Addresses

To make finding your way around as easy as possible, it's wise to learn to recognize letters in the Greek alphabet. Most areas have few street signs in English, and even those that are in English don't necessarily follow the official standardized transliteration code (www.elot.gr), resulting in some odd spellings of foreign names. Sometimes there are several spelling variations in English for the same place: Agios, Aghios, or Ayios; Georgios or Yiorgos. Also, the English version may be quite different from the Greek, or even what locals use informally: Corfu is known as Kerkyra, Lesvos as Mytilini, and Santorini as Thira: island capitals are often just called Chora or Hora (town), no matter what their formal title; and streets are often known by informal names (Panepistimiou, a main Athens boulevard, is officially named Eleftheriou Venizelou, but if you ask for that, no one will know what you're talking about). A long street may change names several times, and a city may have more than one street with the same name. Know the district you're headed for, or a major landmark nearby, especially if you're taking a taxi. Also ask for a cross street, since odd- and even-numbered addresses fall on opposite sides of the streets, but No. 124 could be several blocks from No. 125. In this guide, street numbers appear after the street name.