The show will go on

Do you ever wonder what is happening to the busy touristic roads that you shop during your holidays, when you and the rest of the tourists are gone? You know what I mean, the ones that exist to relief you from the extra burden of your wallet by providing anything you could (or couldn't) imagine.

A great example is the area next to the lake of Agios Nikolaos in Crete, Greece. A place where millions of euro change hands every summer, a market that is designed to satisfy thousands of tourists in the blink of an eye. When the large cruise ships anchor at the port they unleash up to 5000 people at once with the only goal to take pictures and shop!

But that's in the summer. Because in the winter there is a different story. The story I am about to tell you.

Today is #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle and for the last one of the year I have a really unexpected entry. I hope Denise won't get too upset with all those covered windows but I am thinking to do a post like that for years and I felt that this community is the most relevant one.

All the pictures are from yesterday morning. That means one day before New Year's Eve, on working hours and a nice weather. Sounds ideal for shopping,isn't it? But not here.

The mayor's decision to place loudspeakers playing Christmas songs emphasized even more the obvious fact that there were just a bunch of people scattered around and most of the shops were closed! And boy, the shops there are there. Just name it. Cloths, hats, jewellery, wooden handicrafts, pastry , souvenirs of any kind, fish spa (!) and furs, a lot of furs. Apparently Russian people shop furs from Greece. I never understood why. Maybe someone that lives closer to them can enlighten us! @qwerrie @sharker @evildeathcore @olga.maslievich @aleksandra.mart any ideas?

The closed cafes and restaurants complete the puzzle of dereliction. But then again who needs all those shops. Let the owners have their vacations and in the spring the show will go on :)

My apologies if my post was a little depressing for those days of celebration and joy but I promise I'll make it up to you with an abundant #MarketFriday post when everyone is back to business!

Happy new year, my best wishes for 2022!