Over the course of our wanderings thus far, we have encountered a number of strange practices which leave many tourists, including ourselves, scratching our heads.
In Athens, every site, except the Parthenon, closed at 3pm for the winter hours. It is 75 degrees outside, but it is still "winter" in Greece until July. Knowing this, at 2:30 we went to the Athenian Agora which clearly listed its last admission for 2:45, and we were warned as our tickets were stamped that we had only half an hour. However, at 2:45pm, the rest of the staff, not getting the memo about what closing versus last admission means began blowing whistles and herding the vistors out of the Agora, claiming that it was closed. This led to a bit of a standoff between one exceptionally vigorous whistle-blower and my camera. Guess who won.
We don't mind being charged between 2-6 euros for each exhibit (and 9 euros for the particularly important ones, including relevant museums), but we contemplated what would be the threshold price for an all access pass--30 euros for a week? 100 euros for a month? where you could just go see it, wherever it was and flash your pass? There has to be something better than nickel- and dime-ing you at each and every exhibit when the prices are not known until you get there. Which leads us to the next confusing encounter.
Some museums are free. Ok. That's good. We like free. However, as you enter, they still give you a ticket that indicates it is free admission ("entrance free").
Now, I know that oxymoron is also a Greek word, but do they have to be so conspicuous about it? There have got to be easier ways to count the number of people who visit the museum, especially since we were the only ones there.
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