As with every other major city in the world, Athens has some bad sides as well. Here are a couple of things to avoid in Athens.

1. Omonia Square at night

Omonia Square, although one of the oldest squares in Athens, is known to become a place infested with junkies, drug dealers, prostitutes and transexuals at night. Some of the individuals belonging to these groups might become violent to strangers. Unless you want to deal with such people, it is best to stay away.

2. Avoid large crowds in Athens

Really! This goes for metros as well. If you’re in an overcrowded Athens metro train, watch out for your pockets at all times. Thiefs usually gently bump you with their body before the train stops and next thing you know you’re all alone in the station with no wallet while the thief is still in the train and get out at the next station. Better not carry a wallet and have all your belongings spread between the various pockets of your pants. It’s also good to have both a passport and a national ID card as well as copies of them with you.

3. Avoid getting ripped off by taxi drivers

This one’s easy. If during the day, the meter must be set on 1. If between midnight and 5 AM or if you’re taking the taxi outside the city then the meter will be set on 2, which means double fare.

4. Avoid driving and buses

Avoid driving in Athens because congestion problems are awful and parking spaces are very scarce. As for buses, avoid them if you can take the metro or a walk instead because they are overcrowded, they don’t run on a strict schedule and you may end up waiting and waiting and waiting in the station.

5. Avoid throwing paper down the toilet

This is because the sewage system in Athens uses narrow pipes that can easily become congested so you run the risk of blocking the pipes and flooding the bath. Just use the plastic bins next to the toilet seats instead.

This concludes our article. I’m sure there are more things to avoid in Athens but I thought these are some of the more pressing of them. You are free to post other things to avoid in Athens in the comments below so that future visitors reading this can have the trip of their life.