Greece

Greek licence plates are either all white or have the standard European design, with a blue strip on the left side. Taxis have yellow licence plates.

The Greek language features a unique alphabet not used in any other language. It shares similarities with both the latin and cyrillic alphabet, however the lower case letters generally have softer shapes than the cyrillic letters.

Greek utility poles are primarily wooden, and often have a distinctly dark brown colour. They will often be noticeably taller than in other countries.

These distinctive poletops, which have a metal frame shaped vaguely like a harp, are unique to Greece.

Many poles in Greece will have five vertical insulators. They can either be attached to the pole or the metal frames from the previous tip.

This type of small lamp, attached to the side of poles with a round shade above the light bulb.

NOTE: You can also find them in North Macedonia and Serbia.

In Greece you will commonly see slightly faded, solid white double middle lines. This can be used to distinguish it from most other Mediterranean countries.

Yellow road lines are more common in Greece than any other southern European country.

Greek bollards are wedge-shaped with almost square reflectors, being red on the front and white on the back.

Greek chevrons have white arrows on a black background.

NOTE: Similar chevrons are found in Albania, Italy and the UK. Spain has the same colours, but will almost always have either two or four arrows.

Greek warning signs have a red border and a yellow background.

Greek directional signs are typically blue and arrow shaped. One of the most recognisable features are the place names, which are written in Greek with a yellow font, and in English with a white font.

Greek town entry signs are white with thick horizontal blue stripes at the top and bottom.

Greek kilometre markers are blue, having “km” written on the left with both the latin and greek alphabet.

Pedestrian signs have two dotted horizontal lines, rather than vertical stripes.

These types of miniature churches, put on small pedestals, are often found along Greek roads and are unique to Greece.

Greek architecture shares a lot of features with other Mediterranean countries: a lot of white and pastel-coloured stone houses with orange tiled roofs. White houses are very common when compared to most other Mediterranean countries.

Urban residential buildings will generally be multi-floored, light-coloured and typically have connected balconies along one or multiple walls.

Perhaps the most recognisable style of Greek architecture are the white houses with blue fences, window frames and doors. Beware that these are mainly found on islands.

Greece is a very mountainous country, with a large portion of the coverage being taken on winding mountain roads.

Red dirt is very common in Greece.

NOTE: Albania also has a lot of red dirt.

Greece has a lot of Generation 3 winter and fall coverage, which tends to look somewhat bleak and depressing.

Greece is a country with many small islands, some with coverage and some without. Furthermore, while mainland Greece and Crete have all three camera generations, this will not be true for most islands.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Greek area codes will always begin with a 2, followed by 1-3 digits determining the area.

NOTE: If the third digit is 1, you will be in the largest city of the region, and if the third digit is 9, you will be in the area surrounding that city.

The largest flat agricultural valleys in Greece are found close to Thessaloniki and Larissa, but smaller flat valleys, where the mountains generally appear closer, can be found in several other areas in the north and centre of the country.

The tallest Greek mountains are found in the western half of the country, and contain most of the country’s high-altitude mountain roads with coverage.

One of the most well-known types of Greek architecture; houses with completely white walls, blue doors and shutters, is mainly found on the small central Cyclade islands.

On many of the central islands you can find a very barren landscape, with small bushes and no trees in sight. This tends to be more common on the smaller islands with coverage.

Olive plantations are found in coastal areas, particularly on Crete and southern Peloponnese.

Citrus plantations are mainly found in coastal areas, particularly on southern Peloponnese.

On Crete, you may find this unique car antenna, with a slight bulge at the tip.

Mount Pangaion can be recognised from its shape, being more of a solitary mountain rather than a wide mountain range, combined with the fact that it is located to the south of a flat agricultural valley.

These extraordinary monolithic mountains are called Meteora, and can be found north of Trikala.

Yellow taxis are found in Athens.

Blue taxis with a white roof are found in Thessaloniki.

In Thessaloniki, you will often see a large amount of unusually tall antennas on top of buildings.