ATHENS

Happy New Year to our readers from around the world.
Envoy is in Lefkas Marina for the northern hemisphere winter and we are home enjoying the New Zealand summer.

Back to early November and after a very scenic five hour bus trip from Lefkas we stop over one night in Athens on our way home. There are so many ancient ruins in Greece that we see many along the way that aren't even signposted. This is real treat for us coming from NZ where there are hardly any structures over 150 years old.

Our hotel is in the downtown Plaka district close to the Acropolis and next morning we go for a walk in a huge wooded park next to parliament. Historically this park was the gardens of the royal family and parliament was their palace.

On the way back to the hotel we encounter a large and very peaceful demonstration of several thousand older folks carrying placards protesting the pension cuts that have been part of Greece's austerity measures. One retired man tells us his pension was formerly 2,300 Euros (about NZ$3,540) per month and has been progressively cut to 1,200 Euros (about NZ$1,850). Although the cut is obviously huge we cannot help feeling that the pensions were too high in the first place.

A cab driver later tells us that employment is very high at about 37 per cent. Greece's family culture is very strong however and most family groups own their own home, resulting in adult offspring often leaving apartments they can no longer afford and living with their parents. He explained there is little government support available for unemployed people but family and friends assist.

Importantly for the cruising community the worsened socio-economic situation hasn't increased crime and Greece remains an extremely safe country, our driver advising that a lone female can safely walk anywhere any time (which is certainly not the case in many parts home in New Zealand).

The same driver stops at a scenic lookout half way up the steepest of the seven hills of Athens for a spectacular view of the city, the Acropolis and the ocean. Athens is a large city of nearly 4m people with few high rise buildings as since the mid 70s new buildings aren't allowed to block views of the Parthenon on the towering Acropolis.

We now plan to continue Blog postings relating to Envoy and cruising in general until we return to Greece in April. Next posting will discuss stabilisation.