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in Greece, among which Panafon, CosmOTE and Wind are the best known. All offer 2G connectivity. Of these three, CosmOTE tends to have the best coverage in remote areas, so try retuning your phone to CosmOTE if you find mobile coverage is patchy. All three companies offer pay-as-you-talk services by which you can buy a rechargeable SIM card and have your own Greek mobile number. The Panafon system is called ‘à la Carte’, the Wind system ‘F2G’ and the CosmOTE system ‘Cosmokarta’.

Note: the use of a mobile phone while driving in Greece is prohibited, but the use of a Bluetooth headset is allowed.

Phonecards

All public phones use OTE phonecards, known as telekarta, not coins. These cards are widely available at periptera, corner shops and tourist shops. A local call costs around €0.30 for three minutes.

It’s also possible to use payphones with the growing range of discount-card schemes. This involves dialling an access code and then punching in your card number. The OTE version of this card is known as ‘Hronokarta’. The cards come with instructions in Greek and English and the talk time is enormous compared to the standard phonecard rates.

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TIME

Greece maintains one time zone throughout the country. It is two hours ahead of GMT/UTC and three hours ahead on daylight-saving time – which begins on the last Sunday in March, when clocks are put forward one hour. Daylight saving ends on the last Sunday in October.

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TOILETS

Most places in Greece have Western-style toilets, especially hotels and restaurants that cater for tourists. You’ll occasionally come across Asian-style squat toilets in older houses, kafeneia (coffee houses) and public toilets.

Public toilets are a rarity, except at airports and bus and train stations. Cafes are the best option if you get caught short, but you’ll be expected to buy something for the privilege.

One peculiarity of the Greek plumbing system is that it can’t handle toilet paper; apparently the pipes are too narrow. Whatever the reason, anything larger than a postage stamp seems to cause a problem; flushing away tampons and sanitary napkins is guaranteed to block the system. Toilet paper etc should be placed in the small bin provided next to every toilet.

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TOURIST INFORMATION

Tourist information is handled by the Greek National Tourist Organisation, known by the initials GNTO abroad and EOT within Greece. The quality of service from office to office varies dramatically.

Local Tourist Offices

The EOT in Athens dispenses information, including a very useful timetable of the week’s ferry departures from Piraeus, and details about public transport prices and schedules from Athens. Its free map of Athens is urgently in need of an update, although most places of interest are clearly marked. The office is about 500m from Ambelokipi metro station.

EOT offices can be found in major tourist locations, though they are increasingly being supplemented or even replaced by local municipality tourist offices (such as in the Peloponnese):

Athens (Map; 210 331 0392; www.gnto.gr; Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias 26a, Syntagma; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat & Sun) Click here.

Crete (Map; 2810 246 299; Xanthoudidou, Iraklio; 8.30am-8.30pm Apr-Oct, 8.30am-3pm Nov-Mar) Click here.

Dodecanese (Map; 22410 35226; www.ando.gr; cnr Makariou & Papagou, Rhodes Town, Rhodes; 8am-2.45pm Mon-Fri) Click here.

Ionian Islands (Map; 26710 22248; Argostoli, Kefallonia; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri & 9am-3pm Sat Jul-Aug, 8am-2.30pm Mon-Fri) Click here.

Macedonia (Office of Tourism Directorate; Map; 2310 221 100; tour-the@otenet.gr; Tsimiski 136, Thessaloniki; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2pm Sat) Click here.

Northeastern Aegean Islands (Map; 22510 42512; Aristarhou 6, Mytilini Town, Lesvos; 9am-1pm Mon-Fri) Click here.

Peloponnese (Info Center; Map; 2610 461 740/1; www.infocenterpatras.gr; Othonos Amalias 6, Patra; 8am-10pm) Click here.

Tourist Police

The tourist police work in cooperation with the regular Greek police and the EOT. Each tourist