This is a search for urban despair in Pyrgos. In case you're in a hurry, I didn't find it. Pyrgos is very much a live and active city and it's great fun being here.
Here's a row of storefronts and offices stacked three stories high. All of them are doing quite nicely, thank you. No urban despair here.
Here's the only boarded-up storefront I could find and the signs on the windows aren't to overthrow the government but rather are to advertise a stage show. The scooters are all over the place and there are some big bikes as well but scooters are, by far, the easiest way to get around the city. There's no urban despair in those either as they're hardly beater bikes.
I saw some children approaching and thought for sure they would be starving and despairing, right? Well, take a look. No starvation or despair in these kids. Maybe we could find some despair in the teacher who is shepherding them around town but the kids seemed very well-behaved. They were as perky as you would hope kids would be but they weren't overly loud and there was no sign of any insolence toward anyone. They seemed quite charming children.
I don't mean to minimize the troubles of Greece as they're well-known and there are tremendous difficulties and suffering in Athens and a great many other places. While everyone looks great in these pictures, they're just as much carrying the burden of increased taxation as anyone else in the country. However, they're Greeks and they survive.
Some have suggested that Pyrgos is a tourist town but I've seen no evidence of it. Many of the shops in the city center are shoe stores and boutiques, just like any city center. I've seen nothing selling tourist junk such as t-shirts, baseball hats, and forgettable memorabilia. More than likely, tourists who have landed via tourist ocean liner in Katakolo go right past Pyrgos on their way to Olympia. Pyrgos stands on its own as a highly vibrant city.
Here's a row of storefronts and offices stacked three stories high. All of them are doing quite nicely, thank you. No urban despair here.
Here's the only boarded-up storefront I could find and the signs on the windows aren't to overthrow the government but rather are to advertise a stage show. The scooters are all over the place and there are some big bikes as well but scooters are, by far, the easiest way to get around the city. There's no urban despair in those either as they're hardly beater bikes.
I saw some children approaching and thought for sure they would be starving and despairing, right? Well, take a look. No starvation or despair in these kids. Maybe we could find some despair in the teacher who is shepherding them around town but the kids seemed very well-behaved. They were as perky as you would hope kids would be but they weren't overly loud and there was no sign of any insolence toward anyone. They seemed quite charming children.
I don't mean to minimize the troubles of Greece as they're well-known and there are tremendous difficulties and suffering in Athens and a great many other places. While everyone looks great in these pictures, they're just as much carrying the burden of increased taxation as anyone else in the country. However, they're Greeks and they survive.
Some have suggested that Pyrgos is a tourist town but I've seen no evidence of it. Many of the shops in the city center are shoe stores and boutiques, just like any city center. I've seen nothing selling tourist junk such as t-shirts, baseball hats, and forgettable memorabilia. More than likely, tourists who have landed via tourist ocean liner in Katakolo go right past Pyrgos on their way to Olympia. Pyrgos stands on its own as a highly vibrant city.
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