“it was like the whole coast was a chest of finery dropped by the gods.”
*sigh* Indeed! The best beach-combing I’ve ever experienced was this summer in Greece. I felt like such a kid, and every beach was different.
It’s really interesting about the declining population and the lack of “prime real estate.” This was a factor that was bewildering to me on Zakynthos, the mix of these big luxurious resorts where yachts would dock, sitting right next to a shabby little sea-shack restaurant where we’d be eating, where the owner also owns the olive grove right there, (also beachfront property) which has been for sale for the past twenty years and maybe he’ll increase the price on it next year, since it hasn’t sold yet. It seemed like buying really nice land could be rather cheap, and yet there were so many buildings half-built (with rebar sticking out the top, all prepped for future second and third floors, while meanwhile grass pushes up through the finished but neglected first floor.)
I had an interesting conversation with people there about zoning laws and why they build houses like that, often over a period of generations, so that makes sense how whe the young people are all moving to Athens, there’s no one left on the smaller islands to continue building the family home that once was thought to be an investment.
I love the way the practices and laws and family structures get inscribed into the very landscape of a place. Even when it’s perplexing and I know I can only understand the most superficial part of what I’m seeing.
Thanks for sharing that, it's really interesting! I've seen a lot of buildings like that, not just in Greece but also in southern Italy as well as China, Taiwan and Laos. I always assumed it was an organized crime thing, where they over-budget and then under-build and somehow that washes the money. It's funny to think it's deliberate, just in case a future generation wants to add on another house upstairs.
I find it tough to talk about this stuff with local people, because i don't want them to think i am being critical. In China and Taiwan where i have had the opportunity to tangentially broach the subject with colleagues who should know better, they tend to brush it off as unimportant and not representative, which perhaps is their authentic opinion, but if it is then they're just part of the problem i think.
On the other hand, you could also look at it as a cultural propensity to clean stuff up, or not. Like in some countries, if a building is abandoned or the construction stalls, knock it down, build a new one, can't have that ugliness sitting there. But in other countries they just leave half-finished stuff around for years and it doesn't seem to bother anyone.
*sigh*
Indeed! The best beach-combing I’ve ever experienced was this summer in Greece. I felt like such a kid, and every beach was different.
It’s really interesting about the declining population and the lack of “prime real estate.” This was a factor that was bewildering to me on Zakynthos, the mix of these big luxurious resorts where yachts would dock, sitting right next to a shabby little sea-shack restaurant where we’d be eating, where the owner also owns the olive grove right there, (also beachfront property) which has been for sale for the past twenty years and maybe he’ll increase the price on it next year, since it hasn’t sold yet. It seemed like buying really nice land could be rather cheap, and yet there were so many buildings half-built (with rebar sticking out the top, all prepped for future second and third floors, while meanwhile grass pushes up through the finished but neglected first floor.)
I had an interesting conversation with people there about zoning laws and why they build houses like that, often over a period of generations, so that makes sense how whe the young people are all moving to Athens, there’s no one left on the smaller islands to continue building the family home that once was thought to be an investment.
I love the way the practices and laws and family structures get inscribed into the very landscape of a place. Even when it’s perplexing and I know I can only understand the most superficial part of what I’m seeing.
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I find it tough to talk about this stuff with local people, because i don't want them to think i am being critical. In China and Taiwan where i have had the opportunity to tangentially broach the subject with colleagues who should know better, they tend to brush it off as unimportant and not representative, which perhaps is their authentic opinion, but if it is then they're just part of the problem i think.
On the other hand, you could also look at it as a cultural propensity to clean stuff up, or not. Like in some countries, if a building is abandoned or the construction stalls, knock it down, build a new one, can't have that ugliness sitting there. But in other countries they just leave half-finished stuff around for years and it doesn't seem to bother anyone.
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