Tuesday, 13 March 2012

My impressions of Greece as a tourist in February - March 2012

I don't want to belittle the problems that millions of Greece are facing.  But Greece needs the money that tourists bring in to the country.  I was in greece for over two weeks, and saw nothing that would put me off going back to Greece again.

Some impressions - I'll add more as they occur to me.

  • at no time till I feel under threat of any kind. 
  • I went to a concert at the Megaron (Athens Concert Hall) that started at 8.30 p.m. and finished at about 11.30 p.m.  I walked from a hotel about 5 minutes walk from Syntagma to Syntagma metro station, caught the metro to the Megaron metro station, and returned by metro.  No sign of any protestors anywhere.  At about midnight I was on Kidiathinion - all perfectly quiet.
  • A lot of shops were boarded up, most with shutters.  A few were boarded up with metal sheets - these were I think premises that were damaged in the recent riots.
  • At the large hotels on Syntagma Square I noticed marble steps with slabs of marble missing.  This looked odd on such large and impressive looking hotels.  then I recalled reading that protestors had ripped up stones to hurl at police.
  • The concert at the Megaron was sold out - ticket prices were from 15 euros to 55 euros.

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