Welcome to Greece - Καλώς ήλθατε στην Ελλάδα
Today it's 38 degrees in the shade. What have we discovered? That it takes just twenty minutes to get a tax number at the Tax office and two hours to buy a dongle and SIM card at the fone shop - go figure that out :O) You need a Tax number to purchase certain things in Greece. For example, we need a tax number to buy a Dongle and SIM card or a boat or a house! So, off to the Tax office we go expecting to have to dance through hoops. It was a shock to be out in the sun within twenty minutes with a Tax number. We went prepared with a hamper, a sleeping bag and a flask of tea! Here we are, all stamped, signed and officially allowed to shop.
Next up, we while away two hours in the fone shop. I practiced the Greek I have managed to learn on every unsuspecting customer who came through the door :O) An older lady came over and asked: 'Don't I know you from Cyprus? Are you not Valentine's daughter?' She then introduced me to her husband, a retired Gymnast, her son, a nuclear physicist at the University in Nicosia and told me about her two other sons who are both Optometrists, one in Limassol the other in Thessalonika. Her husband also mistook me for Valentine's daughter - somewhere, in Cyprus, I have a double. Incidentally, we now have a functioning Dongle that will be of great service during our stay in Greek waters. You can all facetime us!
Our first message - it's almost all Greek to us!
This week we met Gerry and his wife Jenny on S/Y Swansong. They've been excellent company. They've also highlighted certain facts for us. EG No-one wants anything other than cash here! The right hand definitely doesn't know what the lefthand is doing ( hence the insistence on CASH) and the harbour Police know even less about what is going on - or turn a blind eye in order to receive a little of the cash flying around. Explains a few things regarding the economy.
Greg & Gerry on quayside.
That's it for today - more later - or Esto Espanedine ( loose phonetic for 'see you later' though espanedine sounds more like a painkiller to me ). Adeeo!
Today it's 38 degrees in the shade. What have we discovered? That it takes just twenty minutes to get a tax number at the Tax office and two hours to buy a dongle and SIM card at the fone shop - go figure that out :O) You need a Tax number to purchase certain things in Greece. For example, we need a tax number to buy a Dongle and SIM card or a boat or a house! So, off to the Tax office we go expecting to have to dance through hoops. It was a shock to be out in the sun within twenty minutes with a Tax number. We went prepared with a hamper, a sleeping bag and a flask of tea! Here we are, all stamped, signed and officially allowed to shop.
Next up, we while away two hours in the fone shop. I practiced the Greek I have managed to learn on every unsuspecting customer who came through the door :O) An older lady came over and asked: 'Don't I know you from Cyprus? Are you not Valentine's daughter?' She then introduced me to her husband, a retired Gymnast, her son, a nuclear physicist at the University in Nicosia and told me about her two other sons who are both Optometrists, one in Limassol the other in Thessalonika. Her husband also mistook me for Valentine's daughter - somewhere, in Cyprus, I have a double. Incidentally, we now have a functioning Dongle that will be of great service during our stay in Greek waters. You can all facetime us!
Greg is patience personified in the Fone shop!
This week we met Gerry and his wife Jenny on S/Y Swansong. They've been excellent company. They've also highlighted certain facts for us. EG No-one wants anything other than cash here! The right hand definitely doesn't know what the lefthand is doing ( hence the insistence on CASH) and the harbour Police know even less about what is going on - or turn a blind eye in order to receive a little of the cash flying around. Explains a few things regarding the economy.
That's it for today - more later - or Esto Espanedine ( loose phonetic for 'see you later' though espanedine sounds more like a painkiller to me ). Adeeo!
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