Press confusion about European report

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/56604

How your Greek summer holiday can help save Greece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/jun/22/greek-summer-holiday-save-greece?newsfeed=true

"What sort of welcome can we expect to receive?

Open arms and bear hugs. Chris Wright, managing director of GIC The Villa Collection, says that it's like the Greece of 20 years ago – very friendly and very welcoming."

Greek Islands travel guide

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destination/greece/73192/Greek-Islands-travel-guide.html

"There’s been a resurgence of pride in regional specialties (including wine), and more careful cooking based on the superb raw materials that were always a mainstay of tavernas patronised by Greeks rather than tourists."

The Summer of Discontent?

http://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/europe/the-summer-of-discontent-1.1329968

"I reached the island of Poros on the dot of 6pm.............Gratification is rarely so instant. By 6.03pm, I was sitting in a café with a bottle of Mythos, a bowl of olives and a grin."

Attaboy!

Greek president to fly economy class to Brussels

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/uk-greece-president-idUSLNE85R00V20120628

A source familiar with the travel plans of the Greek delegation, led by 83-year-old President Karolos Papoulias, said they would travel economy on a regular Aegean Airlines flight to Brussels.

And the President is not taking 280,000 euro salary.

If the plane Aegean use on the Athens - Brussels flights is the same as the ones used on the Athens  -London flights, I hope the President gets a seat at the front of economy class - that would be first class if the partition was moved back a bit.

Greek-American chef finds opportunity in Greece financial meltdown

http://www.pri.org/stories/world/greek-american-chef-finds-opportunity-in-greece-financial-meltdown-10449.html

This caught my eye: 

"In 2009, Vezene started his own restaurant, an Italian place on the Greek island of Meganisi."

It is many years since I went to Meganisi, but I remember going into a taverna in the uphill village with a friend.  All there was to eat was one gigante.  Not a portion, just one gigante.  For those who don't know, gigantes are like large baked beans, served in a toamto sauce.  Things must have changed a lot on Meganisi.  That "meal" is tored in the same memory compartment as:

Serifos.  I was there in I think March.  There were few ferries.  The food at the one open taverna dwindled day by day.  Tomato, cucumber, meat - all were off.  As I waited for the fery, all that was on the menu was pasta.  No sauce, just pasta.

Siphnos.  A bar by the sea.  The bar appeared to be open, but there was nothing to drink available to by.  the person on duty offered to ladle some water out of a bowl for me to drink.

Many years later I know Greece much better and haven't been on short commons for years!

Anafiotika, the hidden island of Athens

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/photo_essay/setimes/photo_essay/2012/06/18/photo_essay

Anafiotika, nestling on the slopes of the Acropolis, is one of my favourite spots in Athens.  I often spend the last night of a holiday in Athens, staying in the Plaka, and go for a morning walk before heading to the airport.  The walk often includes Anafiotika.  With its small houses and dozing cats, you can almost imagine that you are on an island.