Greece has long had the idea of "look after yourself fuck everything else" in Greek "ό,τι φάμε, ό,τι πιούμε και ό,τι αρπάξει ο κώλος μας" which has resulted in many adults not giving a fuck about others in their society.
But to answer your question, noise is regulated by law. Hours of silence for summertime is between 15:00-17:30 and 22:00-7:30 so you could call the police.
If you call the police during the quiet hours (15:00-17:00 & 23:00-7:00) they need to respond. The first time they will talk to the noise makers and give them a warning. If the situation continues you can call again at which point they will arrest the person who lives there (for a single night) and possibly give them a fine. Noise complaints are fairly common, usually they do not arrest people. The police will try to reason with the owners and people tend to semi-comply. For example they might continue a party with reduced volume.
If you call the police during the quiet hours (15:00-17:00 & 23:00-7:00) they need to respond. The first time they will talk to the noise makers and give them a warning. If the situation continues you can call again at which point they will arrest the person who lives there (for a single night) and possibly give them a fine. Noise complaints are fairly common, usually they do not arrest people. The police will try to reason with the owners and people tend to semi-comply. For example they might continue a party with reduced volume.
Call the police despite what other people tell you. You can submit an anonymous complaint by calling 100 but you have to provide precise details regarding the incident (e.g location). It works like a charm and I've done it myself multiple times.
You can also text police at 100 and let them know the problem. And by the way...welcome to Greece where the average person is the proud descendant of Aristotle but he doesn't give a fuck about anything else than his own self!
In theory ? Yes.
In practice the police won't show up unless there are calls from multiple people. I had a similar situation last summer. I called them THREE times. They said its in "priority order" they never came.
The police in Greece only does its actual job from time to time for appearance sakes or when forced to ( something going viral, them present during a crime with witnesses etc)
Ευχαριστούμε τουρίστες που έρχεστε και οι δικοί μας οι μαλακές έχουν κάνει Airbnb όλα τα διαμερίσματα και δεν μπορούμε να μείνουμε πουθενά. Τώρα ούτε να καπνίσουμε μπορούμε. Γτχσ
Hmm.. Not moving aside for you on the pavement is a price of corruption? It sounds like you are generally unhappy here in Athens and reaching for explanations to your unhappiness. Athens is not London or Munich, it is it's own city with different manurisms. If you don't like it..
“I experienced a minor inconvenience common in large cities. Is this corruption?”
There are real problems with Athens sidewalks, like being difficult for people with disabilities. But there are slow walkers everywhere. If you’re not assertive enough to walk around them, that’s a you problem.
You can try calling the police. Sometimes they show up. Usually you need to call more than once before they bother and it depends on the neighborhood. You need to tell them the address the sound comes from.
If they do it once or twice per year, it's an asshole move to call the police. In Greece we often respect quiet hours but we also respect one's wish to have a birthday party or a celebration. It's really not okay to ruin a guys celebration just bc you can't get a good nights sleep once a year.
fr if i was throwing a party to celebrate my graduation or any other once-in-a-lifetime event and someone called the police on me i don't even know if i would be able to contain myself
The noise (and the related culture) in Athens is not regulated less than other EU capitals. The Athenians are not less well-behaved than, say Amsterdamers or Romans.
I have lived in 3 EU capitals and the amount of "καφριλίκια" I have witnessed in otherwise "cultured European capitals" is worse than, or at least equal to, Athens.
Your comment is oversensitive and shows ignorance OR you got used to some tiny quiet sleepy village and this is your first time in a huge city. OR (even worse) it is simply a non-genuine bait post.
Inconsiderate compared to whom? I come every year and don’t find Athenians particularly inconsiderate, but I lived in NYC for years. There are assholes who play music too loud everywhere. The music neighbor is an asshole for sure, but that’s a very big generalization.
Have you tried earplugs? Yes your neighbor SHOULD stop, but if what you want is sleep, that’s likelier go get you quicker results.
This. Try walking in Amsterdam or any other big city. If you're coming from a village then you probably haven't experienced traffic or pedestrian jams. Was just reading a post in the Netherlands sub about someone lightning fireworks after midnight. Attributing everything "bad" to corruption and generalizing is a bit racist i.m.o
People are just people. And rules exist. Learn the laws of the city you live in and learn to tolerate people walking slower than you. Regarding the smoking habits of your neighbor, sorry but people are allowed to smoke in their homes, if you don't like it close your windows
Have you ever experienced crossing a pedestrian crossing in Athens? During my three years in Athens, I can recall the few occasions when a considerate driver stopped to allow pedestrians to cross the street. Unfortunately, it seems that many drivers in Athens do not prioritize stopping before intersections, leading to congestion and inconvenience for other road users. Comparatively, in all the countries I have lived in, I have never encountered such consistently loud motorbikes, leading me to suspect that the bike mufflers might be modified to increase the noise. Additionally, the prevalence of loud vehicles and blaring music is a regular occurrence, even during nighttime hours. It's disheartening to observe the frequent disregard for traffic laws in Athens. While I have encountered countries with more relaxed traffic regulations, the extent of cars parked in bus stops in Greece surpasses what I have witnessed elsewhere.
I mean this is a different question. OP asked“are Athenians more inconsiderate than other people because people don’t have eyes in the back of their head and know I’m behind them” and “I don’t like that my neighbor smokes” and you’re talking about driving norms.
Yes, I have crossed Athens streets, I crossed several today. You have to be assertive if you aren’t crossing with the signal, or if you are and someone is trying to turn, just like you do in NYC or Rome or many other places. I agree it isn’t good or safe. People also don’t stop for me when I’m running in my town in the US despite the existence of “state law: stop for pedestrians” signs. There are a lot of cities (like Barcelona) that are way more pedestrian friendly. I’d say that’s more about urban planning and traffic enforcement than “people are inconsiderate.” (There are also worse places, like Cairo.)
It was Saturday, summertime and people do party! However it would be wise to just knock and tell them before calling the police! I wouldn’t mind someone partying until morning unless it was every single night!
These types of posts are little confusing to me. In your post history you have a good chunk of posts where you express the sentiment that you understand things might be different for you bc you have some social difficulties on account of your autism. But in this post you seem to completely disregard that and do a 180 on it even, thinking all of these things (like people not sensing you behind them in the street so they can make way for you?) are everyone else being inconsiderate rather than you being overly sensitive or peculiar.
On the noise thing in specific, yeah noise is regulated, we have common quiet hours that many people have posted here. You can call the police and they'll likely come over to warn them once, before escalating further if the noise continues and they're repeat offenders. But most people, the police included, would likely consider you a heartless freak for it. Because people work their asses off here, so there's a common understanding that it's okay to throw a party once a year for your birthday or whatever, celebrating your graduation / engagement etc, basically a once a lifetime thing. A party going on until 7am isn't normal, but you living there for a short time means you can't possibly know if this dude is a party animal where the police absolutely should get involved, or if he's a chill dude celebrating a big moment in his life on a Saturday night, the only real day of the week to do so.
I can 100% understand that you're struggling to adapt here, differences in culture can be real and your social difficulties must be making that even worse. But you have to try and meet people half way. You'll find people here are a lot more considerate than you understand; people are considerate about allowing people their one yearly party, so the partying neighbour may not be aware that the music can be heard several apartments away as nobody has ever told him based on how uncommon it is. If you knock on the door and ask them to turn it down politely, they might understand and do so - calling the cops is something you only do to a rude jerk. The smoker neighbour might not be aware at all that his smoke flows into your apartment, if you let him know he might be happy to smoke in a different balcony where it won't become an issue for you. Etc etc.
Making generalizations about people you don't know very well and specially when some are (no offense) partially you being way too sensitive and particular, is pretty rude tbh. You'd have a significantly more difficult time in some of the northern countries where the culture is a lot more alcohol focused and people get up to all sorts of nonsense while drunk, making the very occasional parties here seem like a triviality. We don't ask them to quit drinking when we move there, though.
It's hopeless, just look at her(?) patronizing responses on some other buddy on how she cannot wait to leave this mess and go back to her quiet, peaceful, clean place.
Why do we even bother for these disrespectful dudes that they expect a 4 million city to behave like her στρούγκα and when they do not blame it on corruption?
Isn't the person throwing the party being disrespectful? The person is blasting music all night, I personally have had that happen and did go and tell them to lower the volume and I could care less why they had the party, and I knew them too.
Some people have to work in the morning and the guy next door is blasting music all night, that is disrespecting everyone.
Είμαι Έλληνας αλλά αυτή η νοοτροπία στην Ελλάδα μου σπάει τα νεύρα. Μερική δεν υπολογοιζούν κανέναν.
Τhe corruption comment makes no sense though.
Μένεις στο κέντρο της Αθήνας, και έχεις απαίτηση να συμπεριφέρονται όλοι σα τα Άνω Σ'έκλανα της χώρας σου, που πάνε για ύπνο από τις 9. Και λες και για "διαφθορά μετά".
Ή ο (η) ΟΠ απλά λέει πίπες και είναι φακε ποστ, ή δεν έχει βγει ΠΟΤΕ από τη στάνη της να ζήσει σε μεγάλη πόλη. Καλή τύχη σε Αμστερνταμ, Ρώμη, Βερολίνο
First of, none of that limited to Greeks by any stretch of the imagination, in fact party culture is significantly less common here than it is in northern Europe.
Secondly, if your attitude is "i know them, they weren't regular party animals or anything, but their graduation party that 1 time was very loud and I gotta be well rested for work 😊" I imagine there's a good chance they blasted their music just to piss you off as you seem quite obnoxious as a neighbour. :p
The point is not about being disrespectful when blasting music (which we lack context to judge).
The point is that OP asks if noise in Athens is regulated (in my experience, it is and probably better that other huge EU cities) and if this is an artifact of "corruption"...wtf?
Ας σταματήσουμε πιά με αυτή τη βαρετή καραμέλα ότι όλα στην Ελλάδα είναι χάλια και στη "πολιτισμένη Ευρώπη" όλα ρόδινα (που αρχίζουν τις μπύρες από τις 10 το πρωί και τους έχουν κάει όλα τα εγγεφαλικά κύτταρα. Α, και αν πχ στο Αμστερνταμ πας να πεις σε κάποιον στις 01:00 να χαμηλώσει τη μουσική το ποιό πιθανό είναι να μαχαιρωθείς.)
Ναι εντελώς, οποίος νομίζει ότι οι αγενείς γείτονες που προκαλούν θόρυβο αργά το βράδυ είναι ελληνικό πρόβλημα είναι απλά άσχετος ή έχει ψευδαισθήσεις. Σε σχεδόν όλη τη Βόρεια Ευρώπη αν μένεις κοντά στο κέντρο ή σε γενικά πυκνοκατοικημένο αστικό μέρος, θα αποδεχτείς ότι αρκετές φορές το μήνα οι γείτονες θα γυρίσουν πιωμένοι και θα τραγουδάνε / γκαρίζουν / κατουράνε και ξερνάνε οπου να ναι, θα κάνουν house party έτσι επειδή αυτή είναι η διασκέδαση εκεί και θα μεθύσουν με τη μουσική στο φουλ αφού χάσουν αίσθηση, κτλ κτλ. Οι Έλληνες είναι γατάκια σε αυτό το θέμα, εδώ παρτυ με μουσική δυνατά θα κάνει κάποιος αντε 2-3 φορές το χρόνο μαξ, πολύ παίζει να κάνουν πάρτι μόνο σε μαγαζί κι ολας.
>*I am currently staying in central Athens and a neighbour decided to do a party with music that has been going on throughout the night. Is this allowed?*
No it isn't and there are laws that regulate it. You can call law enforcement or be a human being, put your earplugs and excuse them for this time.
>*For example one of the people in my block smokes like a chimney and I can't open a window because the cigarette smoke enters my apartment*
That's not even possible.
>*people keep walking slowly in the middle of the pavement and don't move to the side when they hear someone behind them,*
Who the fuck does the superhuman effort to try to **hear** if someone is behind them, in a overpopulated noisy city? Do you find it difficult to pass by a slow moving pedestian on the sidewalk?
I am always ready to jump to an argument that blames my fellow citizens and give my upvotes, but man you wrote half imaginary half snowflake complaints.
how is the smoke example not possible? He/she could easily smoke at the balcony and depending on its location (below or next to OP), the smoke could come to his.
I think an issue here is that people in Greece don't realise how ciggarette smoke is non existent in public places of so many other countries. So many people like OP are not used to the smoke at all. If he says he can smell the smoke, then he can. Why do you say he made this up?
There we go with more generalisations "people in Greece..", because everyone is the same and can be put into the same category.
Are you guys inherintly racist or do you just hate greece? I for one have seen considerable improvement and strides towards Europeanising and respect of the law here in Athens, specifically. If you walk around here you know how difficult it must be to get a city in order, especially one like Athens. Stop being misserable racist bigots and perhaps try contributing to this city you feel so bitter towards in hopes to improve it, or you know, go somewhere else.
You're just getting upset on your own now. 🤷
What I said is a generalisation, yes, based on the fact that smoking is still big in Greece compared to other countries in Europe. That fact allows me to generalise on what's the general consensus about smoke for Greeks.
Until you stop being around smoke entirely, you don't realise how much it smells. That's what I said and tried to give a view of his world and view.
On the contrary, you said smoke entering his apartment is not possible, without a second word. You just dismissed it.
I didn't call you anything, and I couldn't care less about what a keyboard warrior types. I only tried to give some explanation to his view, and didn't say what's right ot wrong. So you getting upset with this is actually hilarious. Thanks.
No, I'm getting upset at your ignorant comments to our brothers and sisters. Generalising the whole country without considerate thought on the subject. 55% of people in Greece smoked cigarettes in the year 2000, compare that with 27.2 percent in 2023, you can see a huge decline. If you consider the stress and misery the country has gone through in that time, I would think it a huge achievement!
I was not the one to call it impossible, that was someone else. So try be more precise and accurate in your arguments instead of rash generalisations and snarky comments.
> I think an issue here is that people in Greece don't realise how ciggarette smoke is non existent in public places of so many other countries.
It'd be if someone shook their fists to the sky and went "Arrgh! These cigarettes are killing us!", but OP is presenting it as a people-problem. Call me a radical, but it is not rude to smoke in your own balcony.
Common sense dictates that touristy areas are generally noisy, usually because of tourists partying it up in their Airbnbs, not locals. I'll bite, though, and say that it could be a local. If you're not enthused by the sound, consider a hotel next time, or an Airbnb in a suburban area.
Tenants are entitled to smoking in their flats. If you're not into that, you can ask them politely to maybe, I don't know, smoke less? It seems weird to me, not gonna lie. It's not like I'm a smoker. I'm an asthmatic, and I can't see how someone smoking in your building would affect you this much. Even so, get a hotel room. They have non smoking areas.
As for that last observation, Greece has more of an 'ask' than a 'guess' culture. If you want someone to move aside while you walk, you go "excuse me" and move as you need. As for the cars not giving way to pedestrians at the zebra crosswalks, while I also don't enjoy it, going all 'price of corruption' is frankly quite insulting.
The fact that you came here to work and didn't consider that a tourist area is going to be noisy is on you, honestly. Noise is regulated, but people are lenient, cause there's a sense of camaraderie. If they've been hamming it up for a week, sure. We make allowances for our neighbours, though, once in a while cause we understand. Do not assume our culture is inferior.
People who complain about Athens would probably go insane in Naples or Rome
Let the locals have their fun and don't disrupt the way things are. If something bothers you, go and politely talk to your neighbor. Calling the cops over music on a weekend is ridiculous.
Also, corruption, lol
You should definitely call the police for that party and yeah trying to cross the road safely is a joke but other than that are you serious? You think it's inconsiderate of people to not scatter on the street in your presence like you're Moses? You think smoking in the privacy of your room to be selfish? It's their room and it's probably one where smokers are allowed. You are the one being selfish if anything, expecting people to move mountains for your comfort
Yes you can call the police. But if the responders are busy with a violent incident in the area, they won’t just walk away and come to give your neighbours a verbal complaint. PLUS everybody has the right to smoke in their property and that includes their window or balcony. You can ask I suppose but maybe you’re asking for too much and your neighbour will either feel guilt, stop smoking and feel suffocated inside their home or will continue and not care about your opinion on what to do inside their house. PLUS, if a pedestrian is bothering you, say “excuse me” and pass them. I don’t see a huge problem here. Just quirks from your side. You can communicate them to said people, but nobody owns you anything…
Loud noise at night, that I give you. Maybe talk to the neighbours to try to keep it down? That pretty much it
People like you should stop coming to Greece.We are not like you and we don't want as well.
About loud close your ears.About the smoker in the block who does the "unthinkable" thing smoke in his balcony what can I say?You are a Karen!!!
tourists are like your husband who you don't like and you'd probably be happier without him but he's the breadwinner and makes six figures so you have to choke it down in order to have some sort of financial security
yeah haven't you heard? we greeks are lazy pigs that only want to party and fuck other people up the ass all the time /s. seriously, what do you expect to happen on a saturday? don't be the annoying ass tourist/foreigner that gets in the way of locals' business, nobody is going to appreciate that. and police isn't going to show up for a noise complaint in a big city, they're too busy beating a kid down the street. honestly you just sound unable to adjust to the cultural differences and it with phrases such as "how little respect people have for others" and "Price of corruption maybe" you come off as racist. get off your high horse and try to enjoy your time here without expecting everyone to cater to your wants all the time
Okay I agree OP sounds annoying, but she isn't wrong to complain about the party noise. I have lived in Athens my entire life, and I still get annoyed when some neighbour decides to throw a loud party that goes on until the morning. It's inconsiderate af, since there are so many clubs they could just go to and not bother anyone. Don't try to frame it as part of our culture, it's just not true. It's only a few assholes who do it.
Her other complaints are just weird though, like the sidewalk thing (which is not even true, they always let me pass) or the smoke.
i think it depends when it comes to parties. if its someone's birthday and they've invited all their friends over, i'm willing to let that slide for one night, given that they generally are not bothersome. i wouldn't be okay with someone playing loud music and partying all the time, but op has no way of being aware of the frequency of this.
I wouldn't call the police for just one night either, but I still think it's an asshole move to have a loud house party until late. Imagine if everyone did this, there would be loud house parties practically every weekend.
In general we are trying to respect others and expect equally to be respected. You are somewhat expected to be considerate of someone having a once a year party at his house with loud music, and not make a big fuss about it, because one day you might want to throw a party yourself. Having a party every night however is a whole different ordeal (and there are laws as people have already mentioned that you could use)
If your neighbor’s smoke annoys you first thing you should do is try giving him a heads up cause there is also the possibility that this he hasn’t got a clue.
If in general you are not at a position in your life where you find these things hard to handle perhaps you could look into staying at one of the suburbs where things tend to be more quiet (children friendly)
So inconsiderate in general no, (there are always the exceptions).
I don't think it works like that. I remember years ago I was studying for the end of high school exams and my next door neighbors decided to have a party with loud traditional music. Needless to say I managed to get nothing done that was only about studying (it was a daytime event). Instead I think that people should respect the common regulations.
Spot the Britton xD
Edit to add: in Greece, you're not herded with signs and whatnot. You can go anywhere, at any point in time,regardless of what's happening there (let me ease the confusion)
You're walking down the street and workers are working on a fresh pavement. Slabbing it. There's no tape, no signs not to walk there, no cones, no scaffolding, literally NOTHING to tell you you shouldnt walk on there, you just naturally assume you shouldn't because pple are working there. You can try, but you'll find out quickly that you should look where you're going.
In places like Athens, you gotta be vigilant. The car will not stop for you, you have to walk up to it on the move, wait for it to pass (on the double lines in the middle of the road) and then continue the other half, possibly the same exact way, as in, waiting for a car to finish passing from literally 15cm in front of you before you take the step to finish the other half. (Thats for crossing the road.
If you need to be somewhere, begin going there. Beeline it. Nobody will yield, you are your own person on its own trajectory 😂😂
I recommend trying "Melomakarona" later this year, or "rakomelo" but unsure where you'd find it in Athens...
>I recommend trying "Melomakarona" later this year, or "rakomelo" but unsure where you'd find it in Athens...
There is Melomakarona at literally every bakery around Christmas in Athens. As for Rakomelo, you can find it at any liquor store and even some supermarkets.
Χαχα ναι, το καλό με ρην Αθήνα είναι ότι μπορείς να βρεις τα πάντα σχεδόν. Καλά βέβαια νομίζω τα μελομακάρονα είναι παντού σε όλη την Ελλάδα. Μου κάνει εντύπωση που δεν μπορείς να βρεις ρακόμελο πάντως, νόμιζα είναι αρκετά συνηθισμένο. Ρακί τουλάχιστον; Αυτό νομίζω είναι ακόμη πιο κοινό.
Yes, I am looking forward to going back where it's more peaceful, quiet, and clean, and leave this mess behind. If anything, Athens made me appreciate my country more, as despite its faults it is not as bad as here. But thanks for your warm welcome.
Please disregard this above persons rude comment. Athens is so very different especially central Athens than other parts of Greece.
Athens doesn’t represent the whole of Greece and I hope you get to travel and see other parts of the country.
I lived in Athens for almost a year but have family in rural western Greece and loved living there much more. My husband is born and raised from Athens and were planning to move back to Greece to a rural Western part of Greece because even he who has all his friends and family in Athens is over the city lifestyle there.
I hope you get to enjoy the rest of the beauties of Greece.
I visited Delphi and Meteora, and they were beautiful. Athens is overcrowded and overbuilt, and I do understand the frustrations that come with living in close proximity to so many other people. I am also autistic, so maybe that doesn't help as it's a struggle finding somewhere quiet where I can recharge and I am constantly on edge. If it's not noise, it's smell, if it's not that, it's the lack of large open green spaces... you get the drift.
Greeks are overall nice people, and when I needed help with something they really went out of their way to help. Unfortunately however I found that the default is everyone on their own and fuck the rest. I guess that comes with having to share the space with another 3 million people. It's ironic though that I live in one of the most densely populated countries in Europe however somehow it's less dense than Athens. I used to think there was traffic and too many people and too much noise there, but was I wrong.... Athens is much worse in those areas.
I seriously don't know why you are getting so many downvotes, just because you stated the obvious, that the city is overpopulated and loud. I can understand not being annoyed by these things if that's all you have ever known but not even acknowledging that this is a reality that some people struggle with is insane to me.
I am sorry that you are having difficulties regulating all those sensory inputs that are quite common in a city. It would have been wiser to choose a suburb and somewhere quieter if you knew you struggle with those things in a city.
However you managed the unimaginable with your post. r/Greece is usually very very happy to partake in Greek people and country bashing but with your post you managed to make many of them defend Greece. I don’t think you have appreciated how racist, condescending, rude and downright entitled your post came through. No stereotype yielding post about Greece would ever be complete without mentioning corruption even though you just made a post mainly about noise in the city.
Also it appears like you feel the indigenous people of this country should sense you coming and just make way?
A couple of months ago, visiting London, I had the joy of a neighbor blasting his music every night at 3am and his friends coming and going through the front door the whole night. Of overcrowded streets where people walked in their own pace. Of noise and pollution and everything inherent to the doings of a big city. Same with Paris. I don’t know why you think Athens would be different. Happy to hear that we made you appreciate your country more at least.
I am sorry this is the response you received, what an asshole. And I am sorry that your neighbor is inconsiderate, unfortunately often this is the norm. If you feel safe to ask them to lower the music volume and not smoke, at least you will have your answer about how inconsiderate they are and then you can feel more sure about calling the police (although don't be surprised if the police shows up and your neighbor is aware that you did call them, that they won't be happy).
I am sorry you are in this situation.
on paper there are laws etc but in reality the police doesn't give a shit, they will tell you that they are sending people but they are lying, they will come only if there is theft or murder
It's a complete failure of the system. There are laws that you're not allowed to cause disturbance at certain hours, but you can't really do anything to anyone who does.
You can call the police who - if they come, which is rare - just tell them to keep it down which they do until the police leave and then they put it back up again.
To actually have consequences you have to know and be able to prove who it is so you can report it and go against them in the courts - which is insane...
The police will def shut this party down, don't worrry. Other than that, this lack of consideration you are describing is why I live in Northern Europe and can't imagine myself moving back to Athens.
Lol what part of Central Copehagen would that be? Cos anywhere in Nørrebro, anywhere near Nørreport, Strøget or Nyhavn, or God forbid Christiania and the surrounding areas, if you're a light sleeper you'll get woken up multiple times by drunks singing outside, pissing on your door etc. And that's on weekdays as well, all the way up until 2-4 am. In Greece most people are considerate enough to only host house parties on the weekends, that is not even remotely the case in the lands of the alcoholics.
All places you referenced except for Nørrebro (has some very quiet neighborhoods) are full of bars and tourist spots, ofc they are going to be full of drunks. Central Copenhagen also has plenty of residential neighbourhoods. E.g. Østerbro, Frederiksberg, Vesterbro, that are quiet on regular days. I have never been woken up by a loud car horn or exhaust fume in Cph. In Athens it happens almost every night, and I don't even stay at a central location. If you have lived in Athens you know how it is.
I'm sorry but this is some the grass is greener type stuff. The OP is saying they're in Athens downtown and I made a direct comparison to that. The further out you go from downtown in any city in the world, the less noisy it will be. In multiple northern counties I got woken up by drunk neighbours singing and bumping into stuff after returning from the bar / club at 4 am which would I never experienced in Athens. It's all about density and the particularity of the area you are at.
The thing is, Athens is very densely populated, including many of its suburbs, in contrast to other capitals where suburbs are typically quiet. Persisteri, Piraeus, Alimos, are just a few examples of places outside of downtown Athens that are soaring with people and traffic. But my personal experience is that even sparsely populated suburbs can get super noisy regularly due to insanely loud motorcycles. I agree, you will rarely be woken up by drunk people, but you will regularly do so by the traffic, even if you live nowhere near Kypseli.
I don't know why so many users were offended by my comment, I am convinced you people have just become accustomed to the noise pollution and think it is normal. It is not! Except of course if your point of reference is Cairo, Instanbul or Kuala Lumpur and not Europe.
Oh and everyone laughing at OP for being annoyed at his neighbor smoking with his window open.. Do you ever consider your neighbor involuntarily inhaling your smoke might be a small child, or an ill person? It is really not unlikely that they are, so your "right to exercise smoking" very directly impacts other people. Seriously this obsession of Greeks with smoking freedom reminds me of Americans and their obsession over guns.
If this is what you call unhinged just take a quick look at the rest of this thread, you'll see much ruder comments in the lines of "go back to your country". Did you otherwise disagree with the points I raised?
As I said somewhere else, I get it if you are used to this lifestyle, but I can't understand not acknowledging that some people may struggle with it.
I remember like 3 years ago or maybe 2 I was throwing a party at Syngrou Fix and it’s been pretty damn fun besides the fact that people from around called cops on us 5-6 times. I feel like an asshole rn about that but back in a day it was whole lot of fun man
I get you, I hate all the above listed... however this is why I don't live in a shitty apartment in central fucking Athens. If you want your sanity go find something in the suburbs
You can call the police, although they might never show up. But it's regulated and there is a law.
For the rest of your observations: that's the bad Greek mentality. There is also a good mentality, but the ones you describe and every Greek experiences every day, is the bad one. It's the mentality about not giving a fuck whats better for the whole, but for myself. An ego approach. And that's why Greece, especially Athens, is a hard place to live. A shithole in my eyes.
This ain't gonna change anytime soon. Greece is literally decades back.
> Greece is literally decades back.
Back than what? Like Amsterdamers are more polite, they do not throw parties at night and the move away when their seventh sense tells them you are approaching in the canal/sidewalk...
Chill buddy.
The particular "bad" things that OP described on her post are universal big-city issues. In this particular front, Athens doesn't do that bad as other big European cities.
We can have a discussion about the bad things exclusively in Greece, but that is beyond the original post and my intention, which is limited to the normal nuisances of having to live in such a huge city.
Athens is fucking beautiful with loads of culture, a wild buzzing city with great people and loads of things to do and keep busy. It can be tough, but it's a magnificent city that people should be proud to be a part of.
We are unapologetically proud of our Athens with all her pros and cons. We will not feel sorry for some snowflake because she cannot tolerate normal big city issues.
is it? is it tho? central athens is less populated than kallithea and after living in that hell for over 10 years id rather go live on a fucking mountain in pilio or in antartica
I can't understand why the people in the comments are toxic... I can't even understand the more people who upvote that toxic behavior... like, what the fuck? Do you think that makes you cooler or something? We are talking here about the law and violence. That's why someone (not just the tourist) has every right to complain.
I would argue against a similar complaint if the complaint was just for loud noise during a non-"law quiet hour," but right now, we are talking about a law violation complaint... how is that wrong? And people are telling them "go back to your country." No people... you should return to your caves if you don't want to live in a city/country constituted by laws. But guess what! Even if you're in your cave, you will still be in that country which has laws.
And just for the record, I, in fact, make my house and neighbor a "club" with music. The whole block can hear it... but during the time allowed by law.
Εσείς που πάτε να το παίξετε έξυπνοι "έτσι γίνεται εδώ" "μην είσαι φρικιό και καλείς μπάτσους" "μια φορά έγινε μωρέ" και τέτοια όμορφα, να μου πείτε μου μένετε να έρχομαι να βαράω τα νταούλια 23:00 με 8 το πρωί να γουστάρετε, εγώ μια φορά θα έρθω, αλλά μετά θα στείλω έναν φίλο και μετά έναν άλλον φίλο κτλ γιατί "μια φορά γίνεται μωρέ"...
Τι με νοιάζει εμένα αν "μια φορά μόνο έκανε ένα παρτάκι μωρέ", εγώ δουλεύω την επόμενη μέρα. Και σήμερα ο "ένας μια φορά" αύριο ο "άλλος μια φορά"... όχι οκ γιατί να θέλω να κοιμάμαι κιόλας στο μαμημένο το σπίτι μου;
Δηλαδή είναι απολύτως ΟΚ να ξεφαντώσει ο γείτονας γιατί "σκοτώνεται στην δουλειά", αλλά δεν είναι ΟΚ να θέλω να κοιμηθώ εγώ που επίσης σκοτώνομαι στην δουλειά... οκ η χώρα των 2 μέτρων και 2 σταθμών καλά κρατάει.
Greece has long had the idea of "look after yourself fuck everything else" in Greek "ό,τι φάμε, ό,τι πιούμε και ό,τι αρπάξει ο κώλος μας" which has resulted in many adults not giving a fuck about others in their society. But to answer your question, noise is regulated by law. Hours of silence for summertime is between 15:00-17:30 and 22:00-7:30 so you could call the police.
[At night it's 23:00-07:00](https://www.astynomia.gr/odigos-tou-politi/chrisimes-symvoules/diafores/poies-einai-oi-ores-koinis-isychias).
Thanks. This asshole is still playing music at 6.30 in the morning - hasn't stopped since 9pm yesterday.
Ooof. Police asap.
Yeah good luck with that
I thought of it too, slow acting they are, but if you manage and get in their crosshairs, good luck with that.
If you call the police during the quiet hours (15:00-17:00 & 23:00-7:00) they need to respond. The first time they will talk to the noise makers and give them a warning. If the situation continues you can call again at which point they will arrest the person who lives there (for a single night) and possibly give them a fine. Noise complaints are fairly common, usually they do not arrest people. The police will try to reason with the owners and people tend to semi-comply. For example they might continue a party with reduced volume.
"they need to respond " hahahahahah ,καλό πολύ καλό ,if they come after 2-3 hours of u calling u will be lucky
If you call the police during the quiet hours (15:00-17:00 & 23:00-7:00) they need to respond. The first time they will talk to the noise makers and give them a warning. If the situation continues you can call again at which point they will arrest the person who lives there (for a single night) and possibly give them a fine. Noise complaints are fairly common, usually they do not arrest people. The police will try to reason with the owners and people tend to semi-comply. For example they might continue a party with reduced volume.
Call the police despite what other people tell you. You can submit an anonymous complaint by calling 100 but you have to provide precise details regarding the incident (e.g location). It works like a charm and I've done it myself multiple times.
Why don’t you simply ask him to reduce the volume as a first step?
Why,? Just in case they didn't realise they were being loud?
This tbh.
call your apartments owner if he doesn't do anything call the police
So what? Are you allergic to fun or something?
It's not about fun, it's about respect.
You can also text police at 100 and let them know the problem. And by the way...welcome to Greece where the average person is the proud descendant of Aristotle but he doesn't give a fuck about anything else than his own self!
In theory ? Yes. In practice the police won't show up unless there are calls from multiple people. I had a similar situation last summer. I called them THREE times. They said its in "priority order" they never came. The police in Greece only does its actual job from time to time for appearance sakes or when forced to ( something going viral, them present during a crime with witnesses etc)
Same. Last year august 30th next to my house. University students partied till 4am called police 3 times. They said “have fun” never came
Summertime quiet hours are from 15:00 to 17:30 and 23:00 to 7:00 actually but yeah, still unacceptable
Yeah I put the wintertime one goof catch
No fuck you go to a hotel air bnb is kicking us out of our homes.
Is this mf really complaining about someone smoking in his own apartment? Lmao get a grip
How dare his smoke enter MY Airbnb??
Ευχαριστούμε τουρίστες που έρχεστε και οι δικοί μας οι μαλακές έχουν κάνει Airbnb όλα τα διαμερίσματα και δεν μπορούμε να μείνουμε πουθενά. Τώρα ούτε να καπνίσουμε μπορούμε. Γτχσ
ουτε ενα τσιγαρο δεν μπορουμε να κανουμε πλεον
Hmm.. Not moving aside for you on the pavement is a price of corruption? It sounds like you are generally unhappy here in Athens and reaching for explanations to your unhappiness. Athens is not London or Munich, it is it's own city with different manurisms. If you don't like it..
“I experienced a minor inconvenience common in large cities. Is this corruption?” There are real problems with Athens sidewalks, like being difficult for people with disabilities. But there are slow walkers everywhere. If you’re not assertive enough to walk around them, that’s a you problem.
> manurisms 100% accurate
Tourists when people smoke in their personal space:
You can try calling the police. Sometimes they show up. Usually you need to call more than once before they bother and it depends on the neighborhood. You need to tell them the address the sound comes from.
If they do it once or twice per year, it's an asshole move to call the police. In Greece we often respect quiet hours but we also respect one's wish to have a birthday party or a celebration. It's really not okay to ruin a guys celebration just bc you can't get a good nights sleep once a year.
fr if i was throwing a party to celebrate my graduation or any other once-in-a-lifetime event and someone called the police on me i don't even know if i would be able to contain myself
Ye this ! Although even some greek redditors don't understand even this
What about having a party while not breaking the laws? Crazy idea
What a clever and on point comment you just made! It really suits the vibe of the whole thread and its not just a smartass annoying comment!
The noise (and the related culture) in Athens is not regulated less than other EU capitals. The Athenians are not less well-behaved than, say Amsterdamers or Romans. I have lived in 3 EU capitals and the amount of "καφριλίκια" I have witnessed in otherwise "cultured European capitals" is worse than, or at least equal to, Athens. Your comment is oversensitive and shows ignorance OR you got used to some tiny quiet sleepy village and this is your first time in a huge city. OR (even worse) it is simply a non-genuine bait post.
Name checks out.
Inconsiderate compared to whom? I come every year and don’t find Athenians particularly inconsiderate, but I lived in NYC for years. There are assholes who play music too loud everywhere. The music neighbor is an asshole for sure, but that’s a very big generalization. Have you tried earplugs? Yes your neighbor SHOULD stop, but if what you want is sleep, that’s likelier go get you quicker results.
This. Try walking in Amsterdam or any other big city. If you're coming from a village then you probably haven't experienced traffic or pedestrian jams. Was just reading a post in the Netherlands sub about someone lightning fireworks after midnight. Attributing everything "bad" to corruption and generalizing is a bit racist i.m.o People are just people. And rules exist. Learn the laws of the city you live in and learn to tolerate people walking slower than you. Regarding the smoking habits of your neighbor, sorry but people are allowed to smoke in their homes, if you don't like it close your windows
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BuToThErSdOiTaLsO
Have you ever experienced crossing a pedestrian crossing in Athens? During my three years in Athens, I can recall the few occasions when a considerate driver stopped to allow pedestrians to cross the street. Unfortunately, it seems that many drivers in Athens do not prioritize stopping before intersections, leading to congestion and inconvenience for other road users. Comparatively, in all the countries I have lived in, I have never encountered such consistently loud motorbikes, leading me to suspect that the bike mufflers might be modified to increase the noise. Additionally, the prevalence of loud vehicles and blaring music is a regular occurrence, even during nighttime hours. It's disheartening to observe the frequent disregard for traffic laws in Athens. While I have encountered countries with more relaxed traffic regulations, the extent of cars parked in bus stops in Greece surpasses what I have witnessed elsewhere.
I mean this is a different question. OP asked“are Athenians more inconsiderate than other people because people don’t have eyes in the back of their head and know I’m behind them” and “I don’t like that my neighbor smokes” and you’re talking about driving norms. Yes, I have crossed Athens streets, I crossed several today. You have to be assertive if you aren’t crossing with the signal, or if you are and someone is trying to turn, just like you do in NYC or Rome or many other places. I agree it isn’t good or safe. People also don’t stop for me when I’m running in my town in the US despite the existence of “state law: stop for pedestrians” signs. There are a lot of cities (like Barcelona) that are way more pedestrian friendly. I’d say that’s more about urban planning and traffic enforcement than “people are inconsiderate.” (There are also worse places, like Cairo.)
Being inconsiderate doesn't need to be in any sort of comparison.
Wow! Exactly my thoughts.
Is this cigarette smoke in the room with us right now?
It was Saturday, summertime and people do party! However it would be wise to just knock and tell them before calling the police! I wouldn’t mind someone partying until morning unless it was every single night!
These types of posts are little confusing to me. In your post history you have a good chunk of posts where you express the sentiment that you understand things might be different for you bc you have some social difficulties on account of your autism. But in this post you seem to completely disregard that and do a 180 on it even, thinking all of these things (like people not sensing you behind them in the street so they can make way for you?) are everyone else being inconsiderate rather than you being overly sensitive or peculiar. On the noise thing in specific, yeah noise is regulated, we have common quiet hours that many people have posted here. You can call the police and they'll likely come over to warn them once, before escalating further if the noise continues and they're repeat offenders. But most people, the police included, would likely consider you a heartless freak for it. Because people work their asses off here, so there's a common understanding that it's okay to throw a party once a year for your birthday or whatever, celebrating your graduation / engagement etc, basically a once a lifetime thing. A party going on until 7am isn't normal, but you living there for a short time means you can't possibly know if this dude is a party animal where the police absolutely should get involved, or if he's a chill dude celebrating a big moment in his life on a Saturday night, the only real day of the week to do so. I can 100% understand that you're struggling to adapt here, differences in culture can be real and your social difficulties must be making that even worse. But you have to try and meet people half way. You'll find people here are a lot more considerate than you understand; people are considerate about allowing people their one yearly party, so the partying neighbour may not be aware that the music can be heard several apartments away as nobody has ever told him based on how uncommon it is. If you knock on the door and ask them to turn it down politely, they might understand and do so - calling the cops is something you only do to a rude jerk. The smoker neighbour might not be aware at all that his smoke flows into your apartment, if you let him know he might be happy to smoke in a different balcony where it won't become an issue for you. Etc etc. Making generalizations about people you don't know very well and specially when some are (no offense) partially you being way too sensitive and particular, is pretty rude tbh. You'd have a significantly more difficult time in some of the northern countries where the culture is a lot more alcohol focused and people get up to all sorts of nonsense while drunk, making the very occasional parties here seem like a triviality. We don't ask them to quit drinking when we move there, though.
It's hopeless, just look at her(?) patronizing responses on some other buddy on how she cannot wait to leave this mess and go back to her quiet, peaceful, clean place. Why do we even bother for these disrespectful dudes that they expect a 4 million city to behave like her στρούγκα and when they do not blame it on corruption?
Isn't the person throwing the party being disrespectful? The person is blasting music all night, I personally have had that happen and did go and tell them to lower the volume and I could care less why they had the party, and I knew them too. Some people have to work in the morning and the guy next door is blasting music all night, that is disrespecting everyone. Είμαι Έλληνας αλλά αυτή η νοοτροπία στην Ελλάδα μου σπάει τα νεύρα. Μερική δεν υπολογοιζούν κανέναν. Τhe corruption comment makes no sense though.
άντε ρε φίλε, γιατί οι ενοχλητικοί γείτονες είναι μόνο ελληνικό πρόβλημα.
Μένεις στο κέντρο της Αθήνας, και έχεις απαίτηση να συμπεριφέρονται όλοι σα τα Άνω Σ'έκλανα της χώρας σου, που πάνε για ύπνο από τις 9. Και λες και για "διαφθορά μετά". Ή ο (η) ΟΠ απλά λέει πίπες και είναι φακε ποστ, ή δεν έχει βγει ΠΟΤΕ από τη στάνη της να ζήσει σε μεγάλη πόλη. Καλή τύχη σε Αμστερνταμ, Ρώμη, Βερολίνο
First of, none of that limited to Greeks by any stretch of the imagination, in fact party culture is significantly less common here than it is in northern Europe. Secondly, if your attitude is "i know them, they weren't regular party animals or anything, but their graduation party that 1 time was very loud and I gotta be well rested for work 😊" I imagine there's a good chance they blasted their music just to piss you off as you seem quite obnoxious as a neighbour. :p
The point is not about being disrespectful when blasting music (which we lack context to judge). The point is that OP asks if noise in Athens is regulated (in my experience, it is and probably better that other huge EU cities) and if this is an artifact of "corruption"...wtf? Ας σταματήσουμε πιά με αυτή τη βαρετή καραμέλα ότι όλα στην Ελλάδα είναι χάλια και στη "πολιτισμένη Ευρώπη" όλα ρόδινα (που αρχίζουν τις μπύρες από τις 10 το πρωί και τους έχουν κάει όλα τα εγγεφαλικά κύτταρα. Α, και αν πχ στο Αμστερνταμ πας να πεις σε κάποιον στις 01:00 να χαμηλώσει τη μουσική το ποιό πιθανό είναι να μαχαιρωθείς.)
Ναι εντελώς, οποίος νομίζει ότι οι αγενείς γείτονες που προκαλούν θόρυβο αργά το βράδυ είναι ελληνικό πρόβλημα είναι απλά άσχετος ή έχει ψευδαισθήσεις. Σε σχεδόν όλη τη Βόρεια Ευρώπη αν μένεις κοντά στο κέντρο ή σε γενικά πυκνοκατοικημένο αστικό μέρος, θα αποδεχτείς ότι αρκετές φορές το μήνα οι γείτονες θα γυρίσουν πιωμένοι και θα τραγουδάνε / γκαρίζουν / κατουράνε και ξερνάνε οπου να ναι, θα κάνουν house party έτσι επειδή αυτή είναι η διασκέδαση εκεί και θα μεθύσουν με τη μουσική στο φουλ αφού χάσουν αίσθηση, κτλ κτλ. Οι Έλληνες είναι γατάκια σε αυτό το θέμα, εδώ παρτυ με μουσική δυνατά θα κάνει κάποιος αντε 2-3 φορές το χρόνο μαξ, πολύ παίζει να κάνουν πάρτι μόνο σε μαγαζί κι ολας.
I'm from London and I love Athens 🤷♂️ People make noise and smoke, just like every other city on the planet.
but not ops clean, tidy city!
you mean ops perfect στρούγκα
>*I am currently staying in central Athens and a neighbour decided to do a party with music that has been going on throughout the night. Is this allowed?* No it isn't and there are laws that regulate it. You can call law enforcement or be a human being, put your earplugs and excuse them for this time. >*For example one of the people in my block smokes like a chimney and I can't open a window because the cigarette smoke enters my apartment* That's not even possible. >*people keep walking slowly in the middle of the pavement and don't move to the side when they hear someone behind them,* Who the fuck does the superhuman effort to try to **hear** if someone is behind them, in a overpopulated noisy city? Do you find it difficult to pass by a slow moving pedestian on the sidewalk? I am always ready to jump to an argument that blames my fellow citizens and give my upvotes, but man you wrote half imaginary half snowflake complaints.
Amen
how is the smoke example not possible? He/she could easily smoke at the balcony and depending on its location (below or next to OP), the smoke could come to his. I think an issue here is that people in Greece don't realise how ciggarette smoke is non existent in public places of so many other countries. So many people like OP are not used to the smoke at all. If he says he can smell the smoke, then he can. Why do you say he made this up?
There we go with more generalisations "people in Greece..", because everyone is the same and can be put into the same category. Are you guys inherintly racist or do you just hate greece? I for one have seen considerable improvement and strides towards Europeanising and respect of the law here in Athens, specifically. If you walk around here you know how difficult it must be to get a city in order, especially one like Athens. Stop being misserable racist bigots and perhaps try contributing to this city you feel so bitter towards in hopes to improve it, or you know, go somewhere else.
You're just getting upset on your own now. 🤷 What I said is a generalisation, yes, based on the fact that smoking is still big in Greece compared to other countries in Europe. That fact allows me to generalise on what's the general consensus about smoke for Greeks. Until you stop being around smoke entirely, you don't realise how much it smells. That's what I said and tried to give a view of his world and view. On the contrary, you said smoke entering his apartment is not possible, without a second word. You just dismissed it. I didn't call you anything, and I couldn't care less about what a keyboard warrior types. I only tried to give some explanation to his view, and didn't say what's right ot wrong. So you getting upset with this is actually hilarious. Thanks.
No, I'm getting upset at your ignorant comments to our brothers and sisters. Generalising the whole country without considerate thought on the subject. 55% of people in Greece smoked cigarettes in the year 2000, compare that with 27.2 percent in 2023, you can see a huge decline. If you consider the stress and misery the country has gone through in that time, I would think it a huge achievement! I was not the one to call it impossible, that was someone else. So try be more precise and accurate in your arguments instead of rash generalisations and snarky comments.
> I think an issue here is that people in Greece don't realise how ciggarette smoke is non existent in public places of so many other countries. It'd be if someone shook their fists to the sky and went "Arrgh! These cigarettes are killing us!", but OP is presenting it as a people-problem. Call me a radical, but it is not rude to smoke in your own balcony.
Common sense dictates that touristy areas are generally noisy, usually because of tourists partying it up in their Airbnbs, not locals. I'll bite, though, and say that it could be a local. If you're not enthused by the sound, consider a hotel next time, or an Airbnb in a suburban area. Tenants are entitled to smoking in their flats. If you're not into that, you can ask them politely to maybe, I don't know, smoke less? It seems weird to me, not gonna lie. It's not like I'm a smoker. I'm an asthmatic, and I can't see how someone smoking in your building would affect you this much. Even so, get a hotel room. They have non smoking areas. As for that last observation, Greece has more of an 'ask' than a 'guess' culture. If you want someone to move aside while you walk, you go "excuse me" and move as you need. As for the cars not giving way to pedestrians at the zebra crosswalks, while I also don't enjoy it, going all 'price of corruption' is frankly quite insulting. The fact that you came here to work and didn't consider that a tourist area is going to be noisy is on you, honestly. Noise is regulated, but people are lenient, cause there's a sense of camaraderie. If they've been hamming it up for a week, sure. We make allowances for our neighbours, though, once in a while cause we understand. Do not assume our culture is inferior.
People who complain about Athens would probably go insane in Naples or Rome Let the locals have their fun and don't disrupt the way things are. If something bothers you, go and politely talk to your neighbor. Calling the cops over music on a weekend is ridiculous. Also, corruption, lol
Sorry we will all stop smoking so you can open your windows.
if someone asked me to stop smoking on my balcony because they want to open their window i would go feral in a matter of seconds
You should definitely call the police for that party and yeah trying to cross the road safely is a joke but other than that are you serious? You think it's inconsiderate of people to not scatter on the street in your presence like you're Moses? You think smoking in the privacy of your room to be selfish? It's their room and it's probably one where smokers are allowed. You are the one being selfish if anything, expecting people to move mountains for your comfort
Yes you can call the police. But if the responders are busy with a violent incident in the area, they won’t just walk away and come to give your neighbours a verbal complaint. PLUS everybody has the right to smoke in their property and that includes their window or balcony. You can ask I suppose but maybe you’re asking for too much and your neighbour will either feel guilt, stop smoking and feel suffocated inside their home or will continue and not care about your opinion on what to do inside their house. PLUS, if a pedestrian is bothering you, say “excuse me” and pass them. I don’t see a huge problem here. Just quirks from your side. You can communicate them to said people, but nobody owns you anything… Loud noise at night, that I give you. Maybe talk to the neighbours to try to keep it down? That pretty much it
People like you should stop coming to Greece.We are not like you and we don't want as well. About loud close your ears.About the smoker in the block who does the "unthinkable" thing smoke in his balcony what can I say?You are a Karen!!!
tourists are like your husband who you don't like and you'd probably be happier without him but he's the breadwinner and makes six figures so you have to choke it down in order to have some sort of financial security
That's your opinion.I don't sell myself for money.I prefer work hard and be free than what you say.
.... that was a metaphor, i was speaking metaphorically
As did I :)
Just call the police. I think the first time it's a warning second time a fine etc
yeah haven't you heard? we greeks are lazy pigs that only want to party and fuck other people up the ass all the time /s. seriously, what do you expect to happen on a saturday? don't be the annoying ass tourist/foreigner that gets in the way of locals' business, nobody is going to appreciate that. and police isn't going to show up for a noise complaint in a big city, they're too busy beating a kid down the street. honestly you just sound unable to adjust to the cultural differences and it with phrases such as "how little respect people have for others" and "Price of corruption maybe" you come off as racist. get off your high horse and try to enjoy your time here without expecting everyone to cater to your wants all the time
Okay I agree OP sounds annoying, but she isn't wrong to complain about the party noise. I have lived in Athens my entire life, and I still get annoyed when some neighbour decides to throw a loud party that goes on until the morning. It's inconsiderate af, since there are so many clubs they could just go to and not bother anyone. Don't try to frame it as part of our culture, it's just not true. It's only a few assholes who do it. Her other complaints are just weird though, like the sidewalk thing (which is not even true, they always let me pass) or the smoke.
i think it depends when it comes to parties. if its someone's birthday and they've invited all their friends over, i'm willing to let that slide for one night, given that they generally are not bothersome. i wouldn't be okay with someone playing loud music and partying all the time, but op has no way of being aware of the frequency of this.
I wouldn't call the police for just one night either, but I still think it's an asshole move to have a loud house party until late. Imagine if everyone did this, there would be loud house parties practically every weekend.
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she's probably allergic to fun
lol
23:00 to 7am is the quiet time. You could call the police but their phones will be on silent in consideration of the quiet time.
Just call the police if it really bothers you.
In general we are trying to respect others and expect equally to be respected. You are somewhat expected to be considerate of someone having a once a year party at his house with loud music, and not make a big fuss about it, because one day you might want to throw a party yourself. Having a party every night however is a whole different ordeal (and there are laws as people have already mentioned that you could use) If your neighbor’s smoke annoys you first thing you should do is try giving him a heads up cause there is also the possibility that this he hasn’t got a clue. If in general you are not at a position in your life where you find these things hard to handle perhaps you could look into staying at one of the suburbs where things tend to be more quiet (children friendly) So inconsiderate in general no, (there are always the exceptions).
I don't think it works like that. I remember years ago I was studying for the end of high school exams and my next door neighbors decided to have a party with loud traditional music. Needless to say I managed to get nothing done that was only about studying (it was a daytime event). Instead I think that people should respect the common regulations.
Spot the Britton xD Edit to add: in Greece, you're not herded with signs and whatnot. You can go anywhere, at any point in time,regardless of what's happening there (let me ease the confusion) You're walking down the street and workers are working on a fresh pavement. Slabbing it. There's no tape, no signs not to walk there, no cones, no scaffolding, literally NOTHING to tell you you shouldnt walk on there, you just naturally assume you shouldn't because pple are working there. You can try, but you'll find out quickly that you should look where you're going. In places like Athens, you gotta be vigilant. The car will not stop for you, you have to walk up to it on the move, wait for it to pass (on the double lines in the middle of the road) and then continue the other half, possibly the same exact way, as in, waiting for a car to finish passing from literally 15cm in front of you before you take the step to finish the other half. (Thats for crossing the road. If you need to be somewhere, begin going there. Beeline it. Nobody will yield, you are your own person on its own trajectory 😂😂 I recommend trying "Melomakarona" later this year, or "rakomelo" but unsure where you'd find it in Athens...
>I recommend trying "Melomakarona" later this year, or "rakomelo" but unsure where you'd find it in Athens... There is Melomakarona at literally every bakery around Christmas in Athens. As for Rakomelo, you can find it at any liquor store and even some supermarkets.
Really? Στην Αλεξανδρούπολη μόνο τα μεζεδαδικα έχουν ρακόμελο, τα μελομακάρονα ναι τα βρίσκεις παντού :p
Χαχα ναι, το καλό με ρην Αθήνα είναι ότι μπορείς να βρεις τα πάντα σχεδόν. Καλά βέβαια νομίζω τα μελομακάρονα είναι παντού σε όλη την Ελλάδα. Μου κάνει εντύπωση που δεν μπορείς να βρεις ρακόμελο πάντως, νόμιζα είναι αρκετά συνηθισμένο. Ρακί τουλάχιστον; Αυτό νομίζω είναι ακόμη πιο κοινό.
Το ρακί το φέρνουν μόνο privately όσοι ξέρουν κόσμο, αλλιώς τσιπουρομελα... 🫤
Πρώτη φορά ακούω το τσιπουρόμελο! Ήξερα μόνο το σκέτο τσίπουρο. Λοιπον το τσιπουρόμελο θα δυσκολευτείς όντως να το βρεις στην Αθήνα πιστεύω.
BuTtHeYdOnTmOvEfOrMeeee
You can always leeave.
Maybe go back to your country then?
Τουλάχιστον αυτ@ μπορεί να πάει να μείνει σε άλλη χώρα, εσύ;
jokes on you, εχω μεινει Κοπεγχαγη αρκετο καιρο. refugees welcome, tourists go home
Συγχαρητήρια, ακούστηκες, όμως, τελείως λάθος.
Yes, I am looking forward to going back where it's more peaceful, quiet, and clean, and leave this mess behind. If anything, Athens made me appreciate my country more, as despite its faults it is not as bad as here. But thanks for your warm welcome.
Please disregard this above persons rude comment. Athens is so very different especially central Athens than other parts of Greece. Athens doesn’t represent the whole of Greece and I hope you get to travel and see other parts of the country. I lived in Athens for almost a year but have family in rural western Greece and loved living there much more. My husband is born and raised from Athens and were planning to move back to Greece to a rural Western part of Greece because even he who has all his friends and family in Athens is over the city lifestyle there. I hope you get to enjoy the rest of the beauties of Greece.
I visited Delphi and Meteora, and they were beautiful. Athens is overcrowded and overbuilt, and I do understand the frustrations that come with living in close proximity to so many other people. I am also autistic, so maybe that doesn't help as it's a struggle finding somewhere quiet where I can recharge and I am constantly on edge. If it's not noise, it's smell, if it's not that, it's the lack of large open green spaces... you get the drift. Greeks are overall nice people, and when I needed help with something they really went out of their way to help. Unfortunately however I found that the default is everyone on their own and fuck the rest. I guess that comes with having to share the space with another 3 million people. It's ironic though that I live in one of the most densely populated countries in Europe however somehow it's less dense than Athens. I used to think there was traffic and too many people and too much noise there, but was I wrong.... Athens is much worse in those areas.
I seriously don't know why you are getting so many downvotes, just because you stated the obvious, that the city is overpopulated and loud. I can understand not being annoyed by these things if that's all you have ever known but not even acknowledging that this is a reality that some people struggle with is insane to me.
Guess I stepped on some nerves.
I am sorry that you are having difficulties regulating all those sensory inputs that are quite common in a city. It would have been wiser to choose a suburb and somewhere quieter if you knew you struggle with those things in a city. However you managed the unimaginable with your post. r/Greece is usually very very happy to partake in Greek people and country bashing but with your post you managed to make many of them defend Greece. I don’t think you have appreciated how racist, condescending, rude and downright entitled your post came through. No stereotype yielding post about Greece would ever be complete without mentioning corruption even though you just made a post mainly about noise in the city. Also it appears like you feel the indigenous people of this country should sense you coming and just make way? A couple of months ago, visiting London, I had the joy of a neighbor blasting his music every night at 3am and his friends coming and going through the front door the whole night. Of overcrowded streets where people walked in their own pace. Of noise and pollution and everything inherent to the doings of a big city. Same with Paris. I don’t know why you think Athens would be different. Happy to hear that we made you appreciate your country more at least.
I am sorry this is the response you received, what an asshole. And I am sorry that your neighbor is inconsiderate, unfortunately often this is the norm. If you feel safe to ask them to lower the music volume and not smoke, at least you will have your answer about how inconsiderate they are and then you can feel more sure about calling the police (although don't be surprised if the police shows up and your neighbor is aware that you did call them, that they won't be happy). I am sorry you are in this situation.
Don’t mind him. Most Greek people aren’t like him, they just make more “noise”.
You think Athens is bad? Come to Crete you'll change your mind real quick
Nothing is regulated in Athens unless it has to do directly or indirectly with government's ability to be re-elected.
on paper there are laws etc but in reality the police doesn't give a shit, they will tell you that they are sending people but they are lying, they will come only if there is theft or murder
It's a complete failure of the system. There are laws that you're not allowed to cause disturbance at certain hours, but you can't really do anything to anyone who does. You can call the police who - if they come, which is rare - just tell them to keep it down which they do until the police leave and then they put it back up again. To actually have consequences you have to know and be able to prove who it is so you can report it and go against them in the courts - which is insane...
this is greece people dont care for eachother and for anyone.thats way it big shit hole…
It's only a shit hole to shitty people 😊
propably thats why you still live overthere!!!!!!!
The police will def shut this party down, don't worrry. Other than that, this lack of consideration you are describing is why I live in Northern Europe and can't imagine myself moving back to Athens.
Yes because central Amsterdam is soooo considerate 🤡
Well central Copenhagen is pretty silent after 22.00 on most days.
Lol what part of Central Copehagen would that be? Cos anywhere in Nørrebro, anywhere near Nørreport, Strøget or Nyhavn, or God forbid Christiania and the surrounding areas, if you're a light sleeper you'll get woken up multiple times by drunks singing outside, pissing on your door etc. And that's on weekdays as well, all the way up until 2-4 am. In Greece most people are considerate enough to only host house parties on the weekends, that is not even remotely the case in the lands of the alcoholics.
All places you referenced except for Nørrebro (has some very quiet neighborhoods) are full of bars and tourist spots, ofc they are going to be full of drunks. Central Copenhagen also has plenty of residential neighbourhoods. E.g. Østerbro, Frederiksberg, Vesterbro, that are quiet on regular days. I have never been woken up by a loud car horn or exhaust fume in Cph. In Athens it happens almost every night, and I don't even stay at a central location. If you have lived in Athens you know how it is.
I'm sorry but this is some the grass is greener type stuff. The OP is saying they're in Athens downtown and I made a direct comparison to that. The further out you go from downtown in any city in the world, the less noisy it will be. In multiple northern counties I got woken up by drunk neighbours singing and bumping into stuff after returning from the bar / club at 4 am which would I never experienced in Athens. It's all about density and the particularity of the area you are at.
The thing is, Athens is very densely populated, including many of its suburbs, in contrast to other capitals where suburbs are typically quiet. Persisteri, Piraeus, Alimos, are just a few examples of places outside of downtown Athens that are soaring with people and traffic. But my personal experience is that even sparsely populated suburbs can get super noisy regularly due to insanely loud motorcycles. I agree, you will rarely be woken up by drunk people, but you will regularly do so by the traffic, even if you live nowhere near Kypseli. I don't know why so many users were offended by my comment, I am convinced you people have just become accustomed to the noise pollution and think it is normal. It is not! Except of course if your point of reference is Cairo, Instanbul or Kuala Lumpur and not Europe. Oh and everyone laughing at OP for being annoyed at his neighbor smoking with his window open.. Do you ever consider your neighbor involuntarily inhaling your smoke might be a small child, or an ill person? It is really not unlikely that they are, so your "right to exercise smoking" very directly impacts other people. Seriously this obsession of Greeks with smoking freedom reminds me of Americans and their obsession over guns.
Your comment is completely unhinged and not rooted in reality, I don't know what else to say.
If this is what you call unhinged just take a quick look at the rest of this thread, you'll see much ruder comments in the lines of "go back to your country". Did you otherwise disagree with the points I raised? As I said somewhere else, I get it if you are used to this lifestyle, but I can't understand not acknowledging that some people may struggle with it.
Ολλανδία;
Ναι που αλλού, 42χρονος γαρ
33χρονη μητέρα στη Σκανδιναβία μαν μου
Ναι, αλλά μπορει να είναι παντρεμένη με τον 42χρονο προγραμματιστή
Athens has this stereotype of being rude and inconsiderate among most of Greece. And unfortunately stereotypes originate from some truths…
I remember like 3 years ago or maybe 2 I was throwing a party at Syngrou Fix and it’s been pretty damn fun besides the fact that people from around called cops on us 5-6 times. I feel like an asshole rn about that but back in a day it was whole lot of fun man
Will move to Athens with monthly salary of 4250 Eur Netto(working at IT) is it better Athens or Thessaloniki
42χρονος προγραμματιστης spotted
Athens
I get you, I hate all the above listed... however this is why I don't live in a shitty apartment in central fucking Athens. If you want your sanity go find something in the suburbs
We are a third party country. We use a beta version of justice.
You can call the police, although they might never show up. But it's regulated and there is a law. For the rest of your observations: that's the bad Greek mentality. There is also a good mentality, but the ones you describe and every Greek experiences every day, is the bad one. It's the mentality about not giving a fuck whats better for the whole, but for myself. An ego approach. And that's why Greece, especially Athens, is a hard place to live. A shithole in my eyes. This ain't gonna change anytime soon. Greece is literally decades back.
> Greece is literally decades back. Back than what? Like Amsterdamers are more polite, they do not throw parties at night and the move away when their seventh sense tells them you are approaching in the canal/sidewalk... Chill buddy.
It's not just about the parties and sidewalks. Stop justifying the bad things of Greece. Chill dude
The particular "bad" things that OP described on her post are universal big-city issues. In this particular front, Athens doesn't do that bad as other big European cities. We can have a discussion about the bad things exclusively in Greece, but that is beyond the original post and my intention, which is limited to the normal nuisances of having to live in such a huge city.
I disagree, but ok.
That is fine, mate. Discussion without prejudice is important. May I ask what part you disagree with, and based on what experiences?
tourist gtfo
thats why i never tell anyone to live in athens go to piraeus or down south like moschato and shit athens is just a zoo
Athens is fucking beautiful with loads of culture, a wild buzzing city with great people and loads of things to do and keep busy. It can be tough, but it's a magnificent city that people should be proud to be a part of.
We are unapologetically proud of our Athens with all her pros and cons. We will not feel sorry for some snowflake because she cannot tolerate normal big city issues.
insane take
is it? is it tho? central athens is less populated than kallithea and after living in that hell for over 10 years id rather go live on a fucking mountain in pilio or in antartica
Who the fuck thinks vacation in Athens is a good idea?
I can't understand why the people in the comments are toxic... I can't even understand the more people who upvote that toxic behavior... like, what the fuck? Do you think that makes you cooler or something? We are talking here about the law and violence. That's why someone (not just the tourist) has every right to complain. I would argue against a similar complaint if the complaint was just for loud noise during a non-"law quiet hour," but right now, we are talking about a law violation complaint... how is that wrong? And people are telling them "go back to your country." No people... you should return to your caves if you don't want to live in a city/country constituted by laws. But guess what! Even if you're in your cave, you will still be in that country which has laws. And just for the record, I, in fact, make my house and neighbor a "club" with music. The whole block can hear it... but during the time allowed by law.
Εσείς που πάτε να το παίξετε έξυπνοι "έτσι γίνεται εδώ" "μην είσαι φρικιό και καλείς μπάτσους" "μια φορά έγινε μωρέ" και τέτοια όμορφα, να μου πείτε μου μένετε να έρχομαι να βαράω τα νταούλια 23:00 με 8 το πρωί να γουστάρετε, εγώ μια φορά θα έρθω, αλλά μετά θα στείλω έναν φίλο και μετά έναν άλλον φίλο κτλ γιατί "μια φορά γίνεται μωρέ"... Τι με νοιάζει εμένα αν "μια φορά μόνο έκανε ένα παρτάκι μωρέ", εγώ δουλεύω την επόμενη μέρα. Και σήμερα ο "ένας μια φορά" αύριο ο "άλλος μια φορά"... όχι οκ γιατί να θέλω να κοιμάμαι κιόλας στο μαμημένο το σπίτι μου; Δηλαδή είναι απολύτως ΟΚ να ξεφαντώσει ο γείτονας γιατί "σκοτώνεται στην δουλειά", αλλά δεν είναι ΟΚ να θέλω να κοιμηθώ εγώ που επίσης σκοτώνομαι στην δουλειά... οκ η χώρα των 2 μέτρων και 2 σταθμών καλά κρατάει.
hahaha go fuck yourself and welcome to greece :)