Greece

Yeah I've been reading a lot about how time has been used relatively well by the ECB and the private sector to accomodate the default - which will surely come, just a question of when, although perhaps Greece will stay in the Eurozone.

Otoh, also read about the interconnectedness of the financial sector which seems to mean there are many parts of the whole that own Greek debt and don't know they do (?) so when it happens it seems that a lot of firefighting has been done but there is a don't know about it all -- it could be another Lehnmann Brothers, still.

Thanks for that last link Sanpaku.

thanks for those links, Sanpaku. I am also interested by the suggestion that Greece's current depression is more caused by withdrawal of credit than by state austerity programmes.

That choose your own adventure thing would be better if it was like the legendary "You are Ronald Reagan" thing, only it was "You are the Prime Minister of Greece", and whatever you chose you ended up being chased out of the country by a pitchfork wielding mob.

happy Oxi Day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig8sgY5vRWM

Any particularly good areas to stay / avoid in Athens?

Any pretty islands that are good to visit out of season?

How far out of season? We chose Naxos in early April on the basis that only the bigger islands would have anything (like hotels) going on then.

wrt Athens I haven't stayed anywhere I'd particularly recommend. This is my favourite restaurant though: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g189400-d1045572-Reviews-Karavitis_Tavern-Athens_Attica.html

i'm going to mykonos soon

I'm going in September; week near Athens followed by ten days of unspecified island hopping. Would be interested to hear recommendations too,

Thanks! I'm going to be in Athens on business for the best part of a week in September but was considering going further afield on holiday in mid October, or so.

The island recommendations I was given when planning my out-of-season trip were Andros, Syros, Paros and Naxos. Crete obviously also an option if you're happy to fly or take a longer boat journey.

actually i'm only going to mykonos for a night. after i'm taking a ferry to koufonisia -

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Ano+Koufonisi,+Greece/@36.9258513,25.6449636,11z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x1498032e94d5e33f:0x3752aa34a3dc7f7a

never been to greece before but after seeing the two faces of january i'm looking forward to a little whiskey and intrigue

bye bye..

Ζήτω η Ελλάς!

Antetokounmpo often stayed at the gym practicing until near midnight, sleeping there on an exercise mat in the weight room for fear of heading home in the darkness. Fascists and neo-Nazis affiliated with the Golden Dawn political party roamed the neighborhood menacing immigrants

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/sports/giannis-antetokounmpo-greece.html

Article title is : Giannis Antetokounmpo is the Pride of a Greece that Shunned Him

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/23/athens-wildfires-people-fleeing-homes-still-tourists-fly-in

Damn, but also why would anyone travel in July

British ppl

The quick answer (in our case) is that it was the only time the whole lot of us were free. We were mostly on Naxos, though, which was a lot cooler than the mainland (though still hot), and while we left just as the big heatwave arrived, there were still fires on our island, with smoke and helicopters dropping water and whatnot; it's a pretty arid climate in the best of circumstances. Athens was super hot even the week before, though, and just as hot when we left. The Acropolis (which shut down due to the heat and crowds a few days after we visited) doesn't have much in the way of shade, which makes it pretty uncomfortable for those without a hat and water bottle.

I swear to god I saw someone at the top wearing a sweater, though, which was pretty weird. You can see them at the fore here:
https://i.imgur.com/JIyO8Vk.jpg

Kids are off school from right about now so there will have been a big surge over the last couple of days.