World pearl without Norwegian tourists

ATHENS (Dagbladet): – Thank you and price, normal conditions are approaching again. Last year there were no tourists here. Some neighbors stopped by, it was a terrible financial year.

We meet a cheerful butler and handyman on the climbing stage up to the world heritage victory podium Acropolis. George Takis has worked here at Restaurant Efcharis for ten years and lives in Athens.

Nothing has resembled the year of terror 2020. Now there is people inside and outside the restaurants and tourist stalls along the Acropolis Trail.

– We hope to reach 50-60 percent turnover of the last normal year in 2019. Then we bet that it will be normal next year again, George sometimes tells explanations about the menu to potential guests on the sidewalk.

And some Scandinavian short words with a smile to us: Thank you and very good.

– Norwegians on the islands

– I have some Norwegian and Swedish friends. But I’ve never seen them here in Athens. They go to the islands, he says in English.

– Have you been vaccinated?

– Yes, you must be vaccinated to work in a restaurant and with tourists and the public, he explains.

The same was said by restaurant people and taxi drivers on the tourist island of Rhodes.

Dagbladet took a day in the big city to see and hear how daily life works with the new corona relief within the EU / EEA.

Largest after Spain

After Spain (one million Norwegian guests in 2019), Greece is the major Norwegian tourist destination in Southern Europe with 400,000 Norwegian tourists before the corona crash.

Around 3.7 of Greece’s 11 million people live in Athens.

We take the train from the airport to Monastriaki station, 40 minutes away. Both at the airport and on the train, employees and travelers wear face masks, as they did indoors at restaurants, hotels and taxis in Rhodes the days before.

The muzzle discipline is obviously good in tourist-dependent Greece.

In the square of Monastriaki we see the iconic Acropolis columns on the mountain top up there.

– Main historical site

The travel book bible Lonely Planet leaves no doubt in its description of the Acropolis in the pocket version of Athens:

“The Acropolis is the most important ancient site in the Western world, the symbol of civilization.”

In crowded outlets the 20 minutes to walk up, there is also bandage discipline.

There is a half-hour queue in front of the ticket counters already before 11 o’clock in the morning.

And counting the number of tourists on their way out before new ones enter the several-acre area.

We’re within a couple of hours. Hundreds of other tourists pass in and out. We hear different languages, German, French, Dutch and many other words and tones we do not recognize.

But not Norwegian. Not Swedish or Danish for that matter.

– They are probably on the islands, as restaurant owner George explains.

NOK 1,500 in vaccine premium

The latest infection rates in Greece have been around 2,000 a day. It is six to seven times higher than the daily Norwegian infection rates.

The vaccination rate is higher and the infection is lower on the islands than on the mainland.

Young people have been most skeptical about vaccines. The authorities have introduced a cash bonus of 150 euros (1,500 Norwegian kroner) for young people up to the age of 20 when they are vaccinated.

And in Rhodes, for example, a month of free internet as an added bonus.

Here is the infection situation in the various countries in Europe, updated per. last week pr. 100,000 inhabitants.

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