Suggestions needed for our first visit to Athens without speaking Greek
 

My husband and I will be in Athens for 5 nights before beginning a 14 day cruise. I just bought a Greek phrase book and dictionary thinking I'd learn some key phrases before we get there. How does a first time visitor manage on their own without recognizing words or speaking the language? I may learn a few words but I don't see myself getting a decent grasp of the written language to read Greek restaurant menus or street signs.

We like to find places to eat away from tourist crowds. We typically avoid restaurants with picture menus or the ones with menus displayed in multiple languages. I'm wondering how easy is it to be an English speaking tourist in Athens and get away from the well worn tourist paths ;;)

I'm looking forward to the challenge of such a "foreign experience" but if there are suggestions for making our first visit a little easier, I'd love to hear about them.

Did you find Athens just as easy as other major cities in the EU for English speaking visitors?

Thanks for your comments, Deborah

Deborah-it's been a long time since I was there, but we managed quite well. In most of the restaurants off the tourist track, it was possible to go into the kitchen and point to the pot with what you want. And in Athens itself, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one person in each restaurant spoke English.

However, IMO,five days is too many for Athens--at least three days too many. I'd think about renting a car and driving to Delphi and/or down into the eastern Peloponnese to see some of the country that you won't see on the cruise-lots of world-class archaeological sites.

Most Greeks in the tourist or service industry speak English. Apart from basic words like please or thank you, I would not bother to try and get a grasp on Greek. It is hard to get the right pronounciation and intonation by learning from a phrasebook.

Learning the alphabet can be useful although most signs are in English and Greek.

"five days is too many for Athens"

It absolutely isn't. Athens has more stuff worth seeing than any but half a dozen other European cities. The problem is: it's not a nice place to be in (noisy and polluted, rather than unsafe). It may be more enjoyable to go elsewhere - but that's a different issue.

In central Athens, it's quite difficult to find restaurants without menus that at least use Roman letters - and going out of your way to find places without them takes you generally way away from anywhere you'd really want to be. Almost anywhere else, I'd share your iffiness about foreign-language menus - but it's a non-issue in Athens.

Most of Athens' cultural attractions survive mainly on EU handouts - so come with a requirement to be adequately signed in at least English. All public signs these days are at least bilingual (50 years ago they were bilingual too, but the "other" language was French: if your city's USP is inventing Western civilisation, and you write in a funny alphabet, you really have no alternative to providing signs in at least one language foreigners can cope with)

I'm in the <1% of visitors capable of handling myself in Greek: though it's a useful skill out in the provinces, I simply never use it, except for the fun of it, in Athens.

Thanks for the comments, especially comforting for my less than adventurous husband. I did my research here before deciding how many days to spend in Athens and like flanneruk commented, I was overwhelmed by the number of museums I wanted to visit. I'm certainly looking forward to Athens and hopefully from comments here I'll be able reassure my husband so he will be also ;;) Thanks again, Deborah

Deborah, you will love Athens... and today Greek schools begin teaching English in Kg-Grade 1. Anybody under 40 will be reasonably fluent in English... and anyone working in shops, hotels, cafes, etc of ANY age will be able to accommodate you.

A difference between Athens and some other major European cities which shall be nameless Paris is that in Greece, when you try out GReek words or phrases, even if/when you mispronounce, they do not "sniff" and pretend not to know, they smile... When I say "krasi kokkino" instead of "red wine" the waiter says "Bravo."

As for preparing, I find that most phrase books are unsatisfactory, because they're full of things like "I do not like this room" or "This wine is not good" or "Call the Police." What you will find you want to say is "Delicious" (NOHS-timo) "Beautiful" (Oh-REY-Oh), and 'Thank You (Hah-ree-STOH). After discarding many phrase books, I found the best online quickie study, from BBC! http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/greek/talk/ "A Gentle Introduction in 10 short parts." Click on each part, they show u a list of words/phrases and context .. give u the audio of each word. IMPORTANT: At the bottom of each part there is a clickable: Useful phrases. When u click on that -- you get the phrase list w. translation and Very importantly, with english-spelling showing pronunciation, i.e. "Good Morning" -- kalee-maira .. PRINT OUT these Pages -- and u won't need your guidebook!!.

Here's also a one-pager of 20 Key words/phrases, with CAPITAL letters showing which syllable to accent (that is often the tricky part, it's not like italian) http://www.greece.org/gr-lessons/gr-...pressions.html And finally, a terrific site for ordering in restaurants: "Greek food: how to say it" http://www.greecefoods.com/restaurants/ordering.htm -- Most restaurants/tavernas u go to will have english on the menu ... but this list tells you the ingredients of the dishes, AND pronunciation guide.

Kalo Taxidi (Kah-LOH Tax-EE-dee) ... good trip!!

In Athens, when you are dealing with a local person with a tourist facing job, that person would speak minimum to excellent English to get jobs done.

More difficulty comes if you are not dealing with a person. One word that might be helpful is the word for "exit", which is "exodos" in Greek. This should be familiar to you as an English equivalent, "exodus."

At places where foreigners are expected, the sign is also repeated in English like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vi...ns-airport.jpg

It can also appear without English at places with less foreign visitors:
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/...0/t/exodos.jpg

If your husband is less than adventurous in gastronomic area, it would be a bigger problem.

Thank you and thank you again. I can't wait to look at the links you have provided. greg, my husband is willing to try new foods, he just wants to know what he is eating. He doesn't always trust my interpretation of a menu because some of my guessing has been really off the mark ;;) Deborah

Beautiful" (Oh-REY-Oh) - this just means nice, it does not mean beautiful. Omorpho means beautiful (or omorphi if it is feminine).

'Thank You (Hah-ree-STOH). It is ef-ha-ris-to. Nobody drops the first syllable.

Kalo Taxidi (Kah-LOH Tax-EE-dee) "dax-i-thi" is more accurate than Tax-EE-dee. T is pronounced more like a soft d and d like a soft "th".

The OP has 5 nights or 4 full days in Athens. Not too much at all.

If you want to get away one day, take a ferry to scenic Hydra (no cars, donkeys for transport, windmills). Whereas when we went to Spetses, we were turned off by the noisy motorbikes all over the place and left quickly. Or you could take one of those 3-Saronic-Gulf-islands-in-one-day boat trips.

Very helpful...thanks

First of all, 5 days for Athens are Perfect, you can't imagine the cultural richness of this city (We are talking for the capital of the Greek Culture, duh..).
The first thing you must do before visiting Greece, is learning the Greek Alphabet. C'mon it's no big deal, Latin was created based on the Greek Alphabet, there are many same letters, you won't find it difficult at all.
All the Greeks under the age of 30 years speak fluent English, they speak ridiculously good English, we start learning at the age of 5 (it's obligatory, in Schools) and most kids get a PROFICIENCY Diploma in English at the age of 15 (mostly), either from the University of Michican or Cambridge, believe me, the HUGE majority has this Diploma, it's the top Diploma for the English language, you can teach with this diploma, and it's not easy to get one. It is considered obvious to speak fluent English, and the majority of kids speak a third language (I for example know also French, which is the second most popular second foreign language). So, you don't have to worry about English speakers, seriously, not at all!
Athens is a Foodie Paradise. Greek Immigrants from all the corners of Greece, and Greek Refugees from the Minor Asian Catastrophy of 1922, gathered in the Greek Metropolis for a better future, bringing their culinary heritage with them. In Athens you will find Estiatoria (Greek for Restaurants) with exceptional regional Greek cuisine, the most popular being Cretan Cuisine which is a very Unique and Mediterranean taste, Macedonian Cuisine which is more warm and meaty as it also has the best pastries in Greece. The most popular Cuisine is the Minor Asian Cuisine (From the region of what is now the "Turkish" Coast.. or in Greek, Ionia) which was brought in Athens by the refugees of the Greek Massacre of Asia Minor of 1922. In these places you will find the best kebabs you have ever eaten, believe me you have never eaten such kebabs, ever, it's generaly a spicy more eastern like cuisine, which we Athenians absolutely adore. I have been in "Istanbul" multiple times which is the kebab capital of the World, and even if I made a huge kebab restaurant research, I have never eaten such good kebabs as the Greek Minor Asian, not even close. If you want any recommendations ask me.

We recently spent three days in Athens. No problems any where speaking English.

We recently returned from five days in Athens, second time there. We enjoyed it a lot and saw different sites and museums, neighborhoods than on our last visit. There was no problem not speaking Greek.

You will be fine!
As a Brit living here I actually find it annoying at times when I try out my Greek & they reply in English!
I have visited Athens approx 30 times & lived here for 18 months, I have still not visited every museum or seen all I want to, so you will easily fill 5 days. Any that want, or find, a shorter visit sufficient usually only see the major attractions, some not spending much time at each. Everyone is different as to what they want out of a visit.
Food: Seek & you will find - variety, tasty, value, international, it's all there :)
I hope you have a great time & your husband discovers he loves it too!

We spent 3 days in Athens and language was a non-issue. Everyone spoke at least English.

I spent 4 days in Athens and loved it. Due to poor timimg we didn't get to the National Archaeological Museum--HUGE regret. Our next stops were Santorini, Mykonos and Delos and I wish I had a $ for every time I heard, "This wall (or floor) was once covered by a beautiful mosaic, now housed in the National Museum in Athens."

I actually had two or three very good meals in the Plaka, just takes a bit of walking and looking at what other people are eating. Lovely people, food, weather--although one lightly drizzling morning I had the ancient agora practically to myself. Fantastic.

The days will fly by.