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Our first night on Crete, we drove from the airport to the village we were staying in. It was a terrifying ride with cars zooming around us, and a cliff drop right next to the road for most of it. The more we drove on the island, we started to learn the rules of the road – rules that are so opposite to how I learned to drive. They are uniquely Cretan.
There are few basic things to remember when driving on Crete:
1. Passing lanes mean nothing
Who needs to wait for a lane to pass? A close one here.
Most of the highway is a two lane highway – one lane for each direction. On occasion, during the straight stretches there would be a 3rd lane for passing. Despite this, many Cretan drivers do not wait for these lanes to pass you. If there is space, they’re going to do it. We had a couple close calls with cars passing us when there was no room. The worst is when a car going the opposite direction is in your lane trying to pass someone. Many heart in throat moments were had on this island.
2. Road shoulders should always be used
Road shoulder driving FTW!
Two lane highway, you’d expect cars to be in the lane right? Well not on Crete. Most of the time you end up driving on the shoulder of the road and the actual lane is used for passing. So you’ll see car after car driving on the shoulder of the road like its no big deal.
3. The faster you drive, the better.
Speed. If you drive slow, you’re definitely a tourist. These guys drive fast! Even around the twisty corners. Upcoming corner around a cliff? Better to speed up.
4. Learn English. Better yet, learn Greek.
Road signs are confusing. They’re in Greek and English, but almost never together. They alternate, so its useful to know how the Greek’s write the city you’re going to. And know the various ways of spelling the city in English too!
5. Watch out for that cat! (or goat, or other fluffy animal).
No, I did not take pictures of road kill. Instead you can have a picture of a very much alive cat in Chania enjoy its very large cat house.
Because so much of the driving is done on the shoulder of the road, plus the fact that the island is over run with stray cats, we saw plenty of roadkill. There were so many dead cats lying on the side of the road. A former cat owner, that made me really sad. It was really ridiculous how many there were that it became almost a game – count the number of dead animals! In one journey we counted upwards of 10 dead cats, a couple (alive) goats, and a dead what looked like a badger (maybe?). I have never seen so much road kill in my life.
Those are the basic unspoken rules and what we learned from our experience. You remember these key things and you’ll be fine. The island is very hilly so there is a lot of going up and down and you get lots of practice parking on a hill.
Another key thing to remember is if you don’t already know how to drive manual (like me), don’t attempt to learn on this island (like me). Even the “quiet” roads have lots of cars and trucks. I definitely would not recommend it if you’re already a nervous driver (like me) and are likely to freak out and scamper out of the driver’s seat like it’s on fire. Makes for an entertaining story though.
What unusual place have you driven? Have you encountered strange unspoken rules of the road?
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Marissa says
June 15, 2014 at 2:34 AMWow these are definitely good to know before driving in Crete! Looks like it makes for a very interesting drive!
Bron says
June 15, 2014 at 4:11 AMWhat an adventure! I’d much rather let someone else drive! Bron
Andrew says
June 15, 2014 at 4:19 AMstay safe on those roads! thanks for sharing!
Mandie @ RamblingMandie says
June 15, 2014 at 5:53 AMI feel like we are having parallel experiences in different parts of Greece! I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks people drive like maniacs here. Lol
Lauren says
June 15, 2014 at 6:15 AMOh no – the whole dead cats thing makes me sad! Poor kitties. It sounds like people drive INSANE there…even somehow worse than Toronto drivers, who I definitely consider amongst the worst sometimes when I’m driving to work on the highway!
Aussie in France says
June 15, 2014 at 9:43 AMWell, I see there are a few more cars these days! My one and only memorable experience of Crete goes back to Christmas 1976 when I tried to hitchhike around the island, made difficult by the fact that there were practically no cars and those that did pass by were competely full.
I had been waiting for several hours in one spot, hoping a bus would arrive, when a girl of about 13 appeared out of nowhere. We spoke for a while in English then she asked me back to lunch at her home which turned out to be a one-room shack also in the middle of nowhere. To give me a plate and fork, two of her brothers had to share the same plate and fork. It is one of my most memorable meals.
The girl asked me to send her a post-card from France, which I did of course, though how anyone would find their shack I don’t know!
Adelina says
June 29, 2014 at 4:57 AMWow what an experience! That must have been very humbling and surreal.
Jessica @ Independent Travel Cats says
June 15, 2014 at 9:58 AMFun post listing all the reasons I plan to never drive in Greece. I was reading a book about travelers talking about driving in Greece 15 years ago, sounds like things haven’t changed:) Will have to close my eyes to the dead animals on the side of the road.
Emma says
June 15, 2014 at 10:10 AMYes, driving in Greece is slightly hair raising isn’t it? I read somewhere about their driving test – it doesn’t involve much! 😀
Dave Cole says
June 15, 2014 at 10:25 AMSounds like an interesting road experience! Very sad about all of those cats – I will never get used to roadkill. Hope you learn to drive manual soon, it comes in very handy 🙂
Corinne says
June 15, 2014 at 3:32 PMHilarious! Fluffy animals. Driving all over that part the world can be a little scary, but fun…and it really gives you independence which I love!
Brianna says
June 15, 2014 at 7:41 PMDriving in a new country is always an adventure. As a fellow cat lover seeing the unlucky roadside kitties would make me sad too.
Michele {Malaysian Meanders} says
June 16, 2014 at 2:53 AMI can only drive automatic, so I will take that tip from you about not trying manual drive for the first time on Crete. Malaysia drives on the opposite side of the road than the USA, and I thought that would be a big problem for me when we moved here. It turns out that my not knowing all the de-facto driving rules (or lack thereof) and my inability to read Malay were much bigger problems. I knew enough to understand that “Awas” means “Caution”, but I couldn’t understand the rest of the sign to figure out what exactly I was supposed to be cautious about.
Adelina says
June 29, 2014 at 4:41 AMI think driving on the “wrong” side would be so confusing. I would automatically look the wrong way and get all flustered. Reading signs is another problem for sure. How can you be safe when you don’t understand? I hope it has gotten easier for you now!
Dennis Kopp says
June 16, 2014 at 12:39 PMIt looks like you had a really good time driving on Crete Adelina! If you really managed to survive these roads and learn how to use manual gear at the same time without killing any cats, it really seems that you must have evolved as a driver quite a bit. Congratulations! For me personally, driving in a foreign country was always a challenge, especially on the wrong side of the road and shifting with the wrong arm… 🙂
Adelina says
June 29, 2014 at 4:38 AMHaha, thanks Dennis! Glad to have your approval. Now if only I can stop stalling 😛 I’ve thankfully never had to drive on the wrong side of the road (yet!), but I can see it being incredibly confusing.
Erika says
June 17, 2014 at 1:13 AMThis was funny to read, but sounds kind of scary to experience! That’s sad about all of the road kill!
frankaboutcroatia says
June 19, 2014 at 12:42 PMHahaha… definitely a bad destination to learn how to drive manual :). Driving in Croatia is pretty much the same except for driving on the shoulder of the road (haven’t noticed that) and you encounter rather dead hedgehog than cats.
Adelina says
June 29, 2014 at 4:30 AMWhoa, dead hedgehogs?! Yikes! I guess I won’t be learning how to drive manual in Croatia either.
Sammi Wanderlustin' says
June 21, 2014 at 5:18 PMYikes, it sounds scary. Luckily I didn’t need to drive on Cyprus when we went, we just took the bus everywhere!