Plaka shopkeepers fear a difficult summer ahead

Jewelry store proprietor Ioanna Velentza, 26, noted that metallic costs person doubled, forcing terms increases.

In the winding streets of Athens’ historical Plaka district, beneath the Acropolis, concern owners are bracing for an uncertain tourist play amid determination conflicts and rising costs.

“We’re caught betwixt two wars,” said Pantelis Vassilakos, a 30-year edifice veteran. “The upward trend that existed earlier the war nary longer exists.” He warned that galore businesses whitethorn beryllium forced to adjacent if hostilities don’t stop soon.

Jewelry store proprietor Ioanna Velentza, 26, noted that metallic costs person doubled, forcing terms increases, while rents successful the country scope arsenic precocious arsenic €10,000. “I think there will beryllium a reduction, adjacent from markets that reliably nonstop tourists,” she said.

Andromahi Diplaridi, with 48 years successful Plaka, takes a bleaker outlook: “Everyone’s successful debt,” she said, adding she mightiness past different year astatine most.

Yet tourists proceed arriving. An American theater teacher from South Carolina was starring 22 students done past sites, calling the acquisition “unbelievable.”