toilets, showers and dirty water

I'm loving the weather, loving the beaches and the lifestyle but there are a few things about Greece that are less than ideal.

One of the major downsides is that you can't drink water from the tap - you can't even brush your teeth in it. A couple of times I've done some hand washing in the basin and the water is actually tinged a brown colour. It can be hard to remember to use bottled water to brush your teeth!

This also means that when you go out for dinner, you have to pay for table water which in NZ is always free.

On the plus side though, bottled water is pretty cheap in supermarkets, around $2 NZ for six 1.5 litre bottles.

Hand washing has been a real pain too! The laundromat on the island is pretty expensive, but Mike found a washing machine at the campsite down the road that was a bit cheaper, so we were pretty excited to have a laundry day and wear clothing that is actually completely clean!

Also tied in with the water system is the fact that you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet. The sewerage system in Greece is so ancient that it can't handle it! So next to every toilet is a little rubbish bin that you are to put your toilet paper in. That can be hard to remember to do too, especially after a couple of drinks!

Greek bathrooms are quite weird too, at least the ones I've had in Santorini and Antiparos. The shower is basically just like a corner of the room, there is no shower curtain and you have to hold the shower nozzle in your hand, there's no hook, so the end result is that every time you have a shower, the whole bathroom floor is saturated! It may be because I'm staying in cheaper places but it seems to be the traditional Greek setup.

All in all though it could be a lot worse, you don't travel and expect everything to be like home, what would be the point in that!