I've been asked if I've seen any sign of the refugee crisis here in Greece, and if I've seen any sign of the economic downturn. It's sad but true that those are the two main reasons anyone in the UK has heard Greece mentioned in the news recently.
The economic situation, yes; it's hard to miss the signs of that. Just as it's hard to miss certain signs of an economic depression anywhere. The refugee crisis, not so much. After all, a refugee looks much the same as anyone else, once they're no longer on the tv news. And the main area where they're arriving, in those nightmarish overcrowded boats one sees on the news, is right over in the eastern Aegean, on Lesvos and the Dodecanese Islands.
There were a number of people in the area round Piraeus Metro Station who looked as though they might be camping in the street. There's certainly a family camping in the park here in Nafplio, and I've seen the staff at the cafes round the park giving them left-over bread and the like. And the day before yesterday there was a collection going on in one of the squares, for donations of bedding and clothing, and a dozen or so volunteers were sorting and packing things into boxes. It seemed to be very well-organised and well-supported. My Greek wasn't up to translating the posters, but the word "prosfigas" featured, and the picture looked like a still from a news broadcast of one of the refugee ships arriving somewhere.
So if my guess is right, then the main sign I've seen of the refugee crisis in Greece has been ordinary people responding with charity.
As for the economic downturn... There's one big thing even I with my happy tourist blinkers on couldn't miss. I've seen far too much of this:
"For Sale" and "For Rent" signs, and empty, abandoned buildings.
I've been travelling, I should add, in reasonably prosperous areas. Athens, Aigina, Poros, Nafplio, Corinth; I'm doing the equivalent of a tour of historic southern Britain visiting, let's say, London, Brighton, Fowey, Bath and Avebury.
There have always been abandoned houses in Greece, at least for the last 26 years I've never been anywhere where I didn't see a few. But it breaks my heart to see so many closed businesses. The shut-down shops and cafes are many of them in the middle of bright, frequented streets with plenty of footfall. And some of the places that have closed were ordinary businesses like bakeries, hairdressers, pharmacies and so on, that don't rely on the tourist dollar but on meeting the needs of locals.
Obviously I don't know the particular circumstances of each closure; some of them may have been struggling for years. But I do know that each time a business folds up, that's less money in the local economy and more people dependent on social security. Both of which just take things further into the downward spiral.
If I were rich, right now I'd be investing in Greece. Let's face it, cynically; economic depressions are usually good times to buy up property and start up businesses, if you have enough capital to weather things through. You can get cheap prices on homes and business premises, and qualified, experienced staff who are glad to find work.
But I'm not rich and all I can do to add a miniscule drop to the ocean of need is to spend my tourist pounds while I'm here, and give my support and my recommendations, and my urging to go on visiting this beautiful and ever-fascinating country.
Don't think "Oh, Greece is full of refugees right now and they're in the middle of an economic crisis, I better not go there on holiday this year!" Please don't. There's so much more to things than that. Don't be like all the people who said to Mum and me, when I was 16 and we went to Taormina on holiday, "Sicily! But aren't you afraid of the mafia?"
I don't know what political bias it may have, but I've found a website here that covers actual news and current events in Greece, in English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/category/greek-news/
And now I must get on, get some breakfast, pack my last bits and bobs and go to get my bus to the Isthmus.
The economic situation, yes; it's hard to miss the signs of that. Just as it's hard to miss certain signs of an economic depression anywhere. The refugee crisis, not so much. After all, a refugee looks much the same as anyone else, once they're no longer on the tv news. And the main area where they're arriving, in those nightmarish overcrowded boats one sees on the news, is right over in the eastern Aegean, on Lesvos and the Dodecanese Islands.
There were a number of people in the area round Piraeus Metro Station who looked as though they might be camping in the street. There's certainly a family camping in the park here in Nafplio, and I've seen the staff at the cafes round the park giving them left-over bread and the like. And the day before yesterday there was a collection going on in one of the squares, for donations of bedding and clothing, and a dozen or so volunteers were sorting and packing things into boxes. It seemed to be very well-organised and well-supported. My Greek wasn't up to translating the posters, but the word "prosfigas" featured, and the picture looked like a still from a news broadcast of one of the refugee ships arriving somewhere.
So if my guess is right, then the main sign I've seen of the refugee crisis in Greece has been ordinary people responding with charity.
As for the economic downturn... There's one big thing even I with my happy tourist blinkers on couldn't miss. I've seen far too much of this:
I've been travelling, I should add, in reasonably prosperous areas. Athens, Aigina, Poros, Nafplio, Corinth; I'm doing the equivalent of a tour of historic southern Britain visiting, let's say, London, Brighton, Fowey, Bath and Avebury.
There have always been abandoned houses in Greece, at least for the last 26 years I've never been anywhere where I didn't see a few. But it breaks my heart to see so many closed businesses. The shut-down shops and cafes are many of them in the middle of bright, frequented streets with plenty of footfall. And some of the places that have closed were ordinary businesses like bakeries, hairdressers, pharmacies and so on, that don't rely on the tourist dollar but on meeting the needs of locals.
Obviously I don't know the particular circumstances of each closure; some of them may have been struggling for years. But I do know that each time a business folds up, that's less money in the local economy and more people dependent on social security. Both of which just take things further into the downward spiral.
If I were rich, right now I'd be investing in Greece. Let's face it, cynically; economic depressions are usually good times to buy up property and start up businesses, if you have enough capital to weather things through. You can get cheap prices on homes and business premises, and qualified, experienced staff who are glad to find work.
But I'm not rich and all I can do to add a miniscule drop to the ocean of need is to spend my tourist pounds while I'm here, and give my support and my recommendations, and my urging to go on visiting this beautiful and ever-fascinating country.
Don't think "Oh, Greece is full of refugees right now and they're in the middle of an economic crisis, I better not go there on holiday this year!" Please don't. There's so much more to things than that. Don't be like all the people who said to Mum and me, when I was 16 and we went to Taormina on holiday, "Sicily! But aren't you afraid of the mafia?"
I don't know what political bias it may have, but I've found a website here that covers actual news and current events in Greece, in English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/category/greek-news/
And now I must get on, get some breakfast, pack my last bits and bobs and go to get my bus to the Isthmus.
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