Our second to the last destination on our jaunt through the motherland* is Athens. For centuries, this city was the center of the universe and if you have been following the crisis, it is again! At least it has been to the press.
As you may recall from previous posts, we did not really notice the impacts of the crisis in Thessaloniki, Crete, Messinia or Nafplion. I assumed we would in Athens, Greece's largest city full of pensioners and protesters.
Only we haven't.
Even in Athens the tourist bubble is still intact: cash comes out of the ATMs; most places take credit cards; the streets are filled with tourists; the beautiful (that's the word for it) Athens Metro is clean and orderly and normal. Additionally, during a walking trip into a residential neighborhood near our hotel I found the mini mart full of food, a larger market also fully stocked, and a vegetable stand bursting with produce. Even the graffiti, which mars large parts of Thessaloniki, is relatively mild here.
Granted, neighborhoods outside of downtown probably aren't in as good a shape, and there are many store fronts whose only sign is 'ενοικίαση' - for rent - but in general Athens seems to be in decent to good shape.
There definitely seems to be a disconnect between the press and the facts on the ground. For instance, the day after we saw a report on the BBC on the dire shape of the Monastiraki flea market we went there, and found it full of opens stores, merchandise, and tourists. Later that night we saw the BBC reporter on the square behind the Acropolis Museum but resisted the urge to ask about his coverage.
Or maybe I am simply too ensconced in my tourist bubble but the Athens and Athenians we have interacted with has ranged from awesome to normal. I hope that our experience here is less me being insensitive to folks who are suffering and more that H Ελλάδα ποτέ δεν πεθαίνει! Greece will never die!
I'll wrap up this post with a quote from Chuck D: don't believe the hype, and come to Greece if you can!** Τα λεμε! - Αthan
* Of course, we wrap up our trip outside of the motherland courtesy of a 20-hour layover in Constantinople. But since my dad's family is from Anatolia it counts.
** The second part of that quote was NOT from Chuck D. I believe that was Flava Flave.
As you may recall from previous posts, we did not really notice the impacts of the crisis in Thessaloniki, Crete, Messinia or Nafplion. I assumed we would in Athens, Greece's largest city full of pensioners and protesters.
Only we haven't.
Even in Athens the tourist bubble is still intact: cash comes out of the ATMs; most places take credit cards; the streets are filled with tourists; the beautiful (that's the word for it) Athens Metro is clean and orderly and normal. Additionally, during a walking trip into a residential neighborhood near our hotel I found the mini mart full of food, a larger market also fully stocked, and a vegetable stand bursting with produce. Even the graffiti, which mars large parts of Thessaloniki, is relatively mild here.
Granted, neighborhoods outside of downtown probably aren't in as good a shape, and there are many store fronts whose only sign is 'ενοικίαση' - for rent - but in general Athens seems to be in decent to good shape.
There definitely seems to be a disconnect between the press and the facts on the ground. For instance, the day after we saw a report on the BBC on the dire shape of the Monastiraki flea market we went there, and found it full of opens stores, merchandise, and tourists. Later that night we saw the BBC reporter on the square behind the Acropolis Museum but resisted the urge to ask about his coverage.
Or maybe I am simply too ensconced in my tourist bubble but the Athens and Athenians we have interacted with has ranged from awesome to normal. I hope that our experience here is less me being insensitive to folks who are suffering and more that H Ελλάδα ποτέ δεν πεθαίνει! Greece will never die!
I'll wrap up this post with a quote from Chuck D: don't believe the hype, and come to Greece if you can!** Τα λεμε! - Αthan
* Of course, we wrap up our trip outside of the motherland courtesy of a 20-hour layover in Constantinople. But since my dad's family is from Anatolia it counts.
** The second part of that quote was NOT from Chuck D. I believe that was Flava Flave.
