Australian tourist clinically dead in Mykonos

Of course a lot of tourists die while on vacation. Excess drinking combined with lurking in dark alleys can lead to many unwanted situations. But this tourist was no victim of any such situation.

The 20 year old Australian was beaten by a club bouncer in the street. The bouncer thought that the Australian and his friends were snatching purses, so decided to pretend he was a cop and ask for ID. The Australian didn’t show him any ID, so the bouncer thought it was justify that he punched the guy in the face and then hit him with an iron club.

The Australian tourist was moved urgently to Athens at Errikos Dunant hospital, where he was pronounced clinically dead.

To be perfectly honest, unfortunate as the whole situation may be, the government and police could not have done anything to prevent it. This could have happenned anywhere, anytime.

The only difference is that if happenned anywhere else except in the Banana Republic of Greece, the club would be closed the next day, the club’s owners would be prosecuted and the bouncer profession would be regulated, requiring bouncers to take frequent physical and psychological exams to get a licence, and even not let them practice if they have a criminal record.

But hey, when your friends give you money under the table you don’t ask them to come down town with you to the police station to have a souvenir photograph taken, do you?

Human Error

A ferry crashed into charted reefs in the Aegean sea, again.

Unlike the last two Greek ferries that crashed and caused severe casualties, no-one was injured this time round.

Is this is a sign that some ship-owners are learning from the past mistakes and training their ship staff better? Or was this pure luck that the ship did not sink and therefore there were no fatalities?

Unlike other countries that get hit by natural disasters, we manage to make it a mess on our own, without needing to involve mother nature.

So with no tsunamis, no tornadoes and only but a few earthquakes, we manage to damage our tourism with old ferries and “Human Error”, the number one factor that we get to blame in all accidents.

I wonder: Is the anonymous “human error” excuse still valid for messing things up in other European countries? Or do people actually take responsibility for their actions and the actions of their subordinates?

I mean, surely, in this age of technology, wouldn’t it really make more sense to invest in more automated systems in the transportation industry, so that we rely less in the human factor, since it’s so error-prone?

The Acropolis by night

We decided to start with something light.

This is the Acropolis of Athens, the most photographed venue of all of Greece.

It is mostly known for one of the buildings erected on top of it, the Parthenon, which was built 2,500 years ago in Classical Greece. It is the most looked-after archaelogical site in the country, and it’s the ultimate symbol of the country’s image abroad for most tourists.

Tourists and Greeks alike get to enjoy seeing the Acropolis lit up at night from anywhere near the city center. But only till 2:30 am. Because that’s when, the switch goes down.

And here we ask, why?

Why is it that the country’s ultimate symbol, the image that most people have associated with our country’s name, the embleem that we believe symbolises what used to be the cradle of Democracy in the ancient world, needs to disappear after 2:30 am every night?

Did electricity get so expensive? Or did some bloat-headed idiot decide that no-one deserves to admire the Acropolis on a 24-hour basis?

What does it really take for someone to inform the Culture Ministry that when you spend billions each year to market yourself abroad, there’s no point in trying to save on power and letting down tourists who are out late at night for a stroll.

This just doesn’t make any sense.