Reality Style Mario Kart

All those years of competing against the boys in Mario Kart on the Wii has finally paid off! But it didn't prepare me for the reality of driving in Italy and Greece where crashes in your lease car do matter and where cars can't be magically reassembled by the push of a controller button.

A day does not go past where I do not get honked at, where I do not get overtaken on blind corners on unbelievably narrow, winding roads and where I do not get overtaken from the cars behind me when I stop to give way at intersections and roundabouts (thinking I am doing the right thing!)

Throw into all this turmoil and confusion hundreds of scooters and motorbikes that weave in and out of the traffic, drive on the wrong side of the road and squeeze between you and the oncoming car on roads that don't even seem wide enough for a dual carriage way in the first pace.




Can't find a parking spot - no worries. Just stop where you are, turn on your hazard lights and walk away from your now stationary vehicle (blocking off one side of the road) and leave those behind you to sort themselves out!







The Greek variation.
After paying €6 in tolls one would expect to have a dual carriage way where you can safely overtake. But in Greece there is no such luxury, as we discovered on the main route between Patras and Athens. Instead you get a single lane and when being overtaken you must move right, crossing over the line and driving on the shoulder of the road very close to the guard rails and step drop offs and cliffs.






We used to get concerned when the road changed from bitumen/cobblestones to marble that perhaps the GPS was sending us the wrong way. Having now sat in numerous outdoor restaurants in narrow lanes and squares watching cars weave between the seating sections of the numerous cafes and restaurants - small details like this no longer bother us (much).

Just when we thought we had seen and experienced it all . . . Here is our most unique traffic jam. We had to follow behind this elderly lady for about 200 metres down the main road as we headed towards Naples. She was totally unperturbed by the line of traffic building up behind her and I was too scared to honk the horn in case she was the matriarch of a mafia family watching through a window or sipping coffee on a nearby sidewalk.




I've now hit the passenger side mirror three times and I'm quite relieved that is all (despite all my swearing!) You don't have to like how they drive, you just need to adapt.

Mark

Location:Italy and Greece