Greece never fails to fascinate. Our trip landed us smack into Greece’s recent elections. You all probably know by now that the progressive Syriza Party emerged strongest, and in coalition with a small middle of the road party is forming the government. Syriza came first to power on an anti-austerity platform, reinforced by a referendum in July, yet ended up accepting the very austerity conditions it had campaigned against – and was nonetheless re-elected with 35% of the popular vote. The 2nd strongest party is still the conservative Nea Democratia with 28%. The Fascist “Golden Dawn” with over 5% stays the 3rd strongest party. Sadly, women’s issues never surfaced in TV debates. These typically feature 3 to 6 people – not always men – all talking at the same time and very hard to follow!

It remains a mystery how the new government and country can survive with the initial 90 Billion Euro debt of 4 years ago that, mushroomed to 450 Billion due to interests piling up.
Other observations:

– the waitress in the island restaurant where we had coffee, had an engineering degree and a town planning degree, and was very pessimistic about finding a job in her field.

– while most beggars used to be gypsies or racial minority members, esp. kids, they now are mostly elderly, esp. elderly women;

– bureaucracy is mind-boggling – despite of the austerity cuts – To pay a 28 cent tax arrear we had to go 2 times to the tax office, requiring 1/2 day each time.

– banks have 2 sets glass doors, one for entry, one for exit; you press a button and to wait for the green light before being allowed into a tight space between the 2 doors. There your picture is taken; a 2nd green light indicates when you are allowed to open the 2nd door to enter the bank. To exit too you have to get a green light again before you can pass through the 2 doors. If you have a pram or wheelchair, staff told me, they manually open the exit doors which are larger. And we thought we were paranoid about security in Canada! At the moment no-one is allowed to withdraw more then 420 Euro cash from their account. Of course the rich have multiple accounts.

Then there is that awesome gentle spirit of Athens – the Acropolis built for the goddess Athena – ever so subtly appearing on the horizon above the busy city streets. She quietly reminds us of her 2000 year history, experience and perspective.

Regula Modlich