Currently here in athens for the last 3days and it seems a lot of smaller shops took a big hit. A lot of them and i mean a lot are closed. Now i dont what it was like before the crisis so i cant really make any claim on what has happened here. It does seem that tourism industry is still kicking strong. As for the gold coin, i dont think i will get one. I have my eye on a brass replica of a greece helmet along with the body armor (12-14" combined height) and thats about the price of a 1/4oz of gold. It will make a great centrepiece to my collection and a definite conversation piece so i am strongly considering that over a tiny gold coin
The smaller shops have been closing down over the past couple of years. It will be fine once you hit the islands though and Santorini will be fine. Really expensive on Santorini, real tourist trap, nice place though. Our relatives went last month and they are heading out of Athens towards the islands too, it gets too hot and dusty in Athens so everyone heads out if they can.
Thanks for the offer but it wouldnt be much of a souvenir if I did not actually acquire it myself locally now would it?
Yes it was very hot in Athens. We did 3 days excursions and the heat wave with pollution was a bit much. It was a great experience seeing all the ruins on Acropolis and the drive to Delphi to Mt. Parnassus was absolutely spectacular. We just hit Santorini yesterday and this Island is breathtaking. And i am sure it will be very expensive here but its a once in a lifetime experience.
The Acropolis will be nice once they finish building it! When my wife was at school in Athens the school would take trips to the Acropolis and they would do charcoal rubbings of all the monuments and climb all over the ruins. I try to explain to her that this is the reason we took the Elgin Marbles and won't give them back, if it was left up to the Greeks there would be nothing left to see. The volcano off Santorini is a good day trip, about an inch below the surface of the gravel it is too hot to place your hand, I picked up some sulphur samples but they didn't make it back in my luggage !
Lol. Now everthing is blocked off. Theyre now trying preserve everthing ruins which is a very good thing. Somebody did say that years ago people are allowed to go inside the temples which imo is a very bad idea.
