I’ve just returned from ten days island hopping by ferry in the Cyclades, on another of my archaeological holidays. The group met up on Santorini, and from there we caught a succession of ferries to Naxos, Mykonos, Tinos and Delos. It was a very interesting time to be in Greece, watching the economy crumble around us. On the first few days, the TVs on the ferries were tuned to shopping channels. By the end of the trip, they were relentlessly tuned to a rolling news channel, with footage of a grim looking Greek PM meeting with even grimmer European bankers. There were very long queues at the cashpoints on Saturday, and the shop-keepers were only interested in taking cash, not cards. The museums had shorter opening times, and several had closed some of their galleries to visitors, because they didn’t have enough staff to open them. But apart from that, you had to look quite hard to find evidence of the crisis, and all the tourists seemed to be holidaying as normal. I’m glad I got back today though, as I think that things could get more uncertain and potentially unstable over the next few days.
Despite the impending financial crisis, it was an enjoyable holiday. Photos and a more detailed description will follow later in the week, once I’ve had a chance to unpack