Looking around

So, we were sitting by the pool, cooling off after some major hiking around the caldera that is Santorini, when I noticed that something was missing:

The signs.

You know -- the signs around the pools in America that say, "No lifeguard on duty," "No diving," "No children under 14 without adult," "Take cleansing shower before entering pool," "No glass allowed," "No running," or, the one at my friend's backyard pool: "OOL. There is no "p" in our pool. Let's keep it that way."

But here we were in Greece and there was not one sign in sight at the hotel pool.

Not that we needed a sign. We can generally tell if a lifeguard is on duty and we generally know not to send kids alone to a pool. Further inspection showed that there was no fence around the pool, requiring no special key, but rather it was open, allowing a sweeping view of the lagoon and its islands without anything involving chain-link in the way.

Hmmm.

Greece in general seemed to have an absence of regulations, at least in comparison to those we are accustomed to in America. We entered and exited large ferries going between the islands without so much as going through metal detectors, much less having to throw out our four-ounce bottles of shampoo. We rented a car without having to point out all the dents (it would have taken a while) (the agent said she knew about all of them) or leave a credit card number with the rental company.

That was nice about Greece.

My husband says it's the lack of litigation that allows the lack of signs. I think there might be the impact of a cultural personality as well.

And it's refreshing.

And surely people -- American people -- will argue that there is a need for all those regulations and aren't we safer here from knowing everything from our restaurants to our swimming pools gets regulated.

Still, I will argue back, it was refreshing.

There was, however, an exception. Where the informational signs were almost always in Greek and English (see first photo below), when they did have to have regulatory signs -- the signs suggesting people not touch the historic artifacts or climb in the ancient temples (see second photos below) -- they were, for some reason ... only ...in English.

Ouch.