Day 5 (July 19, 2011): Mykonos (Greece)

Mykonos Val&LarisaWe arrived on ISLAND  MYKONOS (GREECE) at sunny weather 77 degrees F, 25 degrees C. There are approximately 6,200 inhabitants in Mykonos, the city of windmills and sandy beaches. To the left is the photo of my daughter and me in Mykonos.

Listen to:“Music of Greek Islands”

They say, Greeks were good warriors. Perhaps, in the past. Nowadays the present day of Greece does not show this concern. Opposite, a peaceful resounding victory in elections in October 2009 showed, how the leader of Pasok (Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement) the opposition Socialist party, George Papandreou became prime minister. A former foreign minister, Papandreou immediately faced a public debt that caused fears that the country might default on its debt. Indeed, the government acknowledged that Greece’s deficit had risen to 12,7% of GDP, much higher than the 3,7% reported by the previous administration. The situation prompted Papandreou, whose father and grandfather also served as prime ministers, to make deep spending cuts, crack down on tax evasion, and increase fuel prices.

Watch our photo gallery “Mykonos 2011”:

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People on the streets like to talk about politics, sitting in the bars, they also talk about politics, they are disputing the problems, loud talk, vigorously gesticulating, a real Mediterranean type of character.

One man spoke to another one:

“In April, shortly after Papandreou requested a $60 billion bailout package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s bond rating to junk status,a move that caused further fear that the country would default on its debt. Germany balked at the aid package without promises of strict austerity measures from Greece. While Germany stalled, the needed amount of assistance ballooned.”

The other asked about what happened next.

The first one explained:

“In early May, Greece agreed to implement deep cuts to its social services, crack down on corruption, increase the retirement age, and other measures in exchange for $146 billion in aid, which will be distributed over three years. Protests broke out over the cuts, and three people were killed when a bank was set on fire. The protests quickly waned, and by the end of the summer Greece had met the economic benchmarks set by IMF and thus qualified for the next round of aid.”

The latter said:” This year on 14-15th of June, the first ever Greek Power Summit, took place under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Hellas. Let us see what happens of this.”

We tried not to interfere into conversations of the people as we are just tourists visiting their country, keeping good and kind attitude to them.

Listen to:Beautiful Greek Song performed by Dimitris Kontogiannis

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