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Sunday, June 21, 2015

German tourists in Greece: 'everybody has been so kind – overfriendly, even'

Despite the political tension between Athens and Berlin, both sides of tourist trade say Germans are welcome at Greek resortsGazing out over Thessaloniki’s waterfront, Regina Jost, a social worker from Jever, in northern Germany, was on her last day of a week’s holiday discovering Greece’s picturesque northern beaches. “When I told my friends I was going to Greece on vacation, they said: ‘Oh be careful, something might happen, you’ll come up against bad feeling against Germans, people will hold it against you for being German,’” she said.But despite the political tension between Athens and Berlin as Greece battles for economic survival, Jost said she had not experienced what some German media have described as “the fear of spit in the ouzo”. After six years of Greek caricatures of Angela Merkel in Nazi uniform, Greek demands for Nazi war reparations and the resentment at Berlin’s stance as unrelenting paymaster, only one person had been slightly frosty towards Jost – and that was a German whom she had asked for directions. Related: Greece and eurozone leaders in last-ditch scramble to reach deal Continue reading...


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