Anecdotal Observation: Learning from the Cars of Greece

We've done quite a bit of driving all over Greece by now, and have made a number of observations about what it means to be able to drive here:

• Gas is about 1.7 euros/liter. Since there are ~3.785 liters in a gallon, and one euro is about $1.25, this corresponds to just about $8/gallon.  Translation: Gas is expensive, at least twice what it is in the US right now.
• Driving in the mountainous areas can be tricky stuff. A small car that gets good gas mileage might not be able to make some of the more 'robust' slopes and certainly wouldn't be my choice.
• Northern Greece is typically more mountainous and less wealthy than the coastal Peloponnese regions.  More generally speaking, the mountainous regions inland appear to be poorer than the coastal plains, based largely on the villages and especially the "houses" we've seen.  Some houses are just stone walls with corrugated steel roofs weighed down by stones, and there is no plumbing.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, was the fact that practically all the cars in the mountain areas are high-end!  Audis, BMWs, Mercedes were all common, and usually late model; our VW Passat was a bit low-rent.  However, in the wealthier coastal and plains areas, the cars get older and decidedly less fancy (e.g., Smart cars and Fiats).  The only conclusion we could draw is that in the mountain areas, gas is so expensive and driving using affordable cars so tricky that the local people keep their driving to a minimum, in town and perhaps to the next village.  Therefore, the cars we did see on our mountain treks must belong to people coming from places like Athens or Patra, and travelling for business or to second homes or suchlike.  Then, in the coastal/plains areas, where average folk can actually afford gas, a small cheap car is adequate to get around, so the roads are more crowded and BMWs aren't the standard.

There isn't significant bus or train service in Greece (at least, that we've noticed).  It's not even clear how kids get to school in the mountain; Lauren hypothesizes a lot of home-schooling, which seems plausible as the villages there tend to be small and remote; it would take a lot of driving around the place to pick up a full schoolroom.