Greece

As foretold previously, the Grano household has been to Greece for a few days. For us, the primary interest was in the archaeology and history, but it was interesting to look at the street life too. I've nothing very startling to report, just a few personal observations from the worst affected of the PIGS and, yes, the chance to display a few pics (it's easier than importuning people on street corners, after all). Once again, Greece has become a prominent financial story now that debt restructuring looks ever more likely, but my guess is that, despite tough talk and some politicians going off message, the Eurobloc will fight to put it off for as long as possible, since it will mean more bank bailouts all across Europe. Angela Merkel will need to ask herself whether her electorate would prefer to support Greece or Commerzbank. As usual, if the denials start to accumulate, then it may happen sooner.

Most of our time was spent in Athens where 40% of the Greek population live. I was last there over twenty years ago and not surprisingly, there have been a few changes. The Euro sugar rush of the past few years has notably helped to improve the infrastructure. The new metro and tram systems are really good, while the relocated airport is at last up to modern standards. Much of the south central area around the Acropolis is a lot pleasanter than before, thanks to pedestrianisation and landscaping schemes.

In the private sector, the demolition of some tedious blocks of the 50s and 60s in favour of more stylish architecture is a welcome improvement, but it still has a long way to go compared with London. Construction activity was generally not much in evidence and what there was seemed to be making little progress. Bankruptcies may be to blame here. This group of buildings seems to be taking an age to complete:

I noticed several shops being gutted and refitted, though, so there seems to be some life at the consumer level. Neighbourhoods like Psiri seem pleasanter than before, having become part of a "scene", while others like Kolonaki appear less so, but these are just my subjective impressions. Vast swathes of the north central area, however, are just as grimy and noisy as ever and the unrestricted growth of the city over the past few decades has allowed development to wash up to the foothils of the surrounding mountains:

The Plaka district is no less touristy than twenty years ago, but nonetheless congenial and, in fact, a bit classier than I remember it, the worst of the tat being less in evidence. We didn't once have a meal or a snack that wasn't good value, and it was refreshing to see that international fast food outlets and coffee shops have still made little headway in the city. We had no trouble getting meals with wine for around 15 euros per head. This taverna, for example, near the top of Thespidos Street under the northeast corner of the Acropolis was one we found to be really pleasant:

Overall, I did not get the impression that the private sector was in desperate straits, although, of course, my purview was limited to retail and tourism. The mainstream shops were largely busy with both Athenians and tourists buying clothes, food, gadgets, etc. Opening hours for businesses are usually 0830-1500 and 1700-2000 in Athens, but the public sector largely forgets the evening component and, with the honourable exception of the new and splendid Acropolis Museum, traditional civil service hours still seem to prevail in state facilities. They are missing a trick here, I think. With people under 19 getting free admission, we were able to visit several outstanding archaeological sites over the week for a total of 16 euros, an absurdly cheap figure. Better to employ more staff and charge more, in my view, since there was no shortage of visitors.

To my surprise, we were not at all troubled by strikes or demonstrations and only came across a small protest outside the Athens City Council offices. With central government debt at 150%, it is virtually impossible for Greece to continue without default or else long and savage austerity. One wonders what the population will take. I reckon the public/private divide must be an even bigger fault line in Greece than here, with the lower paid public and private sector workers taking the hit for the complacency of the overpaid and undertaxed administrative/professional classes.

One day, we took an excursion to Mycenae. This view from near the top of the citadel shows the corner of the Bronze Age palace (circa 1500 BCE) and the agriculturally productive plain of Argos stretching out to the sea 10 miles away in the top left.

Mycenae was one of several dozen power centres in prehistoric Greece which, after several centuries of increasing power and wealth, collapsed in the C11th BCE. Another was Argos itself which can be seen as the small dark hill in the far distance. The proximate cause of their demise was undoubtedly violence, but the underlying cause(s) are much debated.

The first part of the journey there involved travelling along the ancient sacred way between Athens and Eleusis. Where, in classical times, there were rural rites and processions amid barley fields and olive groves, there is now an industrial/port complex of mind-numbing size and ugliness. Such installations are never pretty, of course, but in Greece, the historical lack of planning regulations has led to some grievous cases of industrial sprawl. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing whether the vast array of shipping spread out in the Saronic Gulf which feeds the Elefsis complex was effectively employed or mainly laid up.

By keeping to the greener areas where we could, we found Athens pleasant to walk around. In particular, the abundant drifts of scarlet poppies in areas like Kerameikos or this one in the Agora, were a delight,

as was the wildlife. The tortoises in central Athens were a surprise and it was lovely to see a nuthatch in Mycenae, a bird I've never seen in Britain. Inevitably, however, there were some darker parts of town. Like everywhere else since the invention of the spray can, graffiti is common, but it is really bad in some places and, I suspect, very recent. Particularly dismaying was a monument to a WW2 martyr in Anafiotika which was defaced by neo-Nazis overnight. Elsewhere, the massive daubings did nothing to improve the feel of some insalubrious districts, but I suppose that applies worldwide. However, the lack of any sign of an official will to clean it up suggested a certain amount of public disaffection or even sympathy.

Street hawkers were common wherever tourists were likely to linger, but they were almost exclusively immigrants from North Africa or Eastern Europe. I guess some of these people were desperate loners, but others were distinctly entrepreneurial, while others yet, to judge by the truly pathetic artefacts they were trying to shift, were clearly suckers in a bigger operation. The locals ignored them, of course, while the police occasionally amused themselves by chasing them on foot through the streets. Beggars were in evidence too, but no more so, I thought, than in London.

In our little flat in the Makriyianni district:

we had access to some comically awful TV (think Fast Show / Channel 9) although there was also quite a lot of news, politics and sport to offset the pap. On some channels, the commercial breaks seemed to go on forever, but I could not make up my mind from an economic viewpoint whether that was a good thing (easy to sell advertising) or not (at what price?).

Overall, I did not get the impression of an angry society near to meltdown. Everything seemed to function and people mostly got on with things, even if, given a chance, they might have ranted about the government or some section of society of which they were not a part. There will be, however, a long and winding road ahead.