Cove of the island of Paxos (Paksi) – one of the smallest Greek Ionian islands
Rich culture? Available. Sea and sun? No problem, beaches of Greece are among the best in the world. Mountains and cities? As many as you like! A thousand-year history? Plenty! Money? Well, that won't last long. Greece has experienced such an incredible number of wars, catastrophes, droughts, natural disasters, and cultural declines in its lifetime that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the current crisis will pass for Hellas without noticeable complications.
The Greeks themselves do not make a universal tragedy out of the current situation. They simply, as is customary in their traditions, begin to act, and without haste. Expenses are slightly cut, taxes are slightly increased, a little money is borrowed. Otherwise, it is the same Greece loved by all our compatriots.
Only from here do our tourists take a stone from the Acropolis in their pocket to show friends a 'witness' of the era of ancient architects, and only here is a truck of these very stones brought daily from a neighboring quarry. Greece is in many ways similar to Russia. If you enter a local church, and here it is also Orthodox, the feeling is that you have not left the bounds of beloved Moscow region. The same smiling potbellied priests with kind eyes, the same cunning beggars collecting alms.
But what fundamentally distinguishes Greece and Russia is the climate. Snow for Hellas is something out of the ordinary. If the temperature drops to minus 5, school classes are canceled and a state of emergency is introduced in the country.
And Greece is closer to Spain and Portugal in terms of work schedule. They have a siesta practice provided by law. In other words, from 8.00 to 12.00 everyone works, then from 12.00 to 16.00 (the hottest time of the day) they rest, and from 16.00 to 20.00 they work again. So do not be surprised if in the middle of a working day by Russian standards, you see a beach packed with relaxing Greeks.
As for the distribution of the population, in Greece there is Athens. Athens is everything. A huge, 24-hour buzzing, iridescent anthill with a population of about 7 million people (comparable to St. Petersburg). Besides Athens, perhaps half-million Thessaloniki can be called a large city, everything else is a hopeless province. Olive fields give way to peach groves and carefree people in cozy cottages who never lock their doors, even at night, because everyone around is their own. In this eternal, in some ways very Russian readiness for the worst and hope for the best, lies all of Greece.
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