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Published: October 16th 2012
About as popular as a rabbi at the Hajj, it was hardly surprising Angela Merkel wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms by the general Greek public. The sight on Rome television of tear gas saturating the Athenian air and protesters being dragged away by adrenalined up security forces didn't bode well for our arrival the following day.
But hey presto, 24 hours later, in we stepped and though the police presence around Syntagma Square was pumped and primed, a few boisterous but generally passive student demonstrations only sufficed to add a touch of carnival spice to the ambience.
I'm torn on whose side to take on the Greek plight. In the red corner, European Mr Bigs are willing to fork out a few hundred billion euros but only with a sheaf of cast iron guarantees. In the blue corner we have the Greeks. It's like they have been long term clients at a high end bordello on someone else's credit card and now they've been asked to either give it up or foot the bill themselves.
Not an unreasonable request but the Greeks are so damn likeable (except for one particular Athenian waiter) I just have to feel
sorry for them.
Thus those 2 poisonous words, "austerity measures", have been haunting this nation for a couple of years now. How does that exactly translate? If Europe has its way:
"Hey Stavros; work more, get paid less, fess up some tax and shelve any retirement notions".
OUCH!
The only face of those austerity measures I could detect was an increase in the proportion of street pedlars and beggars than we bore witness to 5 years earlier on our last visit. Other than that the status quo seems to have been maintained.
There's not much room for the uber cool or the bourgeois in Athens, the streets could still use a good scrub of bleach, architectural window dressing is saved for the islands and civic neglect is an Athenian hobby. But that's the same beast we were already familiar with. Overtly at least, this season of discontent hasn't imploded just yet.
One aspect that had done an about face, not surprisingly this being mid October and our last visit mid June, the temperatures were a deal more supple. The high voltage sun of summer 2007 had the mercury tipping the scales at 45 degrees.
This time a comfortable, balmy 25 degrees with light cloud and cool nights.
Even with such agreeable weather, a pair of days in Athens was enough before feeling we needed rehydrating by the ocean and didn't our first up choice slot ever so literally and metaphorically into that objective.
Hydra is the crowning glory of the Saronic Islands, light years and 2 hours ferry ride from the capital.
A stone village interwoven with a motley network of polished marble laneways, no motorised transport and a minuscule harbour that is off the Richter cute. Tavernas line that port where fishermen tend to their nets after a day of toil in the Aegean.
Sounds idyllic but what do you do in a place like Hydra? You rise at 8 church bells and crawl back to slumber land around the witching hour. In between, you amble a few klms, climb a hill or two, swim, read, OD on fresh Greek food, sip an afternoon aperitif and love the fact you still have a pulse. You accumulate days that will leave no legacy and you don't think beyond how much fun the present can be and equally how much fun
The only transport in town
Other than your own two feetthe nostalgia will also be.
If there is one issue I need to take umbrage with on Hydra, it's CATS. There are hundreds of them feline critters lurking around Hydra Town and I suspect thousands island wide. Generally healthy, well fed and while the majority are unowned, they are anything but feral. They may not enjoy the reverence of an Indian cow but nobody flinches when one of them decides to kip on a restaurant chair or jump up on a patron's lap during meal times.
Mention this to a local and the response is typically laconic Greek:
"Yeah, but what can you do".
The solution lies just across the ditch back in Athens, if what I was told has any element of truth. In the streets of Athens the problem is DOGS.
All about middle aged to twilight, all a melange of every canine variety known to man, all medium sized and all well nourished. Follow closely now:
The powers that be in the Olympic city decided, I'm surmising some 7 or 8 years back going by the youngest looking hounds, that the solution to the stray dog issue was to round them
up "en masse", remove all hints of gender, then let them loose again with access to official feeding stations.
Eveyone's a winner. Plump, contented Fidos stroll around wagging their tails blissfully unaware of their inability to re appropriate the species and the Greeks seem satisfied that the subject will be but a memory a few years down the track. Hard to believe such a humane outcome was conspired by humane beings.
I hope it's true. If only they can come up with a similarly short hand resolution to their financial woes. Watch that space.
Yeatesy
It's been five years since we were last in Athens. The Australian dollar back then was a lot weaker than it is now and the average temperature was well into the 40's each day. We had stayed in a seedier end of town because the hotel offered off-street parking and we had our Peugeot. However since we are travelling minus the car this time round the parking is not such a priority and hence we stayed in Plaka, a tad more upmarket then Omonia which was full of the low life, prostitutes and alley cats.
Surprisingly
a fair few new bars, cafes and upmarket retail chains have sprung up in Plaka despite Greece's financial woes. Also on the increase but not that surprising is the the amount graffiti. Once the shutters and shop fronts go down, the city resembles one large graffiti gallery covered with spray from one end to the other. I always thought Italy was the graffiti capital, but Greece is not far behind.
Another of my assumptions was that the Italians were the most fired up race, who gesture with their hands and speak in hostile tones and that's just when talking to their neighbours. However, this time round Greece has given Italy a good run for its money on personal hostilities. My medal goes to the Greek waiters. Not one, but three incidents where the waiters were out of control and out right rude to the paying customers. Fortunately we were not at the other end of their rant.
First place goes to the waitress on Hydra in a lovely family run cafe/restaurant, noted in Lonely Planet for their great food. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting client the restaurant was out of calamari for the day. When the unsuspecting client ordered
calamari as it was on the menu, the waitress sprayed them with abuse and reasons her husband can not get calamari and went on and on for a good 40 minutes. A lot of it was in Greek, but the word calamari kept popping up with her feisty gesturing and splattering each time she said it. The few patrons left in the restaurant kept sniggering behind our serviettes hoping she wouldn't catch us in the act. We kept secretly praying that someone else would order the calamari just so we could witness the tirade again.
She even ignored customers who were sitting waiting to order, they eventually got up and went to the kitchen and placed their order, obviously not calamari as all was calm.
Apart from our entertaining waitress, Hydra was bliss. A town with no motorised transport at all on the island, so everything is carried by donkey or by foot. It was charming waking up hearing the church bells chime 6am followed by the sound of the donkeys making their way down to the port for their days work.
And while Hydra may not have soft sandy beaches it does have some amazing cement
Smile for the camera
Athens central market platforms to set yourself up for a few hours, jump into the clear green water and watch the boats sail by. The water was that clear we could watch the different fish swim by.
A really nice relaxing way to begin our Greece Island touring.
Off to Crete.
Penny
More images at:
www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
We always look forward to your blogs!
Greece still remains my favorite country. It is like living in a postcard. Particularly loved the photo of the mobile phone and the mule. We have not been there since 2003 and would love to return. Looking forward to your next installment. We enjoyed our time in Crete.