphabet, it's not hard.Those of us who attended colleges and universities with fraternities and sororities have a head start. Roads signs often were in Greek characters and maps had towns in both languages.
I used the Greek alphabet in Russia trying to figure out their cyrillic signs.

How useful would Russian be in Greece? I'm fluent in Russian.

We were in Greece (Athens/delphi) for 3 days and then on a couple of the islands for a couple more days. Most people in the tourist area in Greece can speak a little bit of broken English. They do not have any problem understanding me.

We were away from the tourist areas fpr about half a day, walking around and did not run into many language issue. They are quite friendly when you notice that you are a tourist.

On the other hand, I ran into some problem with the language in Rome, even in some tourist area. Again, they are very friendly with tourist and if you show them a map, they usually can show you where you are and point you to the right direction on where you wanted to go.

I took a Taxi from Vatican to Pantheon. I got in, said Pantheon. The taxi driver took me there (to the back rather than the front) and spoke in Italian to tell me that is the closest he can get me, and how to get to the front. He didn't speak English. Since I knew where I am going and recognized the building, I'm okay. If it is more complicated, I would be in trouble.

I have always thought "prego" meant "you're welcome". I guess it can also mean "go ahead". So be careful how you use it.

Dayenu,
Look at the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets, many of the characters are similar.So, I used my little knowledge of the Greek alphabet to figure out the cyrillac characters when we were in Moscow.

Athens has a hop on hop off bus that will take you to all of the tourists sights. You plug the ear things in and they explain everything in English. You can get it at Syntagma Square. In the Plaka, English is spoken. It's their business to sell to tourists. They also have a train you can ride through the Plaka for 5 euros and takes about 1 hour. I recommend both the bus and train. It's an easy. friendly city to get around it. If your time is limited in Athens, then the bus and train is your best bet.I think the bus is 20 euros and it's for a 24 hour period so we used the bus for 2 days. Love the city, the food and the people.

We won't make it to Athens. Santorini, Mykonos, something starting with K... I forgot what else :) South-western part.

I'm still working on Venice - have plenty of time till May. Or so I think :)

<<something starting with K... >>

Probably Kusadasi, Turkey. This is where the incredible Roman city of Ephessus is located. Very interesting. After the tour we wre shopping and the ship tour bus tok off left us there. We had to round up a way to get back to the ship. There was a camel posing for pictures, but we decided a taxi would be better for the two of us. We were able to get a cab. Big=time world travelers, we decided to pay in Greek drachma rather than Turkish lira, thinking we really made a deal to our advantage. When we got back to the ship and figured it out, it came out about the same, not saving us anything! Ah the fun memories of trips past.

No, our cruise goes to Greece only, no Turkey stops.

We'll stop at the following:
Kerkyra
Santorini
Mykonos
Katakolon

In Norway we took short local tours and walked on our own. Not sure if we can do the same in Greece. Perhaps, I need to write down the destination, and people will point us out in the right direction? This might not work - didn't work at one stop in Norway, and it was not a language issue!

I'm not familiar with your two K ports, but you won't have any trouble in Santorini or Mykonos. There were lots of English speakers. I got a wonderful cardigan sweater in Mykonos (blue and white; Greek flag colors) that I still enjoy wearing. The view from Fira in Santorini is breathtaking. We got off the ship so early we didn't take time for coffee. When we got to town on the tram we found a cafe, sat at an outdoor table overlooking the town and water. It was gorgeous; I'll never forget it. I'm sorry we didn't visit the Minoan ruins of Akrotiri (the tours have been greatly improved since we were there). But we enjoyed just strolling, visiting a church and doing a little shopping.

Kerkyra is Corfu and you won't have any problem there either. The island was in British possession for a long time and all of the signs around Corfu Town are in English and everyone speaks it.

Thank you, both! Oh, I'd LOVE to buy blue and white things, will keep my eyes opened on all 4 stops.

Is the ride up in Santorini scary for those who's afraid of heights? I am nervous already after reading the car is rather small.

I don't think you'll have a problem on the tram. You have your choice of tram or donkey. My husband said he would go on the tram as he didn't want to be accused of cruelty to animals. :-d