I've never felt so good about the idea of walking two miles as I now would in Athens. Don't get me wrong, Greece has many wonderful things to offer a tourist, but the taxi experience in Athens is one best avoided. I did a 3-day cruise of the Aegean Sea with my wife and saw some wonderful sights, then returned to Athens to tour the Acropolis and other famous ruins. It seems to me like if a country wanted to encourage tourism it would make sure that the first impression of visitors was as positive as possible. In many countries that first impression is shaped by arriving at an airport and paying the premium to take a taxi in order to postpone for just a bit longer the brainpower required to figure out the transit system and manpower required to negotiate the various tunnels and staircases with one's luggage. In Greece I suppose they make the first taxi ride bearable, but go no further. Perusing www.tripadvisor.com and having to book a very late flight into Athens resulted in the conclusion that a private driver was the way to go for getting from our 2:30am arrival at the airport to our hotel near the cruise ship port. Reports of crazy driving and language barriers, not to mention the taxi meter doubling its rate after midnight meant it was a safer bet to just reserve a driver to pick us up at the airport and enjoy the pleasure of seeing our name on a sign after exiting immigration. Unfortunately we didn't get to see our name after immigration. We turned away 3 other drivers that barely spoke any English but were trying to make sure we were not who they were supposed to pick up, and finally called to find out our driver had mechanical difficulties on the freeway enroute and due to the crazy time of night it would be close to an hour before anybody else could pick us up; meaning we should just head to the taxi-queue. The original quote was 65 Euros, so now the question was how competitive was that? In the queue we found that the night rate to Central Athens was 50 Euros and the first driver quoted us a 70 Euro fare to the port which was further away. We countered and were able to secure 65 Euros so at least the taxi was no more expensive than we'd expected but buckled in for a fast and furious drive that one begins to expect when hiring an unfamiliar taxi company in Europe for a ride to/from the airport. At least when we arrived there were no surprises and the aggressive driving through Athens streets at 3am was the only complaint we had. We proceeded to experience unethical taxi drivers for three out of three of our next rides in Athens, leading us to enjoy walking nearly any distance through Athens rather than deal with a Taxi driver we could only expect would cheat us. No wonder the original private driver company had so many good reviews, even with the occasional mechanical difficulty people were happy to pay a premium for good English and no last minute surprises in the fare.
Summary of Taxi rides in Greece:
Case 1: Pre-reserved private driver is a no-show at 3am due to "breakdown" of what their website claimed were "new Mercedes". Took first taxi in the queue and prayed continuously through harrowing ride to arrive at hotel safely.
Case 2: After having negotiated poor sidewalks and unsafe street crossings from hotel to cruise ship with luggage it was determined to take a taxi from cruise ship back to next hotel or at least to metro station. The first taxi in queue at the port quoted 15-16 Euro for central Athens. Then 30 seconds into the ride the actual hotel had been looked up and with this new information the fare suddenly jumped from 16 to 20 Euro. We were now a captive audience, and perhaps this hotel or neighborhood indicated we could afford more; who knows? But to be 1km past the center of Athens when coming from Piraeus and increase the fare by 20% is crazy. Alas, the prior ride was crazy fast and we preferred not to piss off our driver enroute so we figured whatever and at least it was a smooth ride, pleasant except for having been taken advantage of.
Case 3: Needed ride to museum to maximize amount of time before closing hours. Driver used "meter" but meter was atypical and figures made no sense at all. Requested 9 Euros for ride that was anticipated at 6 Euros by hotel staff and then claimed not to have more than 5 Euros change for a 20 Euro bill. Paid 7 Euros rather than getting jipped for lack of change from driver.
Case 4: Transferred from "Vacation" hotel to "Work" hotel with luggage, quoted as about a 6 Euro ride from hotel staff. Since the previous rides were so unpleasant, I had since read an iPhone app with descriptions of various taxi scams run in Greece and was happy to see that the daytime fare was running and watched the GPS to confirm that he was not taking a circuitous route. We arrived at the hotel and I was looking forward to tipping the driver for being honest since I saw that the meter read only 4.40 Euro. After unloading our bags (which I had helped load) he quoted 10 Euro for the fare!!! So much for finding our first honest cabbie. He indicated that the bags were heavy to explain the difference between the meter and the 10 Euros. Thankfully a Hilton bellhop came by (probably used to squabbles between arriving guests and taxi drivers) and asked what the problem was. We described the situation and he proceeded to call out the cabbie in Greek, using the papers on the dashboard of his own cab to explain how the government directed that carrying bags of 10+ kg was to be charged at 0.50 Euro per bag and that the fare should be 6 Euros. We paid and received the appropriate change, directing the difference to our friendly bellhop. Oh, and when prompted for a receipt the driver responded that he was out of paper. I figure he's been out of paper for 2 years and taking the 50% premium from tourists right into the Greek black market that got them into this fiscal crisis to begin with.
Case 5: Avoiding it like the plague.
I could never have believed how sickened I could be at the prospect of losing out on approximately 12 Euros before this. Is 4 extra Euros on a cab ride really worth compromising the reputation of the entire country to tourists? So 4 Euros by itself is not that big of a deal, but I just hate being cheated or taken advantage of. Now I understand the recommendations we have heard of to visit Athens first, then the islands; because you have to visit the Acropolis and Parthenon and such while in Greece but if you go home right after Athens it leaves a bad taste in your mouth from graffiti and rotten taxi drivers while visiting the islands can't help but leave you wishing to return as soon as possible.
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