August has arrived and there is no where to park!

Hi maximax, this isn't Athens, it's a little place near the bottom of the mainland and it seems that half of Athens descends here. The roads here become a total joke as they close them to traffic along the seafront every evening but some bright spark always wants to drive down it which doesn't go down well as people need to move the extra seats off the road to let the cars pass. And driving up to town is a nightmare as it's too busy to overtake and one invariably gets stuck behind a tourist ambling along at under 30 to admire the views.

At least the Athenian ones keep their bikini tops on Rob, some of the other sights are ghastly enough to cause actual accidents.by the way I've forgotten what this smiley thing is meant to mean but I liked the picture better.

And no insult to you Rob but the worst ones are the British, topless and bright red, you are definetly right about needing coats on. The eternal quest for a suntan forced into a two week holiday is about the worst thing they can do. I was at the clinic once and there was a woman there with third degree burns on her delicate bits, it was horrendous and utter stupidity.

Seems many go to Spain and UK and Marocco and Egypt. Oh yes they never go anywhere without their cells and this year even the laptop on the beach!

You're kidding right, laptop on the beaches. Unless they are young that sort of thing hasn't caught on yet here but the mobile is everywhere, guilty myself when meeting my man up on the busy town beach in the afternoons and we need to find each other in the crowds, that's if we can get two cars parked of course.

Hi Mys, so you get the mass exit rather than the mass arrival. I bet all those Italians travel off in convoy calling each other every few minutes on their mobiles, I think they have a lot in common with the Greeks. Lucky you being able to park, the supermarket on the seafront actually puts a guard on here in the summer to make sure you are only popping into the shop rather than trying to park there for anything else. The one that annoys me most is the tourists who are still around in September who insist on parking outside the school when there's barely enough room for the buses to turn round anyway.

i'm in rhode island-we have a few outlying little islands.i'm on one of the bigger ones. the thing that gets me is we have a blabbermouth in the local paper who tells where the locals hang out for quiet.and next thing we know,here come the tourists. it's like thanks dude,hope they hang out in your yard next

Rhode island, you should put a pic on scarlet_woman. I know what you mean about private places. We have a few beaches here but the one I love is tiny and very narrow. I leave my beach stuff all summer at the taverna at the top of the steps leading down to the beach. We go down about 5 and there's usually just a handful of Greek women and me, we all chat a bit and relax quietly and swim. And then some tourist will discover it and the peace is shattered. Some Athenians will also descend there each August but they are okay, they spend most of the time on their mobiles and will usually chat a bit.

Hi scarlet_woman, I just had to look whereabouts you are when you said the island but it only says USA. It's a little peculiar when these quiet places are suddenly overtaken with people isn't it. I don't know why they all like to come at the same time though when it's packed and hot. The local tavernas do well though as they get a double session each night, the foreigners are usually long left back to bed when the Greeks actually come out at night to eat late on. I don't see winter tourism taking off here as not much opportunity for the beaches and most of the tavernas close up so they can get on with their olive picking.

Hi Jo, yes it does get a bit crowded, first with the foreigners who come here around now as it tends to be their peak holiday time, and then the Athenians arrive. Hopefully they will be bringing money into the area as it has been much quieter than usual up to now. It's quite funny actually when you are caught in the local traffic jam on the seafront as the Athenians will pull their car away from the pavement when they leave and park it in the middleof the road, and then try and find the rest of the family to pile into the car before eventually driving off and unblocking the road again.

That is very rude for them to block the road like that. So many people think about noone but themselves & that's very sad to me that it is everywhere so it seems. With your a/c not working i bet u do get ill when that happens, i would.

Hi Jo, I don't get sick in the car from the air con not working but it sure gets hot and when my back is pressed against the seat it's a horrid sweaty feeling. Have a shower, go somewhere in the car, another shower straight after. Actually I get more amused by the Greek antics with the parking than anything, the ones that get me really mad are the tourists in the camper vans, invariably travelling in groups, who don't understand the sign which says no camper vans allowed through the village. I had a stand off one year with a German camper van who'd illegally come down onto the seafront and wouldn't back up. Well I wouldn't either, he had no right to be there and any gentleman should have backed up on principle.

Hi Sandra, my alerts are on a 3 hour time warp at the moment so no stalking today and no emails when you respond. Well as Basil is getting on you should try and do what the older ones do out here, hitch a lift to get you round. Or maybe your buses are a bit more reliable than the two a day we get here. Personally I find parking a little bit technical, there's a suprise I hear you say, so if it's busy nearby and I want the supermarket on the seafront I go really Greek, pull up, let my son out, and block the road while he gets what I need. I mean the locals aren't going to complain as they do it themselves and I've nothing against annoying a tourist.

Hi thokius, I have to admit here that I had to go and look back to see what the actual question was, would you holiday in August? At least by not holidaying this month you should be able to avoid the crowds and congestion, plus it's usually an expensive month to travel. Hope you have a great trip to France to see your girlfriend.

I am surprised that it's August that's so bad, I would have thought June and July would have been the bad choices @thea09

Gerty, I'm so sorry I somehow missed your response, abject apologies. We are now in September so hope you enjoy the state fair and find somewhere to park, I drove down to the village earlier and the great lenght of cars which have been sat on the road down to one of the beaches for the last month has finally gone. Relief at last.