As I recall, road signs in Greece pretty much just resembled typical European road signs. We never got lost, I know that.
But be careful out there. Some of those two-lane highways are kinda dangerous.
We saw a few accidents.

Some signs in Greek and a transliteration to the Latin alphabet. Some signs are in Greek and English.  However you ought to spend a 1/2 hour learning the Greek alphabet so you can sound out place names, street signs, etc. 

As Cil said, the road signs are the standard European pictogram signs (and a simple number in a circle denoting speed limits).  Nothing you haven’t seen before.

Place-name signs (like “Thessaloniki”) almost always provide a  Latin transliteration underneath the Greek letters.  Keep in mind that this is a Latin transliteration, not an English translation.  So expect ATHINA for Athens, PATRA for Patras, etc.
 
If the writing is something other than place names (like for example, “Exit” or “speed is monitored by radar”) then an English translation is almost always provided.

Here’s an example of place-name signs below: Greek is in yellow, Latin in white.

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Also, as oldlady mentioned, the Greek alphabet is super-easy to learn.

thanks for the picture!  the free way look easy enough to drive.. I can read Thessaloniki  no problem.. just hope they post that in the sign beside Greek character.. Greek character is more like a math problem to me.. with all that alpha, delta,..etc..
 

You’ll come across a varied terrain.
 
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As for the Greek alphabet: it’s very easy to learn.  If drunk college students can do it….  but you don’t have to

Wow! they don’t look too bad, but again I am only worry about Greek drivers.. as they were noted for dangerous driving..By the way, is SALONICA another name for THESSALONIKI?  I just want to verify.. most maps use the name Thessaloniki, but the car rental from europcar use Salonica?? thanks again for all pictures.

Salonica is the English name for Thessaloníki.

that’s what I thought! however, I was not so sure since they are totally different.  Any other name for Kalampaka, Delphi, Larrisa which I should be watch out for?  we will be driving the road from Athen to Delphi,  to Kalampaka, then Thessalonliki.   so far I have been looking at google map.. do I need to buy a map here because if the map over there in greek character, then it won’t help..

Michelin is my favorite publisher of road maps.  You can get a great Michelin road map of Greece at Barnes & Noble or Borders (if you live in the USA) or try looking in a Chapters or Indigo (in Canada).  If you don’t find it at one location, try another (preferably a downtown location).  You should be able to find Michelin’s Greece road map.  You can also order it at amazon.com/amazon.ca or other online retailers.

On one side it’ll say GREECE (as you see in the picture below).  On the other I don’t remember exactly but it may either say ??S or ???? (Ellás/Elláda both which mean “Greece” in Greek) or maybe GRÈCE (French).  So, if it doesn’t say the English word “Greece”, flip it, and look on the other side.

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Michelin maps have everything listed both in Greek and Latin characters.
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Please buy the 2007 edition.  At the rate that Greece is building new roads, freeways, bridges, tunnels, etc, you want the most updated map possible.

If you wait until you get to Greece, you can find the same road maps there (including Michelin) in bookstores, highways rest stops, and other kinds of stores.  And all the road maps in Greece will also list place names both in Greek and Latin, and the map keys should be multilingual (Greek, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish).  With 17+ million annual tourists, plus 1+ million immigrants, the Greeks are always taking non-Greek-speakers into consideration.  You’ll notice that the Athens Metro also has all names listed in both alphabets. 

However, it’s probably better to be prepared and already have your road map before arriving in Greece.  I always find it a bitch when I’m somewhere, and I need to find something I forgot to bring: when I’m looking for it, I can’t find it; and when I don’t need it, I see it everywhere.

The Greek alphabet:

alpha    ?a
beta     ?ß
gamma  G?
delta     ?d
epsilon  ?e
zeta     ??
eta       ??
theta    T?
iota      ??
kappa   ??
lambda   ??
mu       ?µ
nu        ??
xi        ??
omicron ??
pi         ?p
rho       ??
sigma    Ss?
tau       ?t
upsilon   ??
phi        Ff
chi        ??
psi        ??
omega   O?

place names:

English          Greek (Greek characters)                 Greek (Latin characters)

Athens          ????a ?T???                                          Athina
Patras           ??t?a ?????                                          Pátra
Salonica    Tessa?????? T?SS??????? (or T?S/????)        Thessaloníki
Kalampaka     ?a?aµp??a ?????????                        Kalampáka/Kalambáka
Meteora        ?et???a ???????                                    Metéora
Delphi      ?e?f??/?e?f??? ?F/???F??S                Delphi/Delfi
Larisa           ????sa ????S?                                      Lárisa/Lárissa

the greece know we have legisitimacy claim to Epirus but try to drive out the Shqiptar who make proud live in the area.

In fact this area really call Chameria and you know.

myself and my shocktroops plan to develop GREATER ALBANIA

Trankt,
 
I may have already mentioned this in the past: remember to get your international driver’s permit before you arrive in Greece (unless you have a EU driver’s license).  It’s very quick and easy to get.

Thanks for information.  I probably will copy the Greek alphabet and bring with me..  hope fully I can sound out the food..
I have the internation driving permit, but it expires already.  I will have to reapply again then..
by the way, do you have a recommend place for staying in AThen? 

No, I don’t have any specific places to recommend.  But I do suggest you stay either in Pláka, or as close to that district as possible.  Do a search of hotels in Athens, and see what you come up with.  I can look up your choices, and see if they have good locations. 
 
If you’re going to have a rental car the entire time you’re in Greece, then that’s another thing you’ll want to take into consideration when choosing an Athens hotel.  In this case, I’d suggest picking up a car at Athens airport, and chosing a lodging location somewhere in the northern suburbs (so you’l never have to drive in central Athens), where you can easily hop on the Metro into the city centre at anytime, and easily hop onto the Attiki Odos or Kifissou freeways to leave the city.  Marousi, Kifissia, and Agia Paraskevi are good locations.

I saw hotel Solomou in solomou athens, 10432.  Is it good location?  I plan to stay in Athen the first three days without car, then pick up the car on the fourth day when leaving Athen for Delphi from this location 43 Syngrou Avenue 11742.  Are these two locations close between the hotel and car rental?  From the car rental then drive off to the freeway.. will it be easy to get to the freeway from this area?  I heard traffic is very bad in Athen.  I am debating if I should pick up the car from the airport, because it is easier to get out to the free way from the airport.  But we will have to taxi the luggages and kids to the airport again??

Traffic in Athens is awful and taxi’s to/from the airport are very expensive.  I’d forget driving, spend two days (max — I love ancient ruins, but 2 days was still more than enough) in Athens and then figure out how to get to one or more of the Greek islands.

Yes, the traffic in the city sucks, as oldlady pointed out.  Additionally, there’s measures implemented to restrict traffic congestion and car exhaust in the city; certain cars are allowed into the city center on certain days of the week.  I’m not sure if this applies to rentals, but it might be a bit of a hassle driving in the city.  Parking is scarce, so either pick up your car when you leave Athens, or get a hotel in the northern suburbs so you can easily find parking.  I noticed that the car-rental place (it’s a Europcar) is located in the city center, and it looks near metro stop Sygrou-Fix which is only 4 stops away from Omonia, the nearest stop to your hotel. 

Omonia is a once-dilapidated square which has been renovated.  South and west of Omonia square is a kind of run-down area, mostly inhabited by poor immigrants (although this may have changed since I was last in that area many years ago.  Omonia square itself has changed quite a bit with lots of investment, and Athinas street has been incredibly gentrified and beautified), while to the north and east is nice areas, that are being gentrified and mostly inhabited by working- and middle-class Greeks.  Your hotel is kind of located where these two sections meet, but more into the latter.  Don’t worry, the hotel itself is in a good location, just know where you’re located, because not too far to the west is the Karaiskaki Square area, which most Athenians prefer to avoid at night (although Athens is still one of Europe’s safest cities).  However, if you can, I would still go for something in romantic (and pedestrianized) Pláka, or near Parliament, or the east of Parliament.  You may be able to get a listing of hotels from Michelin, if you’re interested.  But the current location is fine.

Getting to freeway from the car rental place: it might be easier to avoid the city’s dead center and by following major straight avenues, by taking Leoforos Sygrou (“Leoforos” can mean Blvd or Avenue) to Leoforos Poseidonou (which runs along the coast), east to Leoforos Kifissou (which is actually a freeway), then north to leave the city.  You can check it out online; unfortunately Google Maps only shows the street names in Greek characters.  But www.viamichelin.com shows street names in Latin characters only.

As for renting a car at the airport, I’m not sure I understand your question, but I was thinking that if you wanted to have a car the entire time you were in Greece, then just rent the car at the airport, and stay at a hotel in the north suburbs of Athens, somewhere that’s just off the Attiki Odos freeway, and also near a Metro stop so you can ride into the city.

Wrote

yes, we plan to stay in Athen without car for three days, pick up the car  on the 4th from europcar ,  then drive out off Athen to Delphi.  I saw that you give out the path more like a loop around to the coast and back to the north.  This path seems to be 3 times longer than if going straight across to the freeway 8.  Is it because the straight path totally congested?  I am still trying to see if I can book in the plaka, since we are family, so it is a little hard to get a good price there.  Howerver, from the omonio square, can we still walk to the plaka or have to be metro?  by the way do Athen have metro map on line? any more recommendation? thanks so much.

Oh, yeah, feel free to figure your own route.  The route I gave you is a long loop, like you said, but I felt it was the least confusing because it’s 2 straight major avenues to the freeway.

Yes, you can take the metro from Omonia [may also be spelled Omonoia, don’t let that confuse you] (which has a metro stop, and I think is the closest stop to your hotel).

Here’s the most updated map of the Athens Metro system, from Attiko Metro (the Athens metro).  There’s a key at the top right to help you differentiate between Metro lines, Tram lines, and suburban rail lines.

http://www.ametro.gr/main/project/description/zoom/map_big_down.jpg

There is no metro station smack in the middle of Plaka, but: Monastiraki and Thissio stations are just outside the western edge of Plaka.  Thissio station is located in Thissio district which is like Plaka a renovated, charming 19th-century district, but not as touristy as Plaka (but very lovely).  Syntagma and Akropoli stations are right at the eastern edge of Plaka.  Panepistimio is also a stone’s throw from Plaka, and is situated ourside some great 19th century buildings.  Would be a great walk from Panepistimio to Plaka.  Your car-rental place shouldn’t be too far from station Sygrou-Fix. 

Also, while stroling in Plaka, Monastiraki, and Thissio: in Plaka, get away from the touristy streets and explore the side streets: it can be truly rewarding, and you may stumble upon an art gallery or something interesting.  Also, take a walk around the southern edge of the Acropolis, along the pedetrianized Dionysiou Aeropagitou Street.

thanks so much for the information again.  I am a little nervous about driving in Greece.. well,  but when we get there and if it looks difficults then we can always change plan and take bus to Delphi and Metereo..I believe they all have bus and train to those destination…but driving would definitely give us more freedom to explore..Hope the weather will be good for next month.

Luv-the-beach, I changed the the hotel to the plaka area as you suggest.  The hotel is Plaka Hotel at  Kapnikareas and Mitropoleos.  From the airport, I think we can take the blue line all the way down to Monastinaki for the hotel location.  is this central and good location?  When you say the bad area is in the south west area, hope it is not near this location thanks,.

You found an ideal location.
 
Have fun!

We will take an overnight train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul.   I was planning to buy the ticket at the train station in Thessloniki the day we get there.. But since it holiday travel season, we don’t want not able to buy ticket.  Can we buy these train ticket at Athens? this way,  it will give us one week ahead of time for reservation.  Also, Greek is part of Europe, can I also make reservation for all other train travel we will be taking in German and Poland there?

I’ve never heard of making train reservations for a commute that starts and ends in a country other than the one you’re currently in…like making a Germany-Poland reservation from Greece, or a Spain-Portugal reservation from the Netherlands, or a domestic French trip from Sweden….I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do this.  (Unless you have??  I’d like to know if this is possible!!)  Europe is not served by a single rail network; there’s a series of national networks that are connected to each other, so as to allow some trains to take international routes (like a French SNCF train to go from Paris to Turin and Milan in Italy).  Only scenario where I would imagine you could make a reservation from a train station outside the origin and destination countries would be on a multi-country netowrk, like the Thalys trains (high speed trains which connect the major cities of Belgium and Netherlands to each other, as well as to Paris, and Cologne and Aachen in west-central Germany), but I would imagine you’d still have to be in one of the constituent countries?  I don’t know.  There are long distance trains from Thessaloniki to Budapest (Hungary) that also pass through Romania and Bulgaria…but I seriously doubt you can make a Germany-Poland reservation from Greece.  If someone can shed some light on this, let us know. 

Why not just make reservations online? www.raileurope.com

As for the Thessaloniki-Istanbul; I don’t know.  Christmas-New Year’s time is a major travel period in Greece, as in any European country.  But that particular line (Thessaloniki eastwards) is not a high-volume route (hence it hasn’t yet been improved, like the Thessaloniki-Athens line has).  If in doubt, just make reservations.  You can also take a bus, or just fly between those two cities.

I have no personal experience but other members, notably OldLady, claim that it is possible to buy a reservation for any European train from any train station in Europe. It would be interesting to know if Greece is “Europe enough” in this respect. I suggest you ask this question in the transport forum.

thanks you, I posted here hoping luv-the-beach would know the answer, since he know much about Greece.  You probably right, Greece is probably not exactly have the same train system as in western europe…Any way, thanks you all for your helps.  We will find out soon since we are leaving next week.
 

Trankt,

I don’t think this is possible anywhere in Europe.  Try posting in Transport forum, see what oldldady says.  (I’m curious myself)

  You can buy train tickets and reservations for almost any train in the Eurail countries at any major station in any of those countries.  I made reservations for trains all over Europe at one of the Vienna stations.  I didn’t specifically try to buy reservations for Greece, but it’s a Eurail country, so it would at least be theoretically possible.  That said, I’m not sure about reservations for trains going into Turkey since it’s not a Eurail country. 

thank you for your photographs and explanation about the greek road symbols.