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ATHENS: It’s been a while since visitors to Greece searched for souvenirs in the oldest neighborhood in Athens.
Plaka’s winding streets, laid out long before the city imported a grid system, are lined with shops closed behind aluminum shutters.
The COVID-19 pandemic has kept tourists away from the historic city center that forms a semicircle around the Acropolis, and the area remained unusually devoid of pedestrians and motorists before Christmas.
A man sleeps on a street in front of closed shops in the Monastiraki district of Athens during closure measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Monday, April 27, 2020 (Photo: AP / Petros Giannakouris).
In their absence, ancient monuments are a little easier to make out from a distance, fewer horns sound in traffic, and homeless cats parked in front of cafes are a little less distant.
Greece has so far imposed two national blockades since the start of the pandemic.
The first, in the spring, kept the country’s infection rates low. Authorities ordered the second in response to a rapid post-summer increase in reported cases and, as of Christmas Eve, there have been 4.4.57 confirmed deaths related to the virus.
The restrictions have closed bars, restaurants, cafes and many other businesses considered non-essential but which make up a large part of Greece’s tourism-dependent economy.
The number of visitors traveling to the country plummeted 76.1 percent during the first 10 months of 2020 compared to the previous year. Spending plunged 77 percent, according to central bank data released this week.
Greece is expected to see a 10.5 percent contraction of its gross domestic product this year compared to the projected EU average of 7.4 percent, while its debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to a staggering 208.9 percent.
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