Living in a Tourism Crisis

We have all heard about the economic crisis and have been experiencing it ourselves for the past year. Among the Grey Goose bottles and being showered in champagne at beach parties this past week, I have to admit I have seen a slight drop in tourism and people spending money.

Skandinavian Bar and Disco has two small, cozy bars downstairs, a big courtyard littered with small tables and a stairway leading to a medium sized disco. We have always been famous in tourism books for the cheapest place to buy a drink and the best club in town for bottle prices. Many people are coming to the bar, filling the dance floor and having a great time. However, when I look at the three bartenders in the disco, they are not taking orders, making drinks or taking money at a constant rate. They will make a drink, then stand for ten minutes until someone orders another. This really proves that people are getting their alcohol elsewhere, drinking it on the streets and possibly sneaking it into the bar.

Luckily, for me, the bottles service has been going quite well. Some of my customers have been showing up randomly and grabbing bottles left and right, unlike the average tourist.

Another thing that has shocked the Greek community here, other than the tourism crisis, is the fact that large bars and discos and smoke free. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, you are no longer allowed to light up your cancer stick and infect the rest of the disco population with your filth! It makes me feel so powerful when I see someone light up a cigarette and I tap them on the shoulder and point to the no smoking sign. HA!

Other than that, everything is going well with me. The job has become rather stressful, more so than last year because we have a lot of pressure on us. But with a new season comes all sorts of new friends mixing with old ones and stories of last summer become myth and legend.