Greeks and Geocaching !?

[motorcycle team bremen]

Hi everyone

 

First off, please excuse my english but my written greek is quite a desaster.

 

My name is Sebastian and I am part of the "motorcycle team bremen".

Well since two years we don´t live anymore in Bremen/Germany but in Greece (between Patras and Aegio).

Some may have seen our logs in the logbooks or caches etc.

 

Since we are down in Greece we are observing the cache map looking for new caches and challanges but unfortunately the greek cacher community ist obviosly quite small :-(

While in Germany there are thousands of active cachers, in Greece there might be 20 or so.

 

What do you think is the reason for this? Are greek people simply not interested or they just don´t know about it.

 

I tried to make some promotion among my greek colleagues but most of them didn´t got the point why we are doing that (I mean there is no mey to win ;-))

 

Do you have any idea how to promote geocaching a bit more in this wonderful country with so many wonderfull places to hide caches!!!

 

I thought about placing some flyers in outdoor shops or something like that.

 

Greetings from Kamares

 

Sebastian

[giannhs1983]

Hello, I am a Greek geocacher.... I know what you are talking about....yes indeed, in Greece geocaching is not very popular.... you go geocaching often? Check my cache.... its new and quite interesting:http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=33d2a040-0bfd-469c-8a84-aa52a00b5253 You can visit this beautifull place. I am a new geocacher and I am planning to hide many new geocaches in Greece and to inform people about geocaching and to attract them to become geocachers..... see you

[sakis]

Γειά σου giannhs1983 μεγάλε!!!!!!

[giannhs1983]

sakh δε φτανει που προσπαθω να δωσω λιγη ζωη και πνοη στο φορουμ και στο geocaching γενικα, με δουλευεις κι ολας?

[+tetras61]

...giannhs1983,..δωσε το φιλι της ζωης μπας και ζωντανεψει....

Edited May 31, 2011 by tetras61

[sakis]

...giannhs1983,..δωσε το φιλι της ζωης μπας και ζωντανεψει....

kots kots που είσαι?

Edited June 1, 2011 by sakis

[+Mimhs.gr]

I thing that the reason behind this is that Greek people had used to see, EVERY volunteer action to become patronised by someone or some party ( political or social ).So we are afraid for 'free' services .The first questions when I talk about this hobby of me ,are always 'don't you afraid of that ..... happening ?' or ' maybe someone do this ....' and some words like bomb-narcotics-poison-trap- etc follow .

We even afraid what will happen 'if we brake a leg who is going to find you ?',since they know that hospitals are a mess,police are not caring and fire department are understaffed and social security almost non existing.

Thing about the GPS prices two or three years ago ,and keep in your mind that not many Greeks speak of english and Internet connection is expensive and in some places OTE has no Internet lines (ADSL) .You have to use mobile connection that costs enough money if you need it for long time ( like geocaching searches or crypt installation etc).

I presented a mathematical geocaching puzzle once,in a hischool professor to help me at,and at the end of his solution he told me that 'it leads you in a strange coordinations numbers, that we don't know about ,and we dont use in Greece'!

If that is a professors knowledge what you expect from students to understand.

Ofcourse is my humble opinion only and just that

Edited June 26, 2011 by Mimhs.gr

[sakis]

Νομίζω ότι οι λόγοι είναι πιο απλοί

Πάρτε αυτό το παράδειγμα

Ένας εργαζόμενος που κερδίζει 700 ευρώ ανά μήνα (ναι αυτοί είναι οι μισθοί στην Ελλάδα)

Πρώτα απ 'όλα θα πρέπει να αγοράσει ένα GPS έτσι πρέπει να δαπανήσει περίπου 200 έως 500 για μια συσκευή.

Δεύτερον, πρέπει να έχει μια σύνδεση στο Internet που κοστίζει μεταξύ 20 και 50 ευρώ (εξαρτάται από το φορέα παροχής)

Τρίτον, πολλοί άνθρωποι δεν ξέρουν πώς να διαβάσουν τις συντεταγμένες και τελικά είναι πολύ δύσκολο να σηκώσεις έναν Έλληνα από την καφετέρια και να τον στείλεις να βρει κάτι που δεν θα τον κάνει να κερδίσει χρήματα ή να του δώσει μια θέση δημοσίου υπαλλήλου.

Γνώμη μου

 

I think the reasons are more simple

Take this example

A worker who earns 700 euro per month (yes those are the salaries in Greece)

First of all he must buy a GPS so he must spend about 200 to 500 for a divice.

Second, he must have an internet connection who costs between 20 to 50 euros (depends of provider)

Third, no many people know how to read coordinates and final it is very hard to take a Greek from the caffeteria and send him to find something who will no make him earn money or give him a civil servant post.

I'm just saying

Edited June 27, 2011 by sakis

[+Flintstone5611]

Νομίζω ότι οι λόγοι είναι πιο απλοί

Πάρτε αυτό το παράδειγμα

Ένας εργαζόμενος που κερδίζει 700 ευρώ ανά μήνα (ναι αυτοί είναι οι μισθοί στην Ελλάδα)

Πρώτα απ 'όλα θα πρέπει να αγοράσει ένα GPS έτσι πρέπει να δαπανήσει περίπου 200 έως 500 για μια συσκευή.

Δεύτερον, πρέπει να έχει μια σύνδεση στο Internet που κοστίζει μεταξύ 20 και 50 ευρώ (εξαρτάται από το φορέα παροχής)

Τρίτον, πολλοί άνθρωποι δεν ξέρουν πώς να διαβάσουν τις συντεταγμένες και τελικά είναι πολύ δύσκολο να σηκώσεις έναν Έλληνα από την καφετέρια και να τον στείλεις να βρει κάτι που δεν θα τον κάνει να κερδίσει χρήματα ή να του δώσει μια θέση δημοσίου υπαλλήλου.

Γνώμη μου

 

I think the reasons are more simple

Take this example

A worker who earns 700 euro per month (yes those are the salaries in Greece)

First of all he must buy a GPS so he must spend about 200 to 500 for a divice.

Second, he must have an internet connection who costs between 20 to 50 euros (depends of provider)

Third, no many people know how to read coordinates and final it is very hard to take a Greek from the caffeteria and send him to find something who will no make him earn money or give him a civil servant post.

I'm just saying

 

με κάνετε να γελάσω, sakis.

[sakis]

Νομίζω ότι οι λόγοι είναι πιο απλοί

Πάρτε αυτό το παράδειγμα

Ένας εργαζόμενος που κερδίζει 700 ευρώ ανά μήνα (ναι αυτοί είναι οι μισθοί στην Ελλάδα)

Πρώτα απ 'όλα θα πρέπει να αγοράσει ένα GPS έτσι πρέπει να δαπανήσει περίπου 200 έως 500 για μια συσκευή.

Δεύτερον, πρέπει να έχει μια σύνδεση στο Internet που κοστίζει μεταξύ 20 και 50 ευρώ (εξαρτάται από το φορέα παροχής)

Τρίτον, πολλοί άνθρωποι δεν ξέρουν πώς να διαβάσουν τις συντεταγμένες και τελικά είναι πολύ δύσκολο να σηκώσεις έναν Έλληνα από την καφετέρια και να τον στείλεις να βρει κάτι που δεν θα τον κάνει να κερδίσει χρήματα ή να του δώσει μια θέση δημοσίου υπαλλήλου.

Γνώμη μου

 

I think the reasons are more simple

Take this example

A worker who earns 700 euro per month (yes those are the salaries in Greece)

First of all he must buy a GPS so he must spend about 200 to 500 for a divice.

Second, he must have an internet connection who costs between 20 to 50 euros (depends of provider)

Third, no many people know how to read coordinates and final it is very hard to take a Greek from the caffeteria and send him to find something who will no make him earn money or give him a civil servant post.

I'm just saying

 

με κάνετε να γελάσω, sakis.

πως τα λέω !!! μπα σε καλό μου !!!

Edited September 21, 2011 by sakis

[+GATOULIS]

αστεια αστεια... εχεις δικιο!! σε οσους εχω μιλησει για το παιχνιδι αυτο με ρωτανε!!! τι θα κερδισουν αυτοι!! προτειμουν τον καφε παρα....

 

ασε που... που να περπατησουν!!! και στην τουαλετα με το αμαξι πανε!!!

[sakis]

αστεια αστεια... εχεις δικιο!! σε οσους εχω μιλησει για το παιχνιδι αυτο με ρωτανε!!! τι θα κερδισουν αυτοι!! προτειμουν τον καφε παρα....

 

ασε που... που να περπατησουν!!! και στην τουαλετα με το αμαξι πανε!!!

+1

[RoisinDonn]

I think some of the reasons cited are a bit unfair to many greeks...some definitely are couch (or coffee shop!) potatos whose idea of a day out is to hit one of the tavernas around Kessariani, but many greeks are keen outdoorsmen and women! (guys, think of all those hunters, fishermen etc in villages - even the country doctor/lawyer/real estate person hunts, cultivates olive trees and fishes in most cases lol). There are also plenty of mountaineers and other adventurer types - big-city residents who like to get away to the mountains to get some time in the green

 

I think there's merit in what people said about the cost of a GPS or GPS-enabled unit, but I'm not sure that could be the whole picture either given there's plenty of gadget buying in Greece (or there was until recently...now sadly things are getting a good deal tougher for everyone )

 

I think most of all is that people don't know about it, and that mainly has to do with the same reasons why many don't know about any interest that's strongly internet-based in Greece - a dearth of adequate content in Greek. Even in my case, though I've been living in Greece for the past several years, I actually heard about geocaching from primarily english-language websites (I think the first time was on flickr, but it took a couple of mentions for it to sink in, as is usual with these things )

 

Anyway, this is my first post here and I'm hoping to have some good clean outdoorsy fun with this! I expect since there are not so many caches apparently to be found, I might soon be doing a fair bit of hiding caches (is that the correct term?) myself, which is obviously equally fun I'm sure!

[+Mimhs.gr]

Welcome !.

If you live in Athens area there are enough for a start and I thing that,if you take it slow and easy you are going to enjoy the game for several months !

A word of caution .DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION to the numbers under the avatars of each player ! These are the real spoilers because they transform you in a number hunter and after that you loose all the fun from geocaching .

Dont be very anxius to set-up your caches .Look and learn from the others .There are lots of ideas and implementations ,the game is based on the different people's mind's and ways ! Sorry but I can't express my thoughts in English very well and I hope you are getting the meaning of my answer

[RoisinDonn]

Welcome !.

If you live in Athens area there are enough for a start and I thing that,if you take it slow and easy you are going to enjoy the game for several months !

A word of caution .DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION to the numbers under the avatars of each player ! These are the real spoilers because they transform you in a number hunter and after that you loose all the fun from geocaching .

Dont be very anxius to set-up your caches .Look and learn from the others .There are lots of ideas and implementations ,the game is based on the different people's mind's and ways ! Sorry but I can't express my thoughts in English very well and I hope you are getting the meaning of my answer

 

Thanks for the kind words! And yeah, I figured it was a bad idea to get too competitive in the narrow sense of the word - it kinda kills the fun if you're just out to add more notches lol.

 

So far I've only tried one cache (the one on Philopappou) Failed dismally unfortunately, but from what I can tell that has a lot to do with the fact I was using my iphone (it's all the GPS I have sadly) and the coverage was terrible - I was using the geocaching app and the part where it says how accurate it is was never less than 150ft! And more often than not the dot that was supposed to represent where you are was red, which is supposed to mean that the signal's weak. With those kinds of conditions it's kind of no point to look for the cache in terms of detail, because there's no way to know if you're even in the general vicinity lol

 

I was really, really looking forward to going to that meeting for geocachers - the Athenian Symposium i think it was called? But then it was cancelled due to the strikes, and it doesn't appear to be back on again. Can someone set it up again maybe? I don't know how to do it myself yet, but I'd totally go, for what it's worth!

[+Mimhs.gr]

You got it !

There is one event in Athens in the next few days GC355NX.Unfortunately I am in Mytilene and I will not be there, but you can !

Also the GC2TZEQ needs in reality no GPS at all ! ( most of the founds say so !!) and GC19F09 is easy find if you read the spoilers and read the logs carefully !

My daughter uses her i-Phone also and have no complaints .(At least she does not ask me to pay for a GPS !). Dont forget that many have Gps's ,but some of them pay more than they can use ,or will use. Most of the todays cachers use simple (kind of !) devices and they are totaly satisfied.

All this fancy buttons and icons are like womens clothing and cosmetics .Just covering the reality : You need a simple GPS! Maybe a low priced, used one from e-bay. All this paperless bu...it are not going to help you much !

Plus you can use paper to start a cooking fire, or smoke in case of emergency ,boil water,make a kite or keep notes in the field !

In time, you will see that 50% of the game is GPS use ,yes, but the other fifty is thinking !. You start to thing 'where he could hide a TUPPER box ?". It is not under one small stone or in a rats hole,not IN the ground,not FLYING,not IN the water (this will change ,they are preparing 'dive caches type'), and most important ,with the experience you gain from your previous founds:

Where I could possibly hide a medium sized tupper here, IF I was the owner , so no muggles will find it ?

Even Philopapou has a 10% DNF ,and from cachers that have more than 1 find like you have ! So keep going and happy Geocaching !

Of course you can use the messaging feature if you need any help or have any questions . I will be happy to assist a newbie !!

[Mark-X]

So far I've only tried one cache (the one on Philopappou) Failed dismally unfortunately, but from what I can tell that has a lot to do with the fact I was using my iphone (it's all the GPS I have sadly) and the coverage was terrible - I was using the geocaching app and the part where it says how accurate it is was never less than 150ft! And more often than not the dot that was supposed to represent where you are was red, which is supposed to mean that the signal's weak. With those kinds of conditions it's kind of no point to look for the cache in terms of detail, because there's no way to know if you're even in the general vicinity lol

 

Though I haven't been very active in the sport recently, it's true I have stopped using my Garmin GPSr in favor of my iPhone Geocaching application, which I find more handy... However, after updating to the current version I have been facing the same problems you are describing above (in fact I have mailed Geocaching.com accordingly...) Let's hope they will take care of these problems in the next update!

[+Mimhs.gr]

So far I've only tried one cache (the one on Philopappou) Failed dismally unfortunately, but from what I can tell that has a lot to do with the fact I was using my iphone (it's all the GPS I have sadly) and the coverage was terrible - I was using the geocaching app and the part where it says how accurate it is was never less than 150ft! And more often than not the dot that was supposed to represent where you are was red, which is supposed to mean that the signal's weak. With those kinds of conditions it's kind of no point to look for the cache in terms of detail, because there's no way to know if you're even in the general vicinity lol

 

Though I haven't been very active in the sport recently, it's true I have stopped using my Garmin GPSr in favor of my iPhone Geocaching application, which I find more handy... However, after updating to the current version I have been facing the same problems you are describing above (in fact I have mailed Geocaching.com accordingly...) Let's hope they will take care of these problems in the next update!

Aha ! So I must inform my daughter to NOT update her i-phone application .That is an interesting information .Thanks .

[asteraki]

I would also like to contribute to the original question. From my experience, I hadn't heard about geocaching until birdingnut (American) told me about it. At the begining I thought it was stupid to hike hills and mountains in order to find a tapperware. After finding one, I liked the idea of finding hidden "treasures" that regular people don't know that exist. With my friends, we found hilarious the different ways we invented in order to avoid muggles. Honestly, I still find time consuming to log the visits. I try not to become a number hunter -as Mimhs.gr says- and that's why loging visits becomes a little boring. But it's much better to go geocaching on a Sunday morning than drinking coffee and gossiping people. Our Greek habit!!

Anyhow, from what I've heard from other people that were also introduced to geocaching by the same person (birdingnut) I found out that for some it's really annoying having to walk in garbage -e.g. Thessaloniki 2 Hill cache- to find a tapperware. I still haven't done this... I guess it will be my last one to find in Thessaloniki...

Asteraki

[+Mimhs.gr]

I still find time consuming to log the visits.

 

Wait to place your first cache to say that ! Then you will have a different view for logs and others opinions about your cache and other small things like size-hiding-view-theme-difficulty-stories... Just wait !

 

I try not to become a number hunter -as Mimhs.gr says- and that's why loging visits becomes a little boring.

 

Logging is a tribute to the owner and all his efforts to set a good cache for all of us. Sometimes you have to spend hours or even days to find a cache, especially the puzzle kind of them, and logging is just a small amount of well spend time of yours to express your thoughts and feelings i.e of the place or the setup.

 

"for some it's really annoying having to walk in garbage -e.g. Thessaloniki 2 Hill cache- to find a tapperware. I still haven't done this... I guess it will be my last one to find in Thessaloniki...

 

Every cache has something to offer . Maybe 'Thessaloniki 2 Hill' didn't started as such garbage place , but at list it helps you to avoid the same mistake at your own caches! Don't under-estimate the logs, they are a valuable tool for all of us, and sometimes they bring a smile to our faces ! Something, we badly need those days!

Nobody likes to walk in garbage,-at least no Geocacher likes that !- and that is why CITO was invented.

 

Welcome asteraki

Edited December 19, 2011 by Mimhs.gr

[sakis]

Εμα και αυτός ο ανόητος sakis πήγε και τι έβαλε σε περιοχή που έχει πεταμένα ανταλακτικά απκλεμένα αυτοκίνητα

[+Mimhs.gr]

Μην αυτομαστιγωνεσαι ρε sakis ! Προφανως το εβαλες για να δειξεις την υπερκαταναλωτικη κοινωνια μας και το ποσα χρησιμα πραγματα πετιουνται στα σκουπιδια, ή την ελειψη περιβαντολογικης συνειδησης και την ανυπαρξια ελεγχου του συγχρονου ανθρωπου στην διαχειρηση των βλαβερων υπολειματων της αυτοκινητοβιομηχανιας .Και αντι να σε περιβαλουν με τον δεοντα σεβασμο στον φιλοσοφο που αναδυκνυει ενα τετοιο θεμα, σου προσαπτουν κατηγοριες για ελειπη περιβαντολογικο ελεγχο μιας θεσης 'κατσ'. Αφες αυτοις, ου γαρ ειδασι τι ποιουσι (καπως ετσι γραφεται...)

Edited December 29, 2011 by Mimhs.gr

[sakis]

ΕΙΣΕ ΑΡΧΟΝΤΑΣ

[mpampinos]

εχτές επισκέφτηκα την Thessaloniki 2 Hill cache και δεν μου άρεσε καθόλου ,υποτίθεται ότι βλέπεις αξιοθέατα και ωραία μέρη.

Όπως είπε και ο Μίμης δεν πιστεύω να ήταν έτσι όταν μπήκε η κρύπτη αλλά τώρα που έγινε έτσι κάτι πρέπει να κάνουμε, για να καθαρίσουμε το μέρος λίγο ακατόρθωτο μιας και θα χρειαστεί μεγάλα φορτηγά για τους τόνους σκουπιδιών .

μήπως λέω μήπως η κρύπτη να μετακόμιζε λίγο ποιο πέρα ώστε να αποφεύγουμε την διαδρομή μέσα από τα σκουπίδια μέχρι και αν ποτέ καθαριστή το μέρος;

 

Όχι δεν γυρνάω το κεφάλι στα προβλήματα που έχουμε στα δάση μας ,υπάρχουν άλλοι τρόποι για να αναδείξεις ένα πρόβλημα.

το να δείξεις στον τουρίστα τα σκουπίδια μας είναι σαν να λες έναν ξένο να καθαρίσει το σπίτι μας

 

φιλικά Μπάμπης

[sakis]

εχτές επισκέφτηκα την Thessaloniki 2 Hill cache και δεν μου άρεσε καθόλου ,υποτίθεται ότι βλέπεις αξιοθέατα και ωραία μέρη.

Όπως είπε και ο Μίμης δεν πιστεύω να ήταν έτσι όταν μπήκε η κρύπτη αλλά τώρα που έγινε έτσι κάτι πρέπει να κάνουμε, για να καθαρίσουμε το μέρος λίγο ακατόρθωτο μιας και θα χρειαστεί μεγάλα φορτηγά για τους τόνους σκουπιδιών .

μήπως λέω μήπως η κρύπτη να μετακόμιζε λίγο ποιο πέρα ώστε να αποφεύγουμε την διαδρομή μέσα από τα σκουπίδια μέχρι και αν ποτέ καθαριστή το μέρος;

 

Όχι δεν γυρνάω το κεφάλι στα προβλήματα που έχουμε στα δάση μας ,υπάρχουν άλλοι τρόποι για να αναδείξεις ένα πρόβλημα.

το να δείξεις στον τουρίστα τα σκουπίδια μας είναι σαν να λες έναν ξένο να καθαρίσει το σπίτι μας

 

φιλικά Μπάμπης

1)Δεν υπάρχουν τουρίστες,ή τουλάχιστον όχι η ποσότητα που θα έπρεπε

2)Όταν το έβαλα εκεί το 'τσάτσ' δεν είχε καθόλου σκουπιδαριό,τώρα αν έχει γεμίσει ,τι να πώ...??? ΚΑΦΡΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ

3)Ο ένας λόγος που έβαλα εκεί το 'τσατς΄ είναι πως κατά Λιακόπουλου ευαγγέλιο ,εκεί είναι μία ΠΥΛΗ των ΕΛΟΧΙΜ

4)Ο άλλος λόγος είναι πως στο απέντι άλσος υπάρχει επιτύμβιο μνημείο για τον ιδρυτή μεγάλης αμερικανικής καπνοβιομηχανίας και που έως και σήμερα μου προξενεί τρομερή περιέργεια.

5).....................

Edited January 6, 2012 by sakis

[+Mimhs.gr]

lots of garbage,not so nice place ( mpampinos )

There was a lot of garbage, but the view was great (Rainbow6utility)

Lot of garbidge but a nice wiev (jogi01)

nice view from here, but a CITO would be good (Alex on Tour)

It isn't so full of garbage, but would be better without them! ( gadragon )

The cache hide is exceptionall but the area is filled with garbage. Maybe a cito event would be of benefit (Myrzen)

Location not tell us much but thanx ( maarioo )

Cache requires some navigating through trash (birdingnut)

wild garbage dump, so not very nice-seen a snake. (Wanderduene)

we were not able to look around as there were not only too many garbages but many scary homeless people sleeping under cardboard-shelters!Probably the area has changed... but now it isfull of dirt and its really scary!(teokar)

________________________________________________________________________

Νομιζω οτι πραγματικα χρειαζεται μια μετακομιση σε καλυτερη γειτονια !

Sakis σε γυρευει μια κρυπτη σου. Σακιδιο-μπαλασκες-και μεταλικο κρανος...

[sakis]

Εεεεε άμα έχει και άστεγους ,τα παράπονά σας στο ΔΝΤ και στα άθλια κόμματα ΠΑΣΟΚ-ΝΔ ΕΠΕ που μας έφεραν εδώ

Edited January 7, 2012 by sakis